crime

Chiba woman arrested for killing daughters aged 4, 1

44 Comments

Police in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, said Tuesday they have arrested a 36-year-old woman on suspicion of killing her two daughters aged 4 and 1.

TBS reported that police were called to the home by the children's father who found their bodies just after 3 p.m. Monday. His wife, Rika Makino, had called him at his workplace to tell him what she had done, police said.

When police arrived, Makino was standing at the entrance of her home and admitted she had just strangled to death her daughters Renoa, 4, and Reisa, 1.

Police quoted Makino as saying she had become tired of parenting and although she had intended to kill herself as well, she had been unable to go through with it, TBS reported.

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44 Comments
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I have an aunt-in-law who was given to another relative as a "daughter". I guess it would have been shortly after the war, but apparently it wasn't that uncommon before or during the war either. No paperwork as far as I know. Everyone involved was fine.

These days fertility clinics are full of couples who want a child but can't make one.

Why can't adoption be made easier?

And before you say abuse will go up, look at the above story again. Actual parents are just as likely to commit abuse towards their own kids.

Even with adoption, some kids will still get abused/killed, but some may get saved too.

6 ( +5 / -0 )

again, why not just kill yourself?!?! leave others out of it.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Ever heard of post-natal depression? My wife had it and it can be very very scary. It is also not well diagnosed here. Not say it was this or connected to it in any way, but every time I read about one of these sad sad tragedies, it makes me think.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

@Rik314

There is no excuse for murdering children

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Mental problems, no doubt, enhanced by communication ineptitude. Feels assuring Japan can't, or won't deal with its giant shaky mental health problem ever. Just smile, shop, shut your mouth, bow and pretend all is fine. How many people kill their own offspring every year in Japan? Seems an awful lot.

3 ( +9 / -6 )

I'm sure I'll be opening a can of worms however, I'm also sure it must be VERY difficult for men to understand this kind of situation.

First of all, I am in NO way trying to "defend" this mother however, there could very well be extenuating circumstances. "Making a baby" is all "fun and games" - once a pregnancy is confirmed, the "future father" continues his life "as usual", smoking, drinking without thinking twice about it. The future mother, however, stops drinking and/or smoking and sees her body changing,maybe even experiencing "morning sickness" then, for nine whole months, she sees her belly "swelling", she finds it "difficult" to even put the futon back into the "o-shire" but she must continue her "normal duties". Then comes the actual birth and believe me it's NO "picnic" ! (Some mothers have even died while giving birth to their first baby). If she is lucky enough to have an understanding, supporting husband, there may be a lot less problems, but the problems are still there... After a second birth, there are two small "people" to take care of and with neither a "mother-in-law" or at least hired help, it can become extremely stressful.

We know nothing about her circumstances but I just wanted to point out that there CAN be extenuating circumstances.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

I wonder why parents like this just don't leave.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Why don't these loons kill themselves first and leave their kids alone?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

She was tired of parenting, but the kids were not tired of living.

Always whack yourself first, better in a place far away from your love ones..

2 ( +2 / -0 )

1) Innocent until proven guilty

2) False confessions are a real thing

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Let's face it: Japanese women have ZERO support from government agencies or any other organization whatsoever. Most Japanese men's house work is limited to a nightly bath with the kids and a trip to the local park on the weekend. Who wouldn't go nuts like this?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Whenever a crazy woman snaps and commits some atrocity, I see the frogs jump out of their ponds to soften, dismiss or even blatantly excuse her. "Where was the father?", because it's inconceivable that it's the woman fault's only. Someone else has to be at least partially at fault, right?. And everybody's favorite: "Oh, it's the stress of motherhood/postpartum depression". Now that's a dumbfounding notion: a thing such as motherhood, which women have successfully done throughout millennia, is suddenly deemed so unbearably stressing for the modern mother that killing her offspring is an understandable outlet. And the prize goes to: "her husband didn't do house work". So guys, you better start doing the dishes if you don't want your wife to kill your children. Now if it was a man who did this, we'd have a flood of comments calling for his balls to be cut and fed to him. Imagine a man using the "I felt lonely and depressed and I didn't any have any support from the State/society" defense. He'd be laughed all the way to the ball-cutting-and-feeding-to-yourself-o-matic. There will never be true equality as long as we have these double standards.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

@Rik314, I had a friend tell me his wife had PND & behaved so creepy he thought she was turning into that chick off the exorcist.

