Woman arrested for strangling 11-year-old son to death

I suppose that's one way to solve her problems. Now, she can watch her daughter grow up from a prison cell although, I doubt if she does do any time in a cell for this. In her mind it was a mercy killing, but it was her mercy, not his.

"In the mother's mind, this was not murder or evil. She sending her son off to a better place in the afterlife or wheel of life, so let us not judge her action from western standards. What she did makes perfect sense. Her son is in a better PLACE now. Forgive her. She acted out of love, a mother's love."

Danny, your comment is unacceptable. By ALL standards, western or otherwise.

"In the mother's mind, this was not murder or evil. She sending her son off to a better place in the afterlife or wheel of life, so let us not judge her action from western standards. What she did makes perfect sense. Her son is in a better PLACE now. Forgive her. She acted out of love, a mother's love."

Danny, your comment is unacceptable. By ALL standards, western or otherwise.

That seems to be the way Japanese resolve their issues. Cant deal with a bully KILL YOUR SELF, cant deal with an employee or coworker KILL THEM or KILL YOURSELF, can`t raise a child KILL THEM. WTH is wrong with this country and their way of dealing with life situations! It seems that for everyone else, looking the other way instead of helping is the way things are. Damn shame, so many needless deaths, specially of children.

You have to feel sorry for the entire family in this situation. Makes we wonder yet again, given all the incidents of family members murdering other family members or commiting suicide, about Japan's social service system and what support there is for parents - especially single ones - of children with physical and mental challenges.

I hate to judge without actually knowing her, but sometimes I wonder if people like this have ever had any mental hardships in their lives. I have no doubt that working mothers have difficult lives in these difficult economic times. Nevertheless, sometimes I wonder if peoples' thresholds are just that much lower in terms of tolerance when it comes to dealing with others' hardships. Patience and tolerance is one of those things you learn in a constant and deliberate struggle in coming to terms with yourself and also understand others.

Why is the gut reaction when you see someone that's obviously having mental difficulties "Oh great, I have to deal with this crap now; just my luck!" instead of "I should put forth effort in trying to understand and be patient with this person. What a wonderful opportunity to understand a different perspective and perhaps by proxy learn a little about myself"?

Again, I'm not judging her because I don't know the situation. But reading into that the girl didn't seem to receive the same level of criminal abuse as far as we know, and seeing so many situations where parents(and teachers) are impatient with disabled children because it touches/nicks on that upper limit of day to day tolerance, I just have to wonder.

It's really not possible to tell what was going on in that family from the facts as presented. All we know is the poor little child's last thought on Earth was that his mother was murdering him. What a terrible thing.

This does not keep getting worse anymore. It is simply a daily custom for the statistics of Crime Department of Japan... I really hope that Shinzo Abe frees the spot for just anyone else, who might just try to do something with the moral values of upcoming generations. This is grievous, heinous and inhumane. And the whole society is up for a purge if they want to stop those attrocities... I wished to, one day, be able to visit Japan and grasp the soul of the Empire of the Rising sun. Now I beg for there to be just something left to visit in the future...

Sad, Rip. In Malaysia everyday in the news we have a lot of these cases as well, mother throwing her baby from condominium, older parent being left alone to die, father rape her own daughter and so on...

@ Rik314

Interesting post, as you may well know the japanese for empathy is Kyōkan it always amazes me how few natives literally know the word. try it out and no its not my Hatsuon.

(This is not Japan bashing as there are a lot worse countries to be in...) Japan is not a great place to be if you are different, and that includes a wide range of things, particularly if you are physically different. It is a 'haji no bunka', a 'shame culture' and if tragedy befalls you, marks you, even if it is no fault of your own and even if you are associated with it, you MAY get some tut-tuting sympathy, but not much real, meaningful empathy. You are more a spectacle than 'special'. Services to help are rudimentary considering Japan's wealth and stability. It is disgraceful. We do not know what 'developmental disorder' means here, but it meant enough of a trial to drive a woman to murder her son and saddle her daughter not only with the double shame. Was she cold-blooded murderer? Was she mentally incompetent at the time? Was she, in a way, saving her son a life of misery and her daughter a burden in many many ways in the long term. Find some empathy.

"What she did makes perfect sense. Her son is in a better PLACE now. Forgive her. She acted out of love, a mother's love."

The son would bear no fruit in the future in his condition. It was wrong what she did, but for better or worse, she made a decision and must live with that decision. I feel bad for the older sister who must undergo the drama ahead.

holyholly: "The mother saw that it was a challenge, figured she can kill her mentally disabled child with justification, and believes that she will not be charged. I don't know the answer, but am curious."

