1-year-old boy dies after being left in car by pachinko-playing mother in Kagoshima

Wow, just wow.

Let's see the J-apologists defend this selfish idiocy...

Besides my usual comment, for about the 1,002nd time on Japan Today, that parental supervision of children is appalling in this country (viewing their kids as little more than pets, or in this case, an item just to be left in the car), this woman is obviously addicted to pachinko. Strange, though, that a temperature of 23.3 degrees would be hot enough to cause heatstroke. I wonder if the child might have suffocated.

i remember last 2006 the same report as this, but it was worse coz both parents played pachinko and left their less-than-a-year child inside the car and it was summer time. so sad to hear stories like this. rest in peace little angel.

No one on Japan Today has ever defended a parent leaving a child in their car or other forms of abuse or neglect. This issue has absolutely nothing to do with nationality, as such cases of neglect occur all over the world. May this boy rest in peace and forgive those who use such tragedies to further their agendas.

<strong>Moderator: You're the only one trying to bring nationality into this discussion. No other poster has referred to other nationalities or whether or not such deaths occur all over the world to further their agenda, as you put it -- other than you. Please stay on topic.</strong>

I feel so sad for the baby.

Just as Pubs/Bars are held responsible for letting people drive in drunk condition, similarly, Pachinkos should be held responsible for incidents as this. Punishment? Revoke the license to operate.

The mother should be be banned of having children(even adopt) or pet in future for life.

It is that time of the year folks. Unfortunately, this happens every year. You could actually call it something seasonal. Anyone for Haiku?

no-ones going to disagree if I say it's 100% the mother's fault this time. she should be facing criminal charges of manslaughter, I dont care about her feelings or grief one little bit, in fact I hope she feels really bad for the rest of her pathetic life

rjd_jr...This makes two days in a row that I actually agree with you. Child-abuse/neglect is not in any way limited to Japan. Nor would I agree with people who imply that it is worse here than in other countries. Selfish and/or immature parents are a problem in most countries. This is a tragic incident, and agree with your sentiment that we should just let this poor boy rest in peace, and not use his death as a basis for a Japan-bash.

<strong>Moderator: Readers, please stay on topic. References to other countries are not relevant to this discussion.</strong>

Smartacus: The temperature rise inside the car is determined by sunlight, not ambient temperature which sets the minimum. Could have easily been 40-50 degrees inside the car.

I can't believe you all scolding this woman! Children are constantly being neglected, left alone with guns, knives, in SUVs parked miles away from the grocery store entrance to boil, all kinds of crazy stuff. It's amazing that this even makes national news here. This is nothing new or remarkable.

How can anyone with a year-old baby think they have three consecutive hours to spend on themselves? When my kids were that little I considered myself blessed to get ten minutes for a cup of coffee in the afternoon. What is it about parents, pachinko and babies? Is there something in those machines that wipes out brain cells in people of a certain disposition?

I agree with roughneck that pachinko parlors should be accountable in instances like this. Now, in this case there was apparently a child care facility but it was full. So does this mean that the pachinko parlor should not be held responsible as they took steps to provide a service to patrons? How big is the pachinko parlor, how many mothers do they expect to be there and how many child care spaces are available? These all need to be looked at. But what I want to know is, was the area the woman parked a part of the parchinko parlor complex? A lot of these types of places in outlying areas have parking. If so, why couldn't someone walk through the parking area every 30 minutes or so and check cars? They knew the child care service was full, so maybe,just maybe an addicted and irresponsible parent might leave a child...and apparantly one did.

RIP little child. RIP.

The government doesn't even touch on gambling addiction in this country because gambling is "illegal". Something really needs to be done about the double standard in these places, kids are dying because of this terrible addiction.

The pachinko parlour has child care!?!?!?!?!?!? How cynical is that? And, judging from the commercials for pachinko, with their cutesy Pikachu-style characters, it seems to be a "get 'em while their young" culture. As gambling for money is illegal in Japan the parlours should all be shut down.

A place of business can not be held accountable for the willful negligence of the parent, that is far-fetched. Should they be resonsible if you left the child unattended at home, as well? Or down the street at a playground? Are they going to check your tire pressure and brakes for wear? How far do you take that line of logic? Personal responsiblity, especially regarding the safety and welfare of one's offspring, can not be pawned off on a gambling establishment (or any other business, for that matter).

Poor kid.

