crime

Mother arrested for leaving 3 children at home while she went drinking

48 Comments

Police in Kushiro, Hokkaido, have arrested a 21-year-old unemployed woman on suspicion of parental neglect after she left her three young children at home while she went out drinking for six hours.

According to police, Emiri Watanabe, a single mother, left her four-year-old daughter, and two sons, aged two and eight months, at home between 2:30 a.m. and 8:20 a.m. Sunday, Kyodo News reported.

A neighbor saw the two oldest children wandering outside crying and called 110. Police arrested Watanabe when she returned home. She was quoted as saying she had gone out drinking with friends and thought the children would be OK because they were asleep when she left.

The children were not harmed, police said.

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48 Comments
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She really needs to stop having babies.

23 ( +29 / -6 )

Very fortunate the neighbor was able to see the children wandering outside and called the police, this could very easily be a much more tragic headline.

19 ( +22 / -3 )

Doesn’t appear to have made many good decisions in her young life.

18 ( +23 / -5 )

Happened in my neighborhood once. I stumbled across a lone child on the street; he took me to his house where there were two other children with no adult presence. I took them all to my house and called the police. A month later, the "family" (there was no father; the mother was a bar worker) moved and I never heard another word about them.

Lesson to all: Be proactive. You could be saving a life.

17 ( +21 / -4 )

The lack of contraception is probably down to the drinking, both of those and the abandonment of her children down to stupidity!

Now the children will be taken away in to safety and she can go on drinking and making babies! (Heroic one woman effort to single handedly reverse the population decline :)

11 ( +16 / -5 )

No doubt this is not the first time this young baby factory has left her kids alone to go drinking.

10 ( +15 / -5 )

Leaving 3 young children alone for nearly 6 hours at night is abusive in my book.

9 ( +14 / -5 )

There is actually a good chance that her "drinking" was hostessing and not wanting to get the bar, tax authorities or anyone else involved.

9 ( +13 / -4 )

I won't mention the obvious

8 ( +17 / -9 )

21 and already with 3??? The eldest is four?? Ever heard of contraception???

i mean there really should be laws against this!!!

8 ( +19 / -11 )

She's been mighty busy having children, drinking and neglecting her children. Darn shame. Any father(s) around?

8 ( +16 / -8 )

Yrral

They should arrest the father too, knowing their children are living in these conditions,just as neglectful on their part

How do you know there is only one father???

8 ( +9 / -1 )

Yrral

Willb,if it more arrest them all ,and pay somekind of support

How do you know he/they do not?

So many assumptions here...

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Ever heard of Fuzoku? A vicious circle that keeps many young and mostly unsophisticated women hostage. More widespread than you would ever imagine and society is ready to admit. Forget trying to get the fathers accounted for their part in the game. I know a single woman with four children and no support from the walk away fathers. And there is no support from organizations or agencies, despite her working 16 hours a day.

6 ( +14 / -8 )

She probably won't mind if the authorities take away her children. They appear to just be a distraction to her current activities.

6 ( +10 / -4 )

Maybe it was SHE who drove the father away...because she enjoyed the party life too much?

And did it ever occur to you that there were multiple fathers or that they didn't even KNOW they were fathers?

Whenever a woman commits a crime, I wish people would STOP doing two things:

Portraying her as a victim who needs "help"

Shifting the blame to the nearest male.

Misandrists will never do the same if the crime was committed by a male, even if he really did need help.

Double standards.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

Clearly not much else to do on a cold night in Kushiro. The woman needs help. She won't get it from this society.

5 ( +14 / -9 )

She's probably hostessing or in the sex trade.

If you are working informally, it's common sense to tell the police you are "unemployed" to not drag your employer and/or their reputation into it. That goes for everyone, not just single mothers who will also qualify various forms of welfare (seikatsu hogo) if they want it.

Not that any of that above justifies her actions.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Riiiight.

If a woman does something stupid, like abandoning her kids while she goes out drinking: she needs "help"

If a man does the same thing: throw him in jail!

Misandry and double standards.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

@factchecker Nor will she get it from this forum full of want to be psychologist/social workers!

Clearly not much else to do on a cold night in Kushiro. The woman needs help. She won't get it from this society.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

I hear that excuse all the time.

It's not about who has a harder life but about being held responsible for their actions.