There has to be some mental issue with the mother. I can't fathom how someone could kill their own children & still be mentally in order. There has been a brain short circuit somewhere.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

How can she be arrested on "suspecion of murder" when she freely admitted to doing it?

1 ( +3 / -1 )

Confession does not equal conviction or actually having done the crime.

It first needs by checked vs evidence, trialed and more.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Stress can will do a lot to alter the mind! RIP little one's

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@jcapan, In past stories I asked about where are the husbands in these matters? No response. There is something extremely wrong here. One case that's unbelievable, Two cases, wow, I can't believe I'm hearing this again. Three cases, a trend. Four cases, an epidermic. All in less than a month and a half.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

'We' don't understand it because we were brought up to believe that killing your children and then yourself is just not done. Some above have commented about why she didn't just kill herself and that reaction is understandable. However in Japan there are those who really believe that it would be more selfish to leave your kids alive for someone else to take care of (i.e. be a burden on others), so you take them with you. Sounds terrible but that is the reality in these cases. I'll never understand it myself but I'm aware that this is the reason it does still happen in Japan.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

@Mirai Hayashi. Please show me where I have "excused" this woman for killing her children. I am suggesting a possible cause beyond most readers' knowledge that can help us make some 'sense' of a seemingly senseless act. Undiagnosed or ignored or ridiculed PND could lead to a deeper psychosis. So many people seem so ready to drag her into the streets and hang her high. She will suffer when what she did sinks in. She will suffer in prison. Think a bit what might have led her to this, and if you know of a young mother who is under strain, do something if you can. Try empathy.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

If you need a release for your stress, GO TO THE GYM!

That's good advice, but what to do with two small children while you're there?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Recently, Japan don't have enough places which parents put their children into during their busy time. Japan need more place like that in order for parents not to commit similar crime anymore.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

RIP little ones... there are indeed many couples at fertility clinics who are struggling to conceive and here you have a woman with 2 little girls and she's decided to end their lives... so tragic!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Just plain evil. That poor man, having to return home knowing his wife had killed his girls. A lot of mothers don't have a support system and cannot take a break from the kids, they get on with it, or find a way to take a bit of time out like every other responsible adult. RIP Renoa and Reisa.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

RIP

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Police quoted Makino as saying she had become tired of parenting

Friends, relatives, adoption, foster home, soooooo many options and this was all you could think of to do???? Pathetic sad existence! I feel so bad for her kids.

Police quoted Makino as saying she had become tired of parenting and although she had intended to kill herself as well, she had been unable to go through with it

What a coward....hope you live with the guilt for the rest of your life behind bars.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@shydingo "still be mentally in order. There has been a brain short circuit somewhere." That is the point, pre-natal depression is caused by hormones and all sorts of things can happen - literally the person is not themselves or in mental order. They are not mentally in order and short circuit is an apt description. Hers may not be a case, but IF she had it and did not have a supportive husband and family, who knows what the consequences could be? Infanticide due to PND is not common, they say, but they way mental illness is hidden here and with the societal expectations on young mothers, I would not be surprised if there is a connection in cases like this.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

She must be off her rocker to have the strength (physically and emotionally) to be able to squeeze the life out of her daughters. Granted a one year old and a four year old are small but they will resist; flaying arms, kicking legs, gasping for air, bulging eyes... I wonder what her background is... Are her parents alive? Was her marriage an arranged one? (If so, perhaps this was the reason she was unable to discuss child rearing and all with her husband.) Where does one go if one wants to give up her child? Start at the city office information desk? (Hello, I have two young daughters and I just can't cope with them. I am giving up my parental rights and duties. Please tell me what to do.) I think even if a woman or a couple decide to give up their child, the city office/social worker/police/parents will strongly advise her/them not not to. So the end result is, to kill the child and commit suicide...

