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2-year-old girl falls to her death from 15th-floor window in Osaka

23 Comments

A two-year-old girl fell to her death from the 15th floor of an apartment in Osaka on Thursday night.

According to police, the incident occurred just after 8 p.m. in Suminoe Ward. Police said the girl’s bed was next to the window and believe she somehow opened the window and tumbled out. She was identified as Ayano Kajita.

Her 39-year-old mother called 119 and said her daughter had fallen out of the window. Ayano was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Police quoted her mother as saying that after she put Ayano, as well as her five-year-old son to bed, she went back to the kitchen.

Ayano’s father was out at the time.

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23 Comments
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How awful. I cannot imagine how this family must feel.

I am often perplexed how posters on this web site can draw conclusions and condemn parents (who are most likely grieving) without having the benefit of all information necessary to make such judgments.

24 ( +27 / -3 )

Rest In Peace, little one. This breaks my heart.

18 ( +18 / -0 )

I am often perplexed how posters on this web site can draw conclusions and condemn parents (who are most likely grieving) without having the benefit of all information necessary to make such judgments

That's coz those people are experts in all matters of everything that there's to be known in life and they are far better experienced than everyone else. So it's obvious they can come to conclusions without the need of any proof, evidence, fact, etc....

RIP to the little one thoughts for the family. They must be devastated.

12 ( +14 / -2 )

I hate news like this.

10 ( +10 / -0 )

I think the parents have been punished enough. Some curious two year olds have quite an aptitude for getting into, and out of things.

No parent can purport to be perfect. The mother (and father) overlooked the danger and paid the ultimate price, get off their case!

9 ( +11 / -2 )

I'm terrified for my child. Is there something we're forgetting? Drives me nuts! It's worse than a nightmare. Leave these parents alone.

I presume you are not a parent. Life is not a Television drama.

Be thankful for what you have. There is something called moral luck. We're probably all beneficiaries of that at one time or another.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

When is Japan going to join the rest of the modern world by making windows that open in highrise building have blocks that prevent them from opening wide enough for a child to fit through. It has been standard practice in every building I've seen built after around 2005ish in Canada. These "shims" can be retrofitted into most windows today. Also cuts down on crazies throwing large items from windows.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

So tragic, surely if you live in a 15th-floor apartment you would have a great sense of proving security for your children. Rip little one and may peace find this shattered family.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

@David; You presume incorrectly. My kids are now in their 20's and doing fine. I am so lucky and blessed for this. You may be presuming incorrectly regarding this incident as well.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

first thing I did when reforming my home I bought 3 yrs ago was put bars accross all the windows. my kids are older now so theyd never attempt to climb over them , but youve got to assume that small kids may come to visit and if they can climb onto a chair or bed to reach a window opening then you havent done enough to make your home as safe as possible, fire alarms is also a must.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Easily preventable, lock the window. A two year old in a room unsupervised and an unlocked window in easy reach of her bed? 

Never raised kids here, huh?

A two year old can easily unlock not only the regular lock on a window but also the useless child safety locks that they come with.

Its a design problem, they could easily resolve it by placing the locks high enough that kids couldn’t reach them, but stupidly they are always located in easy reach. If you are renting an apartment you can’t modify them and are stuck. Keeping the bed away from such windows would be a great idea, but the rooms in Japanese apartments are so small it is inevitable that some furniture is going to be next to the window in a 6 mat room.

Also if they have two kids and have put them to bed in their rooms, its idiotic to expect them to keep one awake adult watching them while they sleep, its just not possible to do that.

These tragic stories are way too common in Japan and it all has to do with families being crammed into tiny apartments that create endless opportunities for kids that age to fall out of windows or off balconies.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Garthgoyle - That's coz those people are experts in all matters of everything that there's to be known in life and they are far better experienced than everyone else. So it's obvious they can come to conclusions without the need of any proof, evidence, fact, etc....

Yes, that's right! I have enough experience to know that putting a toddler's bed under a window that opens on the 15th floor is a bloody stupid idea!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

@Vince Black - Easily preventable, lock the window. 

There's nothing in the article to say the window was not locked. Two year old kids are very clever and can unlock most childproof locks. Multi-story buildings and kids beds under windows that open are a disaster waiting to happen. If it was my kid, the bed would not have been under the window and the window would have been screwed shut.

1 ( +8 / -7 )

The parents are just as liable for the child falling to its death as the parents of a child who dies from drinking poison from a cabinet under the sink or from sticking a fork in an electrical outlet. Those are all things that can be easily prevented if the parents take the proper precautions that every parent should take. "Child-proffing" one's home is easy, inexpensive, and morally obligatory for every parent.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

Mr. Kipling; based on the geography and size of Japan where do you think they should live? Or are you suggesting mandating the apportionment of apartment units based on age and whether or not people have children?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I would expect that the window was slightly open due to the current heat-wave. The toddler may have woken up, climbed onto the windowsill, using the window for balance to edge her way to somewhere that she could climb down, but when she placed her hand on the part of the window that was ajar, and fell through as her body weight would simply have moved the window further ajar.

Now... as a Parent, it would have been useful to assess dangers such as this in advance, and maybe have resorted to putting a stair gate across the gap where the Window would open - flipping it vertically would suffice should the window be additionally long (and making sure that the latch to open the gate would be at the top). The benefits of hindsight are as always too late, so perhaps an idea for others to consider if they are worried about their own kids in a high rise. Let her death not be in waste, ideas are required, and need to be shared.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Locking the window with screw if necessary. Preventable.

Putting bed and any movable furniture out of window range. Preventable.

Make your life choice.

I don't condemn. Fate has decided for this family as punishment as same time.

( I don't believe in fate, like Neil Armstrong).

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Tragic. Keep an eye on your little ones as it only takes a second for life altering events to happen.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

So sad .

Horrible news .

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Easily preventable, lock the window. A two year old in a room unsupervised and an unlocked window in easy reach of her bed?

Negligence plain and simple. Unbelievable

-4 ( +13 / -17 )

@Tok-Eng

They are condemned because they are 100% responsible for a tiny child’s death. You must maintain a margin for error AT ALL TIMES when blessed with the responsibility of a tiny child’s life.

I presume you are not a parent. Life is not a Television drama.

-11 ( +10 / -21 )

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