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Police in Kobe said Thursday they have arrested a 69-year-old man on suspicion of killing his 91-year-old mother at their home.
Police said Masahiro Kashihara has admitted to strangling his ailing mother Tomoko with a towel at around 12:15 a.m. Wednesday, Kyodo News reported.
Police said Kashihara mailed a letter to a relative in which he said he was going to kill his mother because he was stressed out from taking care of her. He also said he planned to kill himself at nearby Maiko Park.
The relative who received the letter went to the house on Wednesday and found Tomoko’s body in the hallway and notified police.
Police found Kashihara at the park with an apparent self-inflicted knife wound to his neck. He was taken to hospital where doctors told police his wound was not life-threatening.
Police said Kashihara moved in with his mother after his wife died three years ago and had been taking care of her by himself.
© Japan Today
10 Comments
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Hercolobus
Consequences of being a successful economy. Less children and more responsibility on single persons can drive people to such stress that they can no longer take it.
falseflagsteve
This is appalling. I keep saying we need better social services to deal with these issues.
Disillusioned
This scenario repeats itself over and over again. The child becomes the full time carer of an ailing parent with very little or no support and the child snaps after a decade or so. I've known many older people who will openly state they are just waiting for their parent to die so the can get their life back. There is no love in their eyes. They are just fed up. Caring for ailing elderly requires professional training and facilities. They should not become the sole responsibility of the relatives.
Japan is really dragging the ball at both ends of life. There are no daycare facilities for children and no support facilities for the elderly. It's easy to become a rich country if you don't spend any money on the people. Japanese people are heavily taxed and recieve very little for it.
mountainpear
Not entirely true! In Japan there are many support facilities for the elderly but you have to reach out for it. Carers can come to the house or there are day service centres they can attend if they are able. I took care of my mother in law for 2 years and nurses would come to the house a couple of times a week and a doctor once a month. They showed me how to change dressings, change diapers, wash her hair etc. and provided much needed moral support. When you need a respite as carer the hospital would admit them for up to a month. Of course you must pay but most is covered by insurance. But it was not easy because she wasn't a very nice person in many ways. And I think there are a lot of cases like this where people are having to take care for someone (who was a bad or even abusive parent) for whom they have no love or affection.
Jonathan Prin
In love for my family, I promise and require not to be a burden to my family when time or nature calls me back to dust.
@mountainpear
Very good explanation for some cases I am sure, although we cannot judge for any personal case through a plain article.
Rodney
When my mother in law got intolerable, we put her in a care home. Life returned to us like magic
wallace
Rodney
Was your husband happy to pay those care home charges?
garypen
My municipality has mandatory long-term care insurance for seniors, which will help somewhat in these home-bound situations.
There are also assisted-living facilities for seniors, as well as special medical facilities for bed-ridden seniors. So, it is certainly possible to not have to take on 100% of the care burden. At least, that was the case with my MIL.
Nayel
Heart breaking.
Something need to be done to keep people from reaching their breaking point.
kaimycahl
Sad all around!