crime

Woman dies after beating administered by son, provoked by incontinence incident

39 Comments

A 49-year-old man has been arrested over the death of his 76-year-old mother at their home in Yokohama on Sunday, police said.

According to a report on NTV, the man, who has been named as Hiroshi Ichinohe, became enraged with his mother, Michiko, at around 5 a.m. on Sunday, after she had a bout of incontinence. Police were quoted as saying that Ichinohe has confessed to striking his mother on the chest. She lost consciousness and was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Ichinohe has been charged with causing bodily injury resulting in death.

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39 Comments
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What a tragedy on so many levels. RIP.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Although the man is wrong for hitting his mother, Japan's society is to blame. She obviously needed to be in the proper environment where she could be cared for by professionals.

The city of Yokohama, is one of the most expensive to live in. City tax is through the roof. Quite often, city tax can be more expensive than your rent for over 3 to 4 payments. Yet somehow Yokohama doesn't work towards providing proper nursing homes. Most families end up paying out of their own pockets.

The nursing homes that are available have are in very dismal conditions. I myself have been to a couple. I've seen what they eat and where they sleep. It's very heartbreaking indeed.

I feel sorry for this guy actually. Although he didn't handle the situation properly, there was no way he could handle the situation properly. There was no support.

-9 ( +6 / -15 )

Diapers are available for adults, she didn't use them?

4 ( +5 / -1 )

It doesn't matter if she was pissing herself or lost control of herself. He shouldn't have hit her. I hope they put this guy on suicide watch though. It's hard to imagine living the rest of your life knowing that you killed your mom.

Another problem with this case is we don't have an autopsy and probably won't get one cause he probably doesn't have enough money to hire a lawyer he will insist on it.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

The supreme irony here is that she undoubtably had to deal with years of "incontinence incidents" when Hiroshi was a small child... and she never once managed to beat him to death.

17 ( +18 / -1 )

Her inability to control her bladder is probably in part due to having gave birth to her murderer. Hope he thinks about that for the rest of his life.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

TriumvereOct. 24, 2011 - 10:02AM JST The supreme irony here is that she undoubtably had to deal with years of "incontinence incidents" when Hiroshi was a small child... and she never once managed to beat him to death.

Precisely. If she was just incontinent then there's no reason she'd need managed care in a special facility, and attempts to excuse this incident by blaming the lack of nursing facilities are misguided.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Geeezzz! I feel sorry for the mom getting abused for something she couldn't even control. It's so sad if you think about the berating comments she was getting from her son before getting hit. After reading this, I called my mom and told her I loved her.....she thought I went crazy, or something.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Was not that long ago that the tradition was to leave elderly in the mountains, times change. Now beating them to death in the comfort of a home they provided is the go.

0 ( +1 / -2 )

@Triumvere

The supreme irony here is that she undoubtably had to deal with years of "incontinence incidents" when Hiroshi was a small child... and she never once managed to beat him to death.

So true, right? I hope he gets to see her face every time he goes to sleep from now on.

The death of this lady was completely unnecessary. The government doesn't care about anybody but themselves. These smegma politicians, fat and greasy, stealing the money from the people. They are to blame for this and everything else that's happening. lack of resources and support. Lack of everything. Still, Hiroshi is a little coward and what he committed was MURDER, plain and simple. He will pay for this, maybe not in this country, but he eventually he will. Karma is ugly. Knowing how corrupted and stinky the judicial system in my country is...he'll probably do 2~3 years in prison. If he hires his own lawyer the worst case scenario? get off with a suspended sentence and that's it.

Japan is really hitting rock bottom with all senseless murders and abuse. Is there any shame and honor left?!

0 ( +5 / -5 )

NetNinja,

You make some valid points about the lack of support for people with elderly parents in need of special care, but you make a lot of assumptions about his sutuation that we just aren't able to glean for the short article above.

I understand all too well the challenges and stress inherent in caring for someone who can no loger do for themselves those things we take for granted as healthy adults. My 90-year-old grandmother had suffered two strokes, and as a college senior, I slept by her bedside for the better part of a year before she passed away, helping her eat, bathe, and change her clothes and diapers. It's tough, no doubt about it. And without the support of the rest of my family, I'm certain I would have seen my frustration and stress level rise.

