crime

Woman arrested for killing 9-year-old son in Nagoya hotel

48 Comments

A 37-year-old woman was arrested for murder on Wednesday, after her husband called police and told them she had killed their son, police said Thursday.

Yukie Matsuura, an unemployed resident of Kobe, was arrested in a Nagoya hotel after her husband, who lived with her and their 9-year-old son in Kobe, called Hyogo police at around 10.30 a.m. He told them his wife had killed their son in a Nakamura Ward business hotel in Nagoya, and Hyogo police contacted officers in Aichi Prefecture.

Officers went to the hotel and on entering the room, found the third grade elementary school boy dead, lying on a bed. Matsuura was in the room and admitted to killing her son. She was taken into custody and later arrested for murder, police said.

Matsuura told police that she strangled her son and suffocated him with a pillow at about 3 a.m. on Monday. She was quoted as saying: “Our debts had ballooned out to about 10 million yen and I’d lost hope for our future. I killed him and was going to kill myself.”

© Wire reports

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48 Comments
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Here we go again. How about this... why didn't you kill yourself and leave your son so he could have gone on and become someone you could have never been you selfish bIt ch. What is it with people who stuff up their lives and decide to end it by taking others with them???? Well missy your selfish plan didn't work did it because you are still alive and your son is dead. So do yourself a favor and the first chance you get finsih off what you had set out to do....this is yourself.

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Why was a 9 year-old on a business trip?

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Good gracious lord have mercy.....Where is this world heading to?

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Our debts had ballooned out to about 10 million yen and I’d lost hope for our future.

The reward money from one murder could have stopped another :(

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Where is this world heading to?

Same place it's always been heading to. There's nothing novel or original about this crime, no fresh grievance against the human race.

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I hope they hang her a hundred f#$$$$$ times.

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It seems that murder is a trend now. Killing a relative or someone else and justifying it with stress, abusive parents, and anti social environment could somehow affect the punishment. Or maybe blaming it to insanity. Knowing too well that most often than not the meted out punishment is between 5 to 10 years. Will life imprisonment or capital punishment lessen this crime? I wonder. In this case, it was the parent who applied, enjoyed and used up the money. If she can't pay the burden of such big loan then go commit harakiri herself. Just don't do it to her child. Poor little boy! Rest in peace.

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Bobbafett*I hope they hang her a hundred f#$$$$$ times.

To what end? Why would you wish for a persons death? That is a senseless primal reaction. The death of this boy will affect her long after you have forgotten his name. Seriously don't look up but I bet you can't remember it. Rather than want another body you'd be better served thinking how tragedies like this can be avoided.

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10 million isnt enough to be killing yourself or anyone else over. This behaviour seems to be quite common in Japan. The whole shame culture and I cant talk about my problems attitude has worn thin. Sillyness.

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So. Selfish. This makes me so angry. That child did not have to die.

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"I planned on killing myself too."

I don't believe that for a frikking second.

those that plan on a double suicide usually follow through. Those that murder for other reasons usually make up stories after the fact.

Questions:

Where exactly was the husband during all of this? How did he find out? why didn't he stop it?

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sicko

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One has to wonder if this lunatic has ever heard of this novel concept called a "payment plan." Jesus, even filing for bankruptcy and living in the gutter seems like an easier thing to deal with than the death of your child. Of course, she's the one with an untreated mental illness/depression, not me.

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alot of holes, as usual, in this story...if "we" had debts of 10m yen, well doesn't hubby work ? how about a bit of education on how to manage finances...its not rocket science, biatch

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Poor kid.

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10 million yen??? So I take it if they ever bought a house, she would probably have killed the entire neighborhood according to her logic since they probably would not have been able to pay for it all at once.

Either this woman has no idea on how to manage her money, or she was one of those who spent on "luxury items" and due to her not working would not be able to afford them.

This mantra of "excessive debts" seems to be a trend for killing family members here in Japan. Can someone tell me, is the concept of credit or pay later not that big here in Japan. I see that unlike America, there is not a concept of a personal checking account here, and it seems that Japan is a pay as you go country. I just don't understand how having debt is the cause to kill someone and yourself. True excessive debt is not good, but does a credit rating really matter that much here in Japan?

