The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said Thursday that a record 59,862 cases of reported child abuse were handled by child welfare centers in Japan in fiscal 2011.
The figure includes 51 deaths, of which 23 were children younger than 12 months, the ministry said.
A ministry spokesman said that growing public awareness of child abuse and greater cooperation between law enforcement officials, hospitals and welfare authorities contributed to the high number of cases coming to light, NTV reported.
The official said that many cases involved unwanted pregnancies and teenage mothers who did not know how to look after their babies and who were frequently ostracized by their local communities.
The ministry said it is studying countermeasures, including consulting with obstetricians to identify potential abusers among young mothers and offering them counseling and assistance at an early stage before their babies are born, NTV reported.
© Japan Today
17 Comments
Login to comment
CrazyJoe
Child abuse is obscene just like child porn and child labor.
Mirai Hayashi
not too surprised by this
Ms. Alexander
At the same time, I hope this growing public awareness will lead to better educating future and current parents.
tmarie
The official said that many cases involved unwanted pregnancies and teenage mothers who did not know how to look after their babies and who were frequently ostracized by their local communities.
This is just sad. For a country that needs babies, you'd think they'd do whatever they could to help these women.
I'd also note that it is a form of bullying...
zoomingjapan
I'm not too surprised by that, either. sigh I read somewhere that Japan is the kid-friendliest country in the world. Yeah, sure ....
Frank Vaughn
And some posters took me to task when I took a strong stance defending children in the article about children falling through the cracks there.
I read different posts here on JT a lot where people are bragging on how close-knit and loving the Japanese society is. Having seen those numbers in this article, well I will take all those past and future posts with a grain of salt now.
I am 100% for the protection of ALL children, but having obstetricians predict which mothers will become abusers is scary sounds almost like the start of the "Big Brother" thing from the novel "1984."
America's shame is it's guns, Japan's shame is it treatment of children.
sandiegoluv
What does this mean? They were PURPOSEFULLY IGNORED by their local communities because they had babies? I have never heard of such a thing except in interracial marriages, but the local community didn't ignore them, it was the families. Will somebody please explain that one to me, because I really don't get it.
SonnyInAz
No shame in America's 'guns' Frank, just people that do evil things with them.
DoLittleBeLate
I'm sure they're just waiting for some "helpful" japanophile gaijin to come up with possible excuses to make them look like saints for doing so.
51 deaths? Once a week, huh? That's once a week too many. There is no "acceptable level" here.
ensnaturae2
"teenage mothers who did not know how to look after their babies and who were frequently ostracized by their local communities" ** Do they know it takes two, to make a baby, in Japan? Why are the mothers ostracized - but not the fathers? Are the children raised in such a 'mother - hostile' environment likely to thrive in that condition, or is it to be expected that they will suffer the 'punishment' meted out to their mothers, and consider it justice? Are women considered to be so much in control, that men are believed to be somehow, 'led astray' by women - and womens' needs and desires,- therefore the mothers must be held entirely responsible for the welfare and well being of the children and grant complete unhindered freedom to men, in their offering no support or care for their children or the mothers? Do they feel that men should be free to have sex with as many women as they wish, without any kind of restraint, and without any knowledge of or interest in their possible future offspring? Do the children born - have any rights to know their biological fathers? Are the children required to grow up - fatherless - while being taught by their society that their mothers are thus inadequate and the fathers are free to produce as many children as they wish?
DentShop
Some posters on here have been saying we hear one of these stories every week.
Turns out you were right.
Ehime Sebastian
Is there an increase in child abuse or just an increase in reporting?
Ben Jack
The article clearly states that the number of reported cases has increased. There is no way to know how many unreported cases there are.
A+b/a=a/b≡?
@Ehime S:Good insight.
I think it is both.
Ben Jack
Where?
I think that is obvious.
kazetsukai
Child Abuse as with Harassment in schools is on the rise statistically in many countries for many reasons. Primarily with the changes in the "definition" of what constitutes "abuse" and "harassment". With more people becoming aware of the "human rights" concept of looking at social behavior, there is still a vast difference among people as to what "levels" are "acceptable and what specific actions are not acceptable.
As the so called "moral and ethical" standards are raised (depends upon the basic religious and spiritual beliefs) because there is more time for more people who are able to reflect upon them (many are academic and legal persons as well as politicians) the media is able to "recognize" and report any "deviations" from those standards. One must also remember that in Muslim countries the standards are different from those in Christian countries and the laws also tend to reflect them. So it is in Japan.
What was considered an acceptable disciplining action or scolding merely a century ago is now considered an "abusive" behavior. And with much more "protective laws" now on the books, and the public made aware of such laws by the media, there is much more reporting.
That is not to say that abuse has not increased. It probably has increased, even when compared to the growth in population, especially in Japan where there is very little growth in population. What may be very disturbing is the "kind" and "types" of abuse and abusive behavior.
I may be wrong, but over the years, it appears that the abuse is becoming more "self-serving" and "senseless" on the part of the abuser. That is the key question that must be addressed.
It is an important "social" question, especially when such abuse is by the younger generation, soon to become the foundation of this nation and "preparing" the next generations to come.
dazzinjapan
See it once a week here...usually on the weekend...Father and Son...out throwing the baseball...dad is yelling at his son like some stupid Yak drunk in a bar !!!.....never seen any hits......when i do, i will do some time here in Japan....! maybe 3 to 5!