But I never, ever can envision myself physically lashing out at her for doing something that's largely out of her control. Heck, I wouldn't hit my own grandmother, much less my mother, for intentionally doing something that might affect me adversely.

He punched . . . his 76-year-old mother . . . in the chest . . . for wetting herself. Who in the world does that? And if he has children, is this how he potty-trained them? I just can't sympathize with him, no matter what his circumstances.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Thank LFRAgain for your post. I do realize that the article is short.

I also realize that this type of story is a food for thought article. It encourages us to write what we think and in turn creates traffic to the site. Naturally the people at JT get paid by sponsors and advertisers.

So yeah, there are a lot of unanswered questions. I decided to post what I thought the real problem is in relation to the story here.

Sometimes when I read an article like this, I just see a can of worms.

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

yeah, its hard to imagine that that someone you call son whom you gave birth to will be your killer

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Cruelty, tendency to violence, disregard, incapability to solve problems in a civil human way, mental fragility, frigidity, lack of emotions, empathy and tolerance, heartlessness, coldness, loneliness, hopelessness, illness, aging and the most destructive force ever - fear.

All present in the Japanese society and as a result they turn their aggression against themselves.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Amend , lack of emotions, lack of empathy and tolerance,

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

NetNinja,

"Sometimes when I read an article like this, I just see a can of worms."

Well, I wish I could say you had no cause to see things that way, but unfortunately, you and I both know that wouldn't be true.

Even without knowing the full details of how this tragedy came to be, I think you're spot on to point out that that more facilities and options for an aging society in Japan are in desperate need. But the devil's in the details, as they say, first and formost being how to pay for it.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

BlueWitch - Japan is really hitting rock bottom with all senseless murders and abuse. Is there any shame and honor left?!

Gees! Take it easy honey. It's only lunch time. - I doubt if this guy's intentions were to kill her, but no doubt he let loose with a large dose of spent up emotion in his attack.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

This story doesn't even leave me angry - it is just sad beyond anything I can imagine. Even though the atrticle does not say it explicitly, it seems as if the son called the ambulance himself. He will have to live with this. Poor anger management, probably due to the need of suppressing all emotion in daily life. He should be punished hard. But no punishment can equal the guilt that he must feel. May she rest in peace...

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I completely agree with BlueWitch!!

0 ( +4 / -4 )

"Cruelty, tendency to violence, disregard, incapability to solve problems in a civil human way, mental fragility, frigidity, lack of emotions, empathy and tolerance, heartlessness, coldness, loneliness, hopelessness, illness, aging and the most destructive force ever - fear -- All present in the Japanese society"

All of the above are present in human society; You've effectively summed up roughly half of what it means to be human.

The other half is that part that makes it possible for us to recoil in horror at stories like this. And that half is also present in Japan.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

LFRAgainOct. 24, 2011 - 03:49PM JST

Although, as you said, the human attributes I have mentioned are present in all human societies, but not in such concentrated and incurable stubborn form, adding that the incapability to solve problems through verbal communication is truly unique to Japan.

-7 ( +0 / -7 )

Children these days hardly have any morals for the parents. You're supposed to take care of your parents with love like most parents bring up their children into this world.

What a looser this guy is. Problem his anger management issues or other problems in his head. How can a child even hit his mother ? Beyond me.

Few years ago, one of our close neighbours ( husband ) passed away. Mother was still alive. They only had 1 son and 1 daughter. When the son came home from Tokyo, the first thing he went for on was the piggy bank that was in the house with some money his father kept. He said to his mother and sister he wanted half! What a pathetic looser. Go figure!

And the parents Father and Mother including daughter is real nice people. Like i said, children with no morals and no respect for the people who bring them into this world.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Oh My GOD!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Until people in this country get rid of the notion that they should look after their old folks, this type of abuse will continue and increase. People use to kick the bucket much, much earlier so it didn't mean mom and dad were alive and kicking and needing help for twenty odd years. Regular people are unable to care for the elderly well. You can all dismiss it if you wish but it is pretty much a FT job looking after ailing parents. Many people don't know how to do it, don't have the training nor have the care. However, they WILL do it because of guilt trips and gossip. The care these people get at the hands of their family is shocking. I have seen it first hand and it saddens. My FIL and MIL are looking after FIL's mom and while they are doing the best they can, the poor women leads a pathetic life. I fear that either MIL or FIL is going to put their back out or make themselves ill because of all the stress.