No matter what, sad to see a child die for the idot acts and totally avoidable actions of an unfit mother.

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No Bankruptcy in Japan? Pathetic as usual.I think the Government had better start building more prisons and not worry about their aging society.

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I don't care what anybody says, infanticide is a Japan specific plague. Yes, people in other countries kill their kids too, but not as often or for such subtle reasons as the Japanese. The whole world is suffering economic hardship, but these self-centered twits feel killing their kids and themselves is the answer. I wonder if she was singing kimigayo while she was strangling her kid.

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killing children by some mother and another part wife is killing husband directly or indrectly its not good society of Japan.

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Sigh....

What then should we do?

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I killed him and was going to kill myself

Oh yes, that old chestnut. It is funny how these people know off their loved ones only to survive themselves. Sorry dear, you will not get any sympathy from me. Your current financial problems are of your own making, Mrs. Unemployed. Turning around and smothering your child it totally unacceptable.

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Haven't they learned yet? Kill yourself first, then the child.

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String her up.

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Disgusting!

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Damien:

" Haven't they learned yet? Kill yourself first, then the child. "

And how would that work?

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She sounds like a nut case! 10 million yen is nothing! stupid, foolish woman! She should have given the child up to adoption, akachan post etc..but not kill your own children!

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Damien15, you've solved the problem! If only these murder suicide people would reverse the order, we wouldn't have to worry about what a fair sentence is.

I disagree that this is a "japanese specific" problem in anyway. Murder suicide is a pretty common event in any country that has family violence. (which, by the way, is all countries). Sadly, it's very very common that the killer doesn't lose courage until it's time to kill him or herself. Also, financial stress is definetly not a new reason to commit suicide, murder or murder-suicide.

It seems to be happening fairly often in the Japanese news recently, but I'm pretty sure it's escalated in other countries, too. Stressors, which definitely includes financial stress are key reasons for violence. Recessions tend lead to high financial stress. Anything to do with family violence, including murder or murder suicides tend to skyrocket in times of recession.

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What in the world would possess someone to decide to kill their own child because of debt -- and relatively minor debt at that? So incredibly selfish and unfair to the child.

"Why was a 9 year-old on a business trip?"

I don't believe this was a business trip. It just so happens that the hotel his woman chose to kill her son at is referred to as a "business hotel", meaning that its clients tend to be -- but are not exclusively -- business people.

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The Unspeakable happened again....oh my god! Well, let's just hope for this sub-human monster piece of japanese garbage to just rot in hell and dream about murdering her baby night after night... And yeah, let's keep it real, she won't get hanged nor given a harsh sentence. This is Japan, she'll most likely walk out with a suspended sentence and a slap on the wrist.

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I disagree that this is a "japanese specific" problem in anyway.

Really? I read many international newspapers and rarely do I see family murder-suicides related to debt. Yet, I see three or four a month in the Japanese newspapers. Last month it was a family hanging from a tree.

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Perhaps we should all try to "understand" her as we are trying to do with Tatsuya Ichihashi? All these cries of "String 'em up!" seem to be almost entirely absent in that circumstance.

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@willib. Then the child would not be murdered by the selfish parent, but could instead Stan a chance at having a life... I thought the comment was self explaining in it's simplicity. RIP not so lil angel. May your mother rot in hell.

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This has been very common in Japan, for as long as I can remember. Every week? Or a few times a month... Murdered children by their own parents... These so called parents are very weak, they can't stand life's hardships. This type of crime has become a common thing in this country. Very sad.

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I doubt that the woman really intended to kill herself since most family murder-suicides are commited by males. This sounds more like infanticide apparently due to economic reasons. It's possible that this woman also had a psychiatric disorder.

flatearther: I think you are refering to my previous post. Of course a person's first reaction to the perpetrators of such horrendous murders is 'hang him', 'string 'em up', 'rot in hell', and so on. The second thing that comes to mind (well, at least my mind) is why? how the f*** could someone do something so horrendous? What I'm saying is that these are both natural reactions.

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In many cases where children have been killed by parents it had everything to do with Child Abuse that escalated into murder. I believe that the lack of child protection laws, or at least enforcement of those laws, the lack of foster homes and housing for children who are abused and need to be protected from their parents, and the fact that very little seems to be in place to help abused children, may actually be some of the reason that it happens more often here, if in fact, it does happen more often here.

