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Police in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, have arrested a 58-year-old unemployed man on suspicion of arson and murder after he allegedly set fire to his family home in June.
According to police, Yoshikazu Morimatsu is accused to setting fire to the house on June 9, Sankei Shimbun reported. His mother Masano died in the blaze.
Morimatsu was hospitalized for carbon monoxide poisoning after inhaling the fumes. After his recovery, he was discharged from hospital and questioned by police who arrested him on Wednesday.
Police said Morimatsu was the victim’s third oldest son and was living with her at the time. Police said he had told his younger sister, who did not live with them, that he was worn out from looking after his ailing mother who had lost the use of her legs.
© Japan Today
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JerseyDevil
92-year-old mother made it that far to get taken out by son; completely staggering.
58-year-old unemployed man on suspicion of arson and murder, charged with 2 crimes
What's joblessness got to do, got to do with it?
Johansawada
it seems like whenever there is a case of murder on their parents, its always the son... don't think we have come across a case of a daughter committing murder on parents...
snowymountainhell
Another gruesome, weekly account of intra-family violence in Japan.
ONLY the autopsy will confirm if it was first a murder then, arson to cover it
or, more horrendous,
arson as a means her murder.
John Doe
Looking at the crime section of this website, as well as my personal experience of the country and its people, it looks like Japan is a menhera country, a country full of mentally ill people who are not receiving any care. Mental health awareness, services and treatments are in a primitive state comparing to other evolved countries and combined with the traditional Japanese "group mind" mentality, where you're not encouraged to express your feelings or opinions in order to not upset the group balance, they end up with the most heinous crimes I've ever heard.
We're not speaking about marginalized (racial) groups in America living in abject poverty, with lack of education, substance abuse etc. These are the homogenous everyday Japanese people who are giving birth to babies in toilets and flushing them down toilets, or hiding them in attics every day, who are chopping their family members into pieces and shoving them into freezers, who are keeping the corpse of deceased parents in the next room for years, who are murdering 90+ parents, family members murdering each other daily. These are the people who won't discuss to resolve a complaint, but will show up to work with a baseball bat or a knife or gasoline to torch their company down. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this type of news is disproportionately prevalent in Japan comparing to other countries (unless again we're talking about marginalised groups, that's a different story).
purple_depressed_bacon
There are far too many cases of familicide in Japan, especially recently. It's a very concerning trend and I really hope the relevant authorities start looking into preventative measures for it.
purple_depressed_bacon
The general mentality regarding mental health in Japan is that it's inconsequential and taboo and shameful almost. Stuff like this happens because people repress their feelings until it all comes bubbling up to the surface and then explodes in the worst way possible. Incidents such as these are definitely a cry for help. Japan needs to start offering more mental health resources and making sure that they are easily accessible by people who need it.
Strangerland
To what degree have the numbers increased "recently"?
Unfortunately it's been part of every culture for all of humanity. Extremely hard to eliminate.
I'm curious though, what are the numbers here that have led you to think that it's worse here than in other places?