Ex-ambassador arrested over murder of son

It'll be interesting to see what his sentence is. I'm guessing next to nothing, and even if he got life it would be too little.

His sentence will be the same as everyone else who stabs someone to death here: 5-7 years max.

It'll be interesting to see what his sentence is.

That will probably depend on what he's charged, whether he's found guilty, and what the circumstances were.

Pity the article gave no indication as to why he would do such an abhorrent thing?

Smith,

Great comments......I think he will play his 'get out of jail free' card like most of the 'elites' over here seem to do.

Something is sooooo messed up in Japan.

Family killing family all of the time.

Why the heck does a 44 year old man still live with his parents?!!! My dad threw me out at 18.

There may have been a reason for that.

Probably because the law prohibited him from tossing you out at 10.

"Why the heck does a 44 year old man still live with his parents?!!!"

It is very simple: because he did not have a job.

There are many elderly parents living extemely difficult lives because their middle aged children are living at home causing,because of their own habits with drugs, unwillingness to work and continually demanding money,intractable problems. It's a wonder there aren't more such cases.

44 living at home... enough said.. although its most likely parents fault for not kicking him out at 18

albaleo: "That will probably depend on what he's charged, whether he's found guilty, and what the circumstances were."

Ya think? Will that make it less interesting when the sentence is pronounced? Or... did you just intentionally choose to miss the point?

Some of you posters are funny...giving the guy a death sentence with absolutely zero background information. What if the 44 year old (probably freeloading and mentally ill) son was a ne'er do well and violent? Typical knee-jerk reaction and posts from people who have never lived with a whacko or had to support anyone in their life.

My guess: the son had mental health problems.

Japanese sites say he abused his mother and was going off on elementary school kids nearby. Maybe he went too far and the Dad lost it. I wonder if the mother wasn’t an enabler.

did you just intentionally choose to miss the point?

What point was that? That a life sentence would be too little? Or that he'll probably get next to nothing. If the first, without having further details of what happened, I'd say your post was mostly pointless. If the second, I'm wondering how you arrive at that conclusion.

Reckless:

While there are many cases of adult children moving back with their parents due to unemployment or underemployment, multi-generational residence were in fact normal. Instead of a govt pension, the adult children would take care of their elderly parents who had taken care of them when they were children. Instead of daycare, when parents were out, the grandparents would watch the children. With the inverted population pyramid and low immigration (possibly to prevent a Europe/protect Japanese culture), Japan may return to this more traditional arrangement.

https://www.carepathways.com/articles/aging-in-america-multigenerational-living.cfm

And the father’s sins outweuanything that his son could have done....

‘outweighs anything’

"his son's social withdrawal and violent behavior were the motive behind the act," A sterling example of some one else is always to blame for nefarious deeds, and the individual is never to accept personal responsibility. There must be a term in Abnormal Psychology that describes this manifestation.

From news reports it appears the son was a troubled hikikomori with mental issues. Perhaps he failed to grow and thrive under the stifling shadow of his "big shot" bureaucrat father. One such case in Japan is known to me personally. I wonder what punishment awaits the former ambassador? Given his elite credentials, he might even be able to talk his way out of a custodial sentence.

Wow, just wow! And there are according to the article about 1,153,000 hikkikomori types between 15-64...

So that likely means in the overall population what at least 2,000,000...….. DAMN this aint ending well for a LOT OF PEOPLE!!

Add in all the other societal problems here & the declining population its going to get rather insane on these isles, or are we already there...………..depressing stuff for sure

My guess: the son had mental health problem

It would appear his father had mental health problems because he’s the one that committed a crime here and killed someone .

"Older Generations facing financial difficulties as their parents get old" because so many people are sitting at home sucking up their parents pension and now that their parents are getting older they have to think about where they can get the money

Every day, the son would login to play a game ('Dragon Quest') for up to 10 hours...

Let's not waste anybody's time here. He's old and he's politically connected, plus he has a reason the judge will sympathize with. This says suspended sentence written all over it

If that old and connected guy who stepped on the gas and killed a mom and her three-year-old daughter walked away, you know nothing will happen to this guy especially since it was his own family.

@ MarkX - if he's 44, unemployed, and living at home, both of his parents are enablers.

I wonder if the kids at the nearby school constantly screaming near their home had anything to do with the son's mental breakdown.

Sometimes, it is very sad that stories are picked up because of a person's past & present tittles at work. Pls do not forget, that is not the tittles that count but the real human being.No one can understand what goes on in a house ???. Can anyone else understands , what is going on in yr home ???.

We don't have enough info to pass any judgement here. Perhaps the son made threatening gestures to him, or to his wife, and he retaliated in self-defence.

If it was to stop his son committing a similar act to the murder in Kawasaki last week, then he should have asked the police to intervene.

Let's wait till we know more before making any assumptions....

his son's social withdrawal and violent behavior were the motive behind the act

I guess murder is one way to deal with hikikomori. It’s not the best way though. The hikikomori syndrome is a serious mental and emotional disorder that needs to be addressed with adequate counseling for the sufferers.