Police on Thursday arrested a 29-year-old woman for allegedly strangling to death her 2-year-old daughter at their home in Tochigi.
According to police, they received a call at 9 a.m. on Wednesday from a woman saying that she had strangled her daughter, NTV reported. Police rushed to the apartment and found the girl lying on the living room floor. She was taken to hospital where she was confirmed dead.
Police took the woman into custody. She was quoted as saying that she sat on her daughter's back and strangled her with both hands, NTV reported.
According to police, the woman lived with her husband and daughter. She has been visiting a hospital regularly for treatment of mental health problems.
© Japan Today
36 Comments
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kimuzukashiiiii
horrible .. but sadly not surprising news to wake up to in the morning...
Its easy to start asking questions like "where was the husband" etc, but I have only one ...
How many more kids have to die in this country before they start to take mental health problems seriously?
Ms. Alexander
Agree with everything you said kimuzukashiiii.
Saulo Akazawa
So sad and so wrong in so many levels. RIP little angel who barely saw our world!!!
YuriOtani
Her doctor needs to be arrested for professional negligence resulting in death.
papigiulio
Sigh how many is this? What is wrong with these mothers. 1 in a year and i can say oh that woman is crazy but EVERY DAY? And the sad thing is, there is no way to stop it.
Disillusioned
The beat goes on and on and on and on and on and......
Is Japan ready to admit there is a problem with mental health and infanticide? How many children are killed, physically abused or neglected in Japan each year? Yeah, it happens all over the world, but it seems to happen with alarming regularity and calausness in Japan.
TheDevilsAssistant
With all these cases of mothers and people killing, I'm surprised the J-Gov hasn't changed thier thinking of mental illness in Japan. If they can't see there is a problem by now, maybe the Government officials have mental issues too.
TokyoGas
I cannot believe how often this type of story hits the news.
Mirai Hayashi
Will there ever an end to this? Really! Please Japan! Give kids a chance to live!
Hiroicci
Oh no, not again...
I got up, read this and got depressed. And I have a whole day to feel this way...
soldave
The thing is though, the government won't change their way of thinking, because to do that would be them admitting that there is a problem in society, and possibly making some people unhappy. They'd much rather just have incidents like this on a weekly basis, while sticking the head in the sand and thinking of them as an anomaly.
smithinjapan
The Mother-of-the-Day report is in! What kind of mental health problems was the woman suffering from? If it was just anxiety and/or panic attacks, while they can be serious, I can understand the kids still being allowed to be cared for solely by the mother (while pops is away working), but it sounds like she was suffering from severe depression or something a lot worse, and the kids should not have been allowed with her alone. I don't understand how despite this being a near daily thing in Japan why the government has yet to actually do anything but pay the issue a little lip-service and claim "something will be done".
Lock her up in an a prison asylum and hopefully she can find some form of treatment and the peace she needs. Poor little child. RIP
Elbuda Mexicano
So this horrible woman not only strangled her daughter but sat on the little 2 year old's back, meaning she mounted the poor little girl from behind, giving the poor little girl know way to even defend herself!!! I know, I know the mods here will not let me freely express what I would do with this monster of a woman!! Anyway poor little angel, RIP
chooch
While I in no way defend murderous actions, we should be careful to avoid bashing mothers as though they have a higher proportional propensity for violence. We have to remember that women in Japan are the primary caregivers, so it is unsurprising that the murderers would be women. Men are at work or doing something else.
I couldn't guarantee this, but I have a suspicion that the numbers would be more even if fathers were more involved in their children's lives.
gogogo
More parents kill their children, when is the government going to figure out there is a problem here!
cl400
All this government talk, I wish they read our comments sometimes because they might learn a thing or two or.... what's that other thing called again... oh yeah... common sense.
Dennis Bauer
Again wtf , What is wrong with these people!
ebisen
Wanna bet that she'll walk freely 2-3 years from now?
lucabrasi
@ebisen
Se won't walk "freely", she'll have her daughter's death on her conscience for ever. And what good would locking her up for thirty years do, apart from satisfy certain people's desire for vicarious revenge?