It a woman is tough enough to become a soldier or an astronaut, she can also be held accountable for her actions.

Truth is: BOTH men and women have hard lives. But only women are allowed to complain about it. So society only believes one side.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

It doesn’t matter “where’s the father?”, it matters where the mother was not. Some people are just not meant to be parents, that doesn’t mean it’s someone else’s fault.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

According to police, Emiri Watanabe, a single mother, left her four-year-old daughter, and two sons, aged two and eight months

I have a 1 year-old and it never really crossed my mind to leave him for even a minute to take out the trash while he's awake.

I feel for the kids, but it also makes me sad and anxious sometimes. They will share the same school, workplace with my son and usually nothing good comes out of neglected kids, you have to rely on luck so these kids don't become horrible human beings toward others, to be specific those kind of people who hate seeing other people happy

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Well, she didn’t go play pachinko, so, that’s good, I guess.

0 ( +10 / -10 )

Woman, put the D down and get your tubes tied.

Definitely don’t go out drinking at night when you got 3 babies at home.

Does she NOT have relatives to come in and help out with this issue?

0 ( +6 / -6 )

She was just immature, children are at the mercy of their parents,the child realized,this was not a good situation ,they did what children do when frightening

0 ( +2 / -2 )

I mean there really should be laws against this!!!

One thing that could be done, instead of laws is to have better sex education.

But in the end, people's decisions, be good or bad are up to each of us.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

3 kids and only 21? Where is the father or fathers? Not a good story. Well she is breaking the low birthrate statistic in Japan by a country mile.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

@Laguna You are lucky they didn't charge you for kidnapping!!

Yeah, leave the kids in their house, stand outside, call the popo and wait there.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

SanjinosebleedAug. 15  05:29 pm JST

21 and already with 3??? The eldest is four?? Ever heard of contraception???

i mean there really should be laws against this!!!

That means she became a mother at age 17. That's way too young to be one.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Jlove

Ever heard of Fuzoku? A vicious circle that keeps many young and mostly unsophisticated women hostage. More widespread than you would ever imagine and society is ready to admit.

Sex business is as old as humanity and exists in all societies. It is irrelevant to this story if she was partying with her friends or working... the story is about child neglect and not about her job.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

21 and 3 children.

Time to stop and become a mother.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

She started breeding when she was 17! やばいそれ!

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

As indefensible as her actions are, she’s also a victim of permissive Japan’s tolerance, nay, full on endorsement of the culture of mizushobai, the pretence that there’s no collateral damage, no one being consigned to lives of quiet desperation and no one who might deserve a modicum of compassion.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

@Wesley

Looking at your comment from earlier in the day. What were you saying about double standards?

"

Today  12:04 am JSTPosted in: Woman, daughter stabbed outside home; suspect hit, killed by train  See in context

Not condoning what he did, but he's still a 17 year old BOY.

I don't wish him to die in this manner. I would have preferred that he turn himself in, and rehabilitated.

"

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

At 21 with 3 Kids the eldest is 4? Early Pregnancy?Having drinking session with friends 02:30-08:20 Where's the Father?

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Take'em away from her forever.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

@Laguna You are lucky they didn't charge you for kidnapping!!

Happened in my neighborhood once. I stumbled across a lone child on the street; he took me to his house where there were two other children with no adult presence. I took them all to my house and called the police. A month later, the "family" (there was no father; the mother was a bar worker) moved and I never heard another word about them.

Lesson to all: Be proactive. You could be saving a life.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

Alas, arresting her does not make things better for the children.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

i mean there really should be laws against this!!!

China had laws against having more than one child. If you were to have laws against what you stated above, you'd have to go full China, have forced abortions and other inhuman practices.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

She's only 21 but already has three kids, one of which is 4?? Lady, have you not heard of The Pill? Condoms? A combination of both? What about Plan B? I hope social services keeps an eye on this family. Neglectful indeed.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Don't they have babysitters in Japan?

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Another vivid example of the real exploitation of women in Japan. Nowhere to turn...

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

She needs help, get her treated and keep her away from the kids until she fully recovers.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

They should arrest the father too, knowing their children are living in these conditions,just as neglectful on their part

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

Willb,if it more arrest them all ,and pay somekind of support

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

Wesley,the daddy probably could care less,see the condition the children were living under

-9 ( +0 / -9 )

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