0 ( +1 / -1 )

What a coward to kill innocent defenseless children and not yourself? I hope they execute this unholy witch. Rest in peace little ones you are in heaven God bless

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Japanese women are just too subservient in this society. This fact doesn't exonerate the mother in this caes in anyway though. These women are compelled by a male dominated society to put up with the domestic burden. They are educated, married, forced out of their careers (as if they had the chance of climbing the corporate latter as any woman from a western country can) & suddenly find themselves as housewives. Every man has a breaking point, do not women also?

0 ( +2 / -2 )

@ serendipitous

Yea, I agree.. I know I have watch a popular Film about a guy losing his Job, and lots of people are being sacked. Anyway.. he does find a way out by the end of the movie.. But,...

His friend... loses his Job.. and can't support his family.. and pretends to go to work.. but he is really looking for another job.. he can't find one.. after 1 week 2 months.. 6 months.. he can't work.. And so along with his wife and child ... he kills himself with them.. (All three of them) in there home.. with some way.. I can't remember.. how...

So I agree it is in the culture a bit.. that if you have a problem with your family... you have to deal with it no matter what.. which can be unfortunate.. I think thas why in Japan if you have a problem with your family it really is best to look for help from family and friends.. anyone.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Absolutely tragic.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

That's nothing less of cowardly and selfish of the mother. She should be ashamed and locked away. RIP Reisa and Renoa

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Its OK, she didn't just make empty threats or fool the police in any way - she actually killed two of her daughters. So she'll be out of prison in a couple of years.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Ive been so exhausted with a newborn and two toddlers that I've been driven insane. My husband once sent me back to my home country after the second because I was completely unable to cope on my own (and in Japan, you really ARE on your own, with the long working hours and lack of family around). The doctor back home put me straight on to strong antidepressants and got me help. That was a long time ago now. Not once, in all the time I was going through all of that, and I got as far as thumping pillows in my frustration and exhaustion, and one time just walked out of the house in a zombie like daze, even contemplated suicide. But not ONCE did I EVER consider killing my own children. Theres post natal depression and theres psychosis. This was WAY beyond PND.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Oh boy once again , current society in japan dosent match the japanese traditional way of life lets face it, two little girls robbed of there happy future, im so sorry

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Some people should not have kids!! These types of asults against children are becoming more frequent, and very scary! If you need a release for your stress, GO TO THE GYM! Or in my case, hop on my Ninja and go tear up some blacktop. Lots of alternatives before things get to the point of harming children. Just don't understand these people??!!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"Police quoted Makino as saying she had become tired of parenting and although she had intended to kill herself as well, she had been unable to go through with it"

An absolute shame, that last part. Perhaps the state can finish the job for this monster. And sorry but on what terrestrial plane does her husband exist to not have seen this coming.

-1 ( +6 / -7 )

What on earth is going on with parenting in Japan these days?

-1 ( +8 / -9 )

Here we go again lets blame the father. Fact is some Japanese women just snap. The bottle it all up and then explode. Its a well known Japanese trait. You can see the anger, frustration and hate seething and boiling below if you look closely and it is usually not the ones u see shouting and swearing at their children. Obviously the maternal instinct nearly all mothers have doesnt exit in this case. She really should have suicided and left the children with the father. If only women like this would receive the death penalty instead of lots of pity and sympathy and 3 months in a comfortable cell, then things may change. RIP poor innocent children. You had no choice in the fact that your mother is an evil monster. May she burn in hell when she eventually arrives there. Evil Japanese Mothers 2-0 Innocent Children.

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

I am horrified by this, how could a parent do this to her children. Some people just shouldn't have kids period.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Absolute coward and piece of trash. Lock her up for the rest of her life and see if she gets tired enough of that to give the last part of her plan another go. Her poor little children, who looked up to her and wanted nothing but her love, no doubt. This is how she gives it to them -- murder!

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

An incident as horrific as this would change laws and cause a public outcry, why is there so little reaction here? Desensitization?

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Mirai: Agree 100%. The amount of people and number of times people will look for excuses for a young mother and suggest PPD or now PND, and/or blame the father, is astounding. They'll blame anyone but the murderer.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

How many people kill their own offspring every year in Japan? Seems an awful lot.

Well is it an awful lot, or does it just seem like it? I'm assuming you haven't passed judgement simply based on the number of articles you read, rather than actual facts.

-7 ( +4 / -11 )

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