Just proves there are stupid people everywhere, especially where pachinko's concerned. What a pity something as tragic as this has to happen (and it isn't the first time) to remind people to look after their kids properly.

greenteaonsens - this has nothing to do with nationality at all. No-one is going to make excuses for such a neglectful parent on the basis of which country they come from

regardless of the validity of pachinko's existence, it's absolutely ridiculous to place the blame on the business itself for this accident.

ultradude is spot on. "how far do you take that line of logic?"

if mom feeds her kid nothing but ice cream and malted milk balls, and he dies as a result of malnutrition, are the companies that manufactured those products then held responsible?

get a grip. people need to take responsibility for their actions. that's part of being an adult.

the pachinko parlor mgmt dont care one bit if the mother left her child in the car to die because the child care facilities were full. The reason why they have those facilities in the first place is so these pitiful parents can feed their addiction even if they have the burden of a child. sad story non the less.

why on earth would she think that her child will be ok by himself in a car for 3 hours alone?? what demon bought her to that conclusion?? gambling addiction?? she traded even her child for her addiction?? Its sad and an all to real affliction in human society. I hope she gets prison for it. for sure she will be tortured by what she did.

It makes me sick to hear this kind of story. Irresponsible and stupid - a typical mix for many here in Japan. I hope that child rests in peace. The mother should be given a jail term for negligence resulting in manslaughter.

As for pachinko parlours, the less there are of those hovels the better.

evil robot:

I can't believe you all scolding this woman! Children are constantly being neglected, left alone with guns, knives, in SUVs parked miles away from the grocery store entrance to boil, all kinds of crazy stuff. It's amazing that this even makes national news here. This is nothing new or remarkable.<

I don't know which part of Japan you live in mate, but for the rest of us, we don't here 'constant' news about such things. Kids with guns in SUV's, parked 'miles away from the grocery store entrance to boil' - gee, sounds more like a fictional script from a B-movie rather than actuality of real life here in Japan. I'm sorry you think the death of an innocent 1 year old due to the stupidity of the mother is 'nothing new or remarkable' - I'm sure the family of the child feel much better knowing that and that child's spirit doesn't mind not feeling special.

why is this not in the CRIME section. it certainly should be. here we go again only this year it is happening earlier. the temp only reached 23.3 celcius. i think they have shown us over and over and over again every year on TV that the temp in the car is much much much higher. when will these stupid people learn?!??!?!? it saddens and sickens me.

This not only happens here and it is not the fault of the pachinko operators. There have been several cases of this at casinos in Australia in recent years. Not all resulted in deaths, but they did result in the children being removed from the cars and the parents being charged.

Now, security guards and police patrol casinos and shopping center cart parking areas looking for kids that these irresponsible twits leave to die in their cars.

Unfortunately, I see it all too often here. Kids left in the cars at shopping centers and pachinko parlors. Quite often they are left with the engines running and toddlers playing inside. It's so disappointing to think that these people do not have the common sense to realize how dangerous these actions are. And, it's even more disappointing that the government does nothing to educate people of these dangers. Could it be a carefully conceived plot to control the population by survival of the smartest?

boil this mother in oil! how utterly pathetic to think you can leave a 1 year old in a car for 3 hours.. You wouldn`t even do that to a pet, let alone a little kid. Utter shame on this woman, and I hope criminal charges are laid...

Some of you said the business cant be held accountable, yet a establishment that serves booze is responsible for that customer in the event there is a accident.

NEW RULES

15 yeahs ago myself and a friend thought up the play room. He was a carpenter looking for work. None or the pachinko chains were interested

foaming at the mouth

It would be nice to know the source of this article (Kyodo, etc.).

Dear Evil Robot,

Just imagine a world where this kind of thing never got reported. How many more kids would die because people hadn't been made aware of the effects of being inside a closed up car? You really need to consider the media's role in public education.

This is such an archtypical Japanese story. Depressing to read it over and over again. Wait til summer when it gets really hot, there will be more of the same.

So what is her name? Where is she from? Shouldn't they put all of her information out like the do every other person. She isn't under 20. Her family should share the shame that she has put on them. Not the pachinko operators fault. She couldn't get a babysitter she should have just waited. Plain and simple.

Poor kid, stupidity, brainless and money thinking brain killed own kid. At the end she will be only sent to consultation as stressed mother and after free to go.

The first "kid dies in hot car while parent plays pachinko" story of the year. Must be summer.

As far as this being a crime, the woman should be charged with negligent homicide. Why? She chose to go play pachinko instead of caring for her child. She abandoned the child in the car so as to amuse herself. Yeah, the crime fits.

And there will be more of these this year as the summer season dawns. There will be more apologists coming forth, but it really doesn't matter. This kind of crime, anywhere in the world, should not go unpunished.

Addiu

sick, just plain sick... and yes the pachinko parlor should take some responsibility if they expect to take money from a mother with young children. In this instance even more so since she took her son into the parlor and having found the children’s room already full probably came back within 5 minutes without her 1 year old son. As for leaving a 1 year old kid alone in a car for even 5 minutes is just plain criminal. They should just make it illegal to leave a kid unattended especially outside the house. I hope the children’s room is smoke free!!