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Difficult as it may be to understand, there are those in Japan who feel that it is a kind of "responsibility" to take the kids with them when they decide to end things. It has a long history in Japan (and some other countries in Asia). We don't understand it and never will, but it is considered to be the right thing to do so that the child will not be a burden to others. It's hard to explain but as the "creators" of the child, parents are considered to take full responsibility including the decision to prevent any stain on the family name by leaving survivors. That's why jail sentences seem to be quite lenient here for killing family members. Strange but true. In this case, the mother failed to commit suicide but if she had succeeded , some may feel more sorry for both her and the kid. As it turned out, it's hard to sympathize with her at all.

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@DolphinGirl- I actually wasn't referring to your post, I was unaware of you ever posting things like "I hope they hang her a hundred #$$$$$$ times" on this thread or any others. If you have, I apologize for overlooking it.

As far as trying to understand criminal behavior, I would recommend taking a good psychology course. It's definitely a lot more useful than casting aspersions on a victim's character. Just because a reaction may be natural doesn't make it any less offensive.

In this case, whatever her motivations, she still killed an innocent child and I don't have any sympathy. I'm sorry she had debts, but murder doesn't really absolve you of financial responsibility, does it? Besides, she had options. She could have gotten a job.

Personally, I would prostitute myself before I murdered my own child if the situation was that dire. People who take life don't deserve sympathy from anyone. A human life is worth way more than 10 million yen.

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Bet she was on a psychotropic drug. I'm starting to think that all J women are drugged up on something. It seems to me more than half the men and all the old farts are drunk.. the younger women are probably popping happy pills. I think the growing violence is more chemical than just societal.

Furthermore, it just seems everyone in Japan over the age of say, 17, is a selfish piece of fried rhino sphincter.

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Terrible thing to happen for sure. While I clearly agree that this is not a Japanese-specific occurrence, there are clearly cultural factors that cause it to happen the way it does in Japan. I am currently reading a collection of essays entitled The Japanese Mind: Understanding Contemporary Japanese Culture (ISBN 9780804832953). It's a good read so and I recommend it to anyone interested in shedding light on this type of behavior and others in Japan.

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So very sad!

While debt is not just reason to kill, ever, I sadly wonder how modern society is going to confront this very international problem. One can preach about not going into debt but modern life is generally one of indebtedness.

Is modern mankind able to see the shackles that have bound him? If so are we able to act in a way to end this oppressive way of life. The fact that debt is such a problem with so many is because it is systemic and there are many people, though by far not the majorities, whom have gotten very rich at holding their fellow citizens in debt.

Perhaps we should make usury against the law.

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What is it with Japanese and their children?? EVERY DAY at least one child is murdered by a parent.

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Tragic

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Should've killed herself first.... nuff said

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I am 99.99% against the death penalty (especially in a country like Japan with its corrupt justice system), but for parents who kill their children I want to make exceptions. I don't understand why they are so lenient on these people in Japan. I feel it's the worst of the murders. Stranger murders are awful, but murdering your "loved ones" is far worse, the most awful betrayal.

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There is such thing as bankruptcy in Japan. My ex did it before. Her reasoning is doubtful. Most Japanese don't value life at all. It could have been because of lenient penalty. Imagine being housed and fed for free and then out and about after some years. Could some kind of harsher penitence lessen this kind of deplorable crime? She could have filed for divorce, gain custody of her son and live off with a little less than 200,000 yen a month for welfare as her son is still a minor. I am right now having problems too but killing never entered my mind. There was a time when I thought of just leaving without a trace but what is the meaning of life after all? Is it just to be happy, leaving problems behind and start life as a new persona? I'm in the middle of the road yet still learning to love and to heal. I maybe self righteous but that is because I'm a Christian.

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if it was me i woulda killed my wife for killing my boy

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DELTA440

Gee, I'm sure that would make you feel much better. A sign that we are evolving is that we don't resort to our primitive instincts.

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Should send child to a relative to live and take your own life if you're so despondent. And this isn't a Japan-specific phenomena. There have been many family murder suicides in the U.S. during this world economic crisis.

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