I doubt that's the case, but it COULD be, and I think it is the case in other, similar situations. You see, there is a huge outpouring of sympathy AFTER the murders (or attempts), so much so that in some cases the mothers are put back together with their children immediately where they can finish off the job, such as with the mother who first tried to strangle her son, then a week later tossed him out the window when social services didn't take him away. I mean, just look at some of the comments above:

"What she did makes perfect sense. Her son is in a better PLACE now. Forgive her. She acted out of love, a mother's love."

Yowza! With 'mother's love' like that the surviving child better be hoping for a lot less of it.

Ikeda... was quoted by police as saying that her son had suffered from a developmental disorder

But it may not be true. The mother could just be saying that to get sympathy.

It's easy isn't it!!

Having worked in the intellectual disability field for 30 years I can understand the mother's difficulty. I don't know what level of disability the boy had, but this level of desperation can be greatly relieved by whoever is responsible for organising services for these unfortunate citizens setting up Early Intervention schools which provide education appropriate to the child's level of ability, in particular assisting with learning of basic life skills, and which can be a great source of advice and support to parents. In addition they relieve the parents of providing continual care 24/7 as the children are at school on the day on weekdays. Also some sort of allowance or pension for the child would help financially.

@Danny Bloom,

No, it. absolutely doesn't make perfect sense.

Murder is murder regardless of the circumstances. In that mother's eyes it might seem ok to do what she did on her end, but doesn't excuse the fact she killed her own child and trying to wrap it up with as much fluff to soften up the action is inexcusable. You know what a loving mother is.... Someone who doesn't kill off their own kids and loves their children unconditionally. It has nothing to do with western standards.

Are you going to make excuses and defend all the previous mothers killing their kids because of reason x and y as well?

Rest in peace in little fella.

Way, way too many of these incidents lately. Rest in peace.

In the mother's mind, this was not murder or evil. She sending her son off to a better place in the afterlife or wheel of life, so let us not judge her action from western standards. What she did makes perfect sense. Her son is in a better PLACE now. Forgive her. She acted out of love, a mother's love.

Oh, no need to be alarmed this kind of thing is common around the world. NOT. A Japanese person needs to start a Facebook page: Save Japanese Kids Now! and make this problem of Japanese infanticide more public.

@Bob Sneider- I tend to agree with you. What's causing all this? I wonder if it occurs at such high frequency in other countries as it does here. I sure wish there was an answer, but if I were to guess, I'd have to say the support infrastructure is not in place and is not of any concern to today's government. Abe has bigger problems and this social problem doesn't get him any votes, so he'd rather not waste his time with this.

after a certain point, you realize that these are not isolated incidents, and rather reflects a problem with the entire society. Murder of family members (people killing elderly parents, parents killing children) are too commonly seen on JT these days .

Chinatsu Ikeda is suspected of strangling her son Yusei to death with a rope

RIP Yusei-kun!! :-(

I really don't want to nitpick, but a few concerns/questions. First off, how can a paramedic confirm Yusei's death? Usually when people are obviously dead, they attach the "...in cardiac arrest while being transported to hospital."

I wonder, what smithinjapan said, if mother's actually do their research and think they will get off of murder charges considering past verdicts in such cases. The JT community is quick to give verdicts and more often than not, they are correct in the verdict. The mother saw that it was a challenge, figured she can kill her mentally disabled child with justification, and believes that she will not be charged. I don't know the answer, but am curious. It's not right whatsoever, but if I were unstable, had a mentally challenged son, weren't able to cope and knew how to (possibly) get out of it, I think I'd consider her option.

Japan is in dire need of support for said families.

Another mother-of-the-day. She knew what she did was wrong as she waited until alone, then called police after murdering her child. Lock her up! Oh, but wait, there is another child that "needs her mother". So Sensei258 is probably right.

Sigh. There needs to be more support, no question, but what's on earth kind of relief does this woman expect from murder? And will she be given even more relief by a judge for doing so? RIP to the child!

Sounds like a single parent, so the judge will give her a suspended sentence so she can care for the other child.

Yeah. I'm torn with this one. Locking her away means the daughter will end up without a mother. I don't know what's worse for her. Sad story.

she was distressed about how to raise him.

Sounds like a single parent, so the judge will give her a suspended sentence so she can care for the other child.

Sigh.. Raising a child with special needs is definitely a challenge not everyone can undertake. It takes a lot of patience and love to pull it off properly.. I'm blessed that my son is normal and does not need special care and attention, so I cannot relate to the issues she has had to deal with. However, that said, killing the boy.. an 11 year old boy... with a rope.. well.. rope or no rope.. giving up like that. I'm speechless. Surely it was tiring for the parent. but killing the innocent boy is not an answer.

I feel sorry for all of those involved, and hope the boy may rest in peace.

Ditto

I don't even raise my eyebrows anymore, everytime an almost identical article of this nature appears.