Was the man right to hit his mom? Certainly not. No on here is saying he was. However, the comments of "His mom changed his diapers" doesn't help the situation. For all you know he's been changing his mom's diaper for 10 years which is much longer than mom changed his. You have no idea the state of mind the women was in. It surprises me that some of you are so quick to judge this man while having no idea what the situation was. Indeed it is sad. For both of them.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

@tmarie

Thanks for your humanly post. Indeed, if you haven't cared for your own dementing mother or father you have no idea what you are talking about.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

The Munya TimesOct. 24, 2011 - 04:25PM JST

......the incapability to solve problems through verbal communication is truly unique to Japan.

@Munya Times: Simply not true. Don't know where you get this from, but all you have to do is watch/read the news (other than JT) of other countries around the world to know otherwise.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Im giving a bad mark to everyone who chooses to feel sympathy for a young healthy male assaulting an elderly woman.There is no evidence presented so far, to support any kind of physical violence towards this elderly person, in this case.

There must have been a thousand other ways to deal with the situation and not one of them violent, if he had simply left her alone and cleared out of the house, telling someone, anyone, that she was there, appears to me to be the most obvious. I am not at all interested in any kind of cultural customs, that might have given him reason to hesitate in doing so. He 'became enraged' with an old lady and killed her. I become enraged by savagery and would expect to be locked up for a long time, for offering savagery to anyone, especially to anyone old or infirm, and even to a person who has behaved in this savage way.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Before anyone even considers becoming a Carer for any member of their family, there are a few things they need to realise 1 they need to have ultimate patience. 2 Be prepared to accept sleep deprevation 3That you may find yourself isolated with only your patient for company 4 Not to be afraid to ask for help if you find difficulty in coping.5 Ensure that there is a daycare centre and make use of it when nessassary.6 Have a phone number handy of a Carers Soceity that you can ring for support when needed.. be prepared to accept it is often a thankless job in many cases and be prepared to live on a financial shoestring if a Carers Benefit is the only source of income. So many people are unaware of the responsabilities incurred by traveling this road. Losing ones temper over an incontinence episode just shows the son was not the appropriate person to be caring for his mother

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The Munya Times,

" . . . the human attributes I have mentioned are present in all human societies, but not in such concentrated and incurable stubborn form, adding that the incapability to solve problems through verbal communication is truly unique to Japan."

Sorry, but you'd be hard pressed to convince me or the majority of people who do or have lived in Japan for any appreciable length of time to buy into this blanket and wholly unfounded "The Japanese people are souless machines" theory of yours. We're just going to have to agree to disagree here.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Reinaert Albrecht, I would never put myself in that position because a) I have watched firsthand what it has done to my MIL and FIL and my grandmother caring for my grandfather in terms of stress, physical and mental health and quality of life b) I am not trained to deal with some of the issue old people face c) have discussed this with my parents and they agree that there is no need for myself nor my sister to "look after" them when they have the money to go into a home nor the desire to be treated like a child by their own children. More so when they also have witnessed what this type of care can do to the care givers. Perhaps you should have had the same discussion with your parents?

ensnaturae2, do you live in Japan? Do you have any idea how hard it is to get quality care for people of age in this country? My PIL have someone come in twice a week to help granny bathe, give her a quick check up... and they are lucky they can do this because they can afford it. There is a HUGE need for nurses and caregivers in this country and will just get worse with time. No one wants to do this job because the hours and pay are crap - and they have to deal with death. There are not a thousand solutions which is why so many people get to the point where they are smacking their poor mothers!! From your suggestion of just leaving, the women would have died a painful death or starving to death or getting infections due to not being cleaned. No one in this country really is addressing the everyday problem that non-rich people are facing with their elderly parents.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Any, terrible situation crazy guy killing off his mother, Japan really needs to reflect, maybe think about the Showa period, when times were more simple and people here actually really cared more about each other than just caring so much about $$$$$, IMHO. And SouthSakai, man, your story about that idiot son going for half of a piggy bank, just disgusting but thanks!