Disillusioned
Lucabrasci - I agree! Locking her up will do nothing to prevent this happening to another kid tomorrow (or today). There needs to be proactive reforms of the mental healthcare structure in Japan and start providing some real support and therapy for these people and provide safe environments for their kids.
soldave
ebisen - most likely a suspended sentence and a continuation of very limited mental care.
flipper2
When someone does something bad people in Japan people always say ''he/she had a mental problem''. I am suspicious of the label ''Mental problem'' used as a cliche to pretend bad people simply don't exist in Japan or if you commit a crime you are 'Mental' Everyone in Japan and any other country had at some point asked a doctor a prescription for stress at some point but it doesn't mean that person is chronically ill mentally. There is no clear definition of course in Japan between 'Chronic mental health illness' and 'passive stress disorders' unless a person commits a horrendous crime. So yes, I think Japan needs more 'Mental health doctors' but also more education to stop labeling criminals as having a 'mental problem' as this impacts society to further isolate people who have or seem to have '' a mental problem''. On the other hand I woulnt be surprised if the Drugs they gave her had an advert reaction as this often the case with Anti-depressants and drugs like Tamiflu.
tmarie
Day after day after day... For a country crying for kids they sure don't know how to protect them, do they? Suspended sentence because mommy is sick?
MoBass4u
@flipper2: Nice point but that IS the point. Very little if ANYTHING is done to evaluate who is mental or who is just plain bad. Hoping it will go away never works. Telling someone ganbatte rarely works. Leaving them to fend for themselves? The above article was the end result in this case. In my personal experiences a few that I have reached out to found it 'strange' that I offered to help as if I had an alterior motive. I wish more would just learn to open up and let their thoughts be heard.
mtwildman
These 'trouble people' should jump off a bridge and leave their kids alone!
Simon Foston
I doubt it, unfortunately - that would mean acknowledging much bigger and deeper problems of which these incidents are only tragic symptoms, which no one in authority wants to or can deal with. So much less stressful to go on maintaining the pretense that everything is just fine and dandy, and that no one important needs to take any responsibility for systematic neglect and incompetence.
cramp
ugh the worse part is i believe familial murders in japan come with a very lenient slap on the wrist
unequivocallyobservingjapan
That long ago fabricated myth of japan being a safe country never ever should have been allowed to take root.
yasukuni
You are saying that Japan doesn't take mental health seriously, and that there is a stigma attached to admitting to mental health issues. But, the article states that she had "been visiting a hospital regularly for treatment of mental health problems."
Elbuda Mexicano
I can not even begin to try and comprehend how anybody could ever do this to a child, let alone to their own flesh and blood! WHY?? Oh WHY?? These stupid crimes just make me sick but I still believe in Japan and that the majority of Japanese are good people, problem is that we need to not just be good, but help those who are suffering, maybe this woman was at her wit's end?? Not too sure, but still no way to forgive such a horrible crime.
DentShop
What the hell are you talking about?
Ali Khan
do you have any idea how much stressful are the women of Afghanistan, Palestine and Africa? believe me you would not be able to count there problems but still these societies have no such cases like the Japanese society
Fadamor
And another innocent child is murdered in a country that needs EVERY child they have to grow up healthy and strong. Japan needs to treat filicide as a Capital Crime. Killing a Japanese child is a direct attack on the future of Japan.
ebonyninja
I see two things extremely wrong with this situation!!!
There is always the closing line or "....was being seen at a hospital for mental illness treatment. Apparently one in Japan is capable of providing treatment for mental illness!!!Child abuse in Japan is waaaaaaaaaaaay out of control!! We are not talking spankings, we are talking about murders.
R.I.P. 2 year old angel.
alladin
It is very sad that there are a lot of innocent children that have to be born to irresponsible and immature parents like this mother that strangled her daughter.
pointofview
If a parent has mental problems they shouldn`t be left alone with their child. What a thug.