Woman detained after school reports non-attendance of her daughter

ControlFreak, while there is no mention of the dad, there is also nothing to suggest that he "just walked away." There are many, many possible reasons for the parents not to live together, so unless you have some specific details, you can't presume anything.

so the police did the right thing; the school did the right thing.

The sexist double standards of today are starting to border on insanity. A woman is probably guilty of murdering a child here, and you misandrists ask where the father is? You realize that men have zero legal say in whether or not a woman keeps a conceived child, they could be divorced, or the man could have died, yet you blame said uninvolved man when the woman murders her own years later? My god.

ControlFreakSep. 27, 2013 - 07:28AM JST And not one word about the father.

Maybe he's also buried in Kotakemachi?

If he's still alive I don't see where you get off criticizing him and insisting he live with this crazy. If he left and applied for custody of the kids he would have had zero chance, the Japanese courts ALWAYS award custody to the woman, and his only choices would have been living with a loony at the risk of his life or leaving.

I'm glad the school and police acted promptly in this matter.

She was supposed to start school in April 2012. Either you have a strange definition of "promptly", or a very subtle way of using sarcasm. According to the Japanese reports, the school made repeated home visits for a year until notifying the child consultation center in March 2013. The center finally notified the police in May 2013.

It says 7-year-old but the mother claims she died "a few years ago". So I assume 7 is how old she would be if she were still alive.

Another psychotic parent that has killed their kid. I can't understand why this happens so often in Japan. I am divorced and fight hand over fist just to get to see my kids and you have all these nuts killing theirs. Just crazy!

rickyveeSEP. 27, 2013 - 09:35AM JST so the police did the right thing; the school did the right thing.

I agree.

Ms. Alexander, I agree this article is lacking details. It does say April 2012 though.

by registering the girl, she set herself up. darwin of the week.

Just when you think who heard and seen it all....!!! A real NUT case, to say the least!!

Police suspect that the woman enrolled her daughter at school to give the impression that the child was still alive.

when in fact she probably would have gotten away with it by not enrolling her to begin with.

I posit that enrolling the daughter kept up the illusion that she was a single mother, which would mean a big difference in drawing any welfare benefits. So sad...

She probably killed her daughter and filled out paperwork for school to continue to get subsidy. Very sick!

@ControlFreak, as someone else mentioned, nothing in the article states that the father is a deadbeat. Sure it takes two to make a baby but what if she didn't tell him she was pregnant? What if she told him to get lost? What if he died from an accident or illness? He could have "walked away" but we don't know anything. And as someone else also mentioned, fathers have no say in childrearing here, even if they are Japanese.

I'm glad the school and police acted promptly in this matter. I hope they find the poor girl's body.

therougou - I don't have a strange definition of "promptly" nor do I have a subtle way of using sarcasm. My post is based on what JT wrote. Does it say in the article here how many times the school visited the home? No. Does it say for how long the school visited? No. Does it say when the school notified the consultation center? No. Does it say when the center notified the police? No.

It could be that the kid is still alive and living with the father. And the mother is just off of meds... I just hope this is so. If not, rest in peace little one.

Francis UrquhartSEP. 27, 2013 - 09:54AM JST The odd thing is, I found as an ALT and therefore kind-of-a-teacher, was that one or two kids never, and I mean absolutely never attended lessons but were part of the class, and school. There was even one where a picture was superimposed of the 'missing' pupil in the graduation album. In class there was always a desk and chair set out for the pupil, in 'missing man formation' but the pupils never showed up. So it's odd that the school should bother so much. Having said that the instances I refer to were all at JHS. Thse pupils, at several JHSs, all went on to 'graduate' and go to SHS where I suppose they never attended either. WTFP!!! Interestingly, if a pupil fails to attend school in my home country, the parent(s) can be prosecuted. The Japanese way mystifies me to this day!

it is compulsory to register your child at your immediate district in Japan. There are many possibilities as to why the child (at your school) is absent. Have you checked that the "missing" pupil is not a "special" kid, e.g. ADHD, Dyslexic (ひまわり子)　or a problem child that has to attend a juvenile center? Some kids are traumatized in a way that they aren't comfortable in "entering" a classroom or be with a crowd; hence the empty desk to note their existence.

Controlfreak: I think I get what you mean. I wish that both parents had the responsibility of raising or caring for children in Japan. If shared custody was a possibility, children would have more of a support network and parents may get a break that they need. However, until that changes, the responsibility rests solely in one persons shoulders which can be too much for some. Little girl, rest in peace

Sick lady

The odd thing is, I found as an ALT and therefore kind-of-a-teacher, was that one or two kids never, and I mean absolutely never attended lessons but were part of the class, and school. There was even one where a picture was superimposed of the 'missing' pupil in the graduation album. In class there was always a desk and chair set out for the pupil, in 'missing man formation' but the pupils never showed up. So it's odd that the school should bother so much. Having said that the instances I refer to were all at JHS. Thse pupils, at several JHSs, all went on to 'graduate' and go to SHS where I suppose they never attended either. WTFP!!!

Interestingly, if a pupil fails to attend school in my home country, the parent(s) can be prosecuted. The Japanese way mystifies me to this day!

And not one word about the father.

There needs to be a law that parents cannot just walk away from responsibility. So often we see that the mother is the one who at least tries to take responsibility, and when she fails everything becomes her fault. Meanwhile the dad who just abandoned them both just smiles and waves from a distance.

If both parents were held legally accountable for their offspring, this girl would probably still be alive. And don't tell me that she tricked him into getting her pregnant.