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

That he hit her was wrong in the extreme, whatever the circumstances, and it sounds like they were pretty bad. That said, it doesn't sound like he was hell-bent on killing her.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

LFRAgain, Thanks for sharing about your experiences with your grandmother. I'm sure the experience had a profound impact on the person you are today.

Taka

0 ( +0 / -0 )

TahoochiOct. 24, 2011 - 06:30PM JST

@Munya Times: Simply not true. Don't know where you get this from,

Experience. Of course it doesn't apply for the intellectual layer of the society. I am not surprise these kids are killing their mothers and can't communicate. I see mums raising their kids with the three magic words "dame, yada, abunai " all day all night and see many of 10-12 years old kids kicking at midnight in town killing their time in front of the convenience stores, their parents probably don't eevn realize they are not at home if they care at all. What emotional capacities, what verbal power an communication skill do these grown up kids have for their parents to solve problems, and what feeling they have toward their mothers who raised them that way in emotional and spiritual desert? that's what they have in their soul, desert, that's why they insult even their mothers.

LFRAgainOct. 24, 2011 - 07:35PM JST

...........into this blanket and wholly unfounded "The Japanese people are souless machines" theory of yours.

They might have but then they are the most successful in the world hiding it. No sarcasm here, I admit they might have but in this selfish material society everybody is for themselves, can't bother others with asking for help and are not in the mood to help each others.

Of course not all of them are like that, I met very nice Japanese too, I have nice Japanese friends too, some of them much better than my countrymen, yet I sense that the majority here are emotionally destroyed, their personality is mutilated. Sad, lonely, exhausted, desperate people they seem to be for me.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

@Christina O'Neill

You are absolutely right on all counts. I live with my 84 year old mother. She has made a good recovery from two small strokes suffered over the past year, but our lives have changed in so many ways. Even with these changes, there is no place I would rather be. I consider it a blessing to have this time with her. There are plenty of challenges, as you stated, but I will have no regrets when the time comes to say goodbye.

I feel sorry for the son and mother in this article. It's truly tragic. The article itself is too short and there are not enough details to really understand their situation. We cannot judge.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

My father died a month and two days ago; I tried to take care of medical decisions since 2005. My dad was an abusive ass and I was removed from my house as a teen, but as a parent it is my job to teach my own children how to behave. I couldn't very well tell them to treat others like they would want to be treated, if I didn't behave that way. It got to the point where I couldn't stand to be around him. I had to quit talking to him, because he was going to do what he wanted to do anyway......but I didn't kill him. So my children learned that they really should treat other's like they would want to be treated.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

when my step-son was younger, i noticed he was sometimes disrespectful to his mother, in a manner no young man should address a parent. my wife, his mother, says this kind of thing sometimes happens in japan but I put a stop to it the very first time i noticed it; furthermore, i notified all the family members (aunts, uncles) of this issue.(his tendency to be rude to his mother) . he understands that in this family, that kind of behavior is not acceptable. he is a young adult now and seems to have no issues now. as for the man in this story; one day soon he will be old, probably experience the very same issues his mother had... what goes around, comes around.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I live with my boyfriend and his grandparents: his grandfather is wheelchair bound and suffering from advanced parkinsons disease, unable to do even the smallest thing for himself. He requires our presence around the clock. Sometimes he doesn't tell us that he needs to go to the bathroom and soils himself. It can be very frustrating. We can never just leave to go to the cinema, or go to a restaurant when we feel like it, we have to find somebody to care for him and prearrange all of our outings. I have only been here for three months; my partner and his grandmother have been doing it for three years.

My point is, I can understand that this man was highly frustrated, I can even understand that he lashed out. He shouldn't have lashed out, but I can understand why he did. Especially if he lived alone with her, and had to care for her completely by himself. He probably didn't mean to kill her... Nobody wants their mother to die like that. Rest in peace...

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Kamala Brown-Sparksm,

Thanks for sharing that. I agree. It behooves society as a whole to teach our children the value of treating others as we ourselves would be treated. I wouldn't go so far as to say that particular social value has completely disappeared. But it does appear to be in short supply.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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