4-year-old girl dies after falling from 12th floor

what does chinese nationals have to do with anything?

but a horrible tragedy. let it be a reminder to never leave your child unattended at home. anything can happen.

Really? How did it add to the story whatsoever? If it was removed from the story, how would the story be affected whatsoever?

Just like listing the person employment status. The persons nationality adds nothing to the story but just goes to show the ingrained nationalism of Japan. I used nationalism not patriotism intentionally.

RIP little girl.

How sad, RIP little girl. Nationality has got absolutely nothing to do with this, don't understand why JT had to point it out.

Never leave your child alone, 4 year old is still way too young...

Really? How did it add to the story whatsoever? If it was removed from the story, how would the story be affected whatsoever?

This also that the accident happens because they are Chinese, when in actuality being Chinese has absolutely nothing to do with her falling. It was an accident, and this type of accident happens all the time in Japan.

Right back at you. I found this useful information.

How can this be? If they would have been Japanese, no mention that they were "Japanese nationals" would have appeared because the nationality has nothing to do with this tragic accident. So why the need to indicate the nationality for Chinese people? Makes no sense and I don't think that's difficult to understand that it makes no sense, is it?

It's like that they are saying "ok they are just Chinese nationals so no need to care."

The nationality is probably mentioned because the mother and girl just came to Japan on July 21st as tourists from China.

http://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/10380195/

The mother and the girl are Chinese nationals.

So?

So?

Right back at you. I found this useful information.

Isn't 4 years old a little early to leave your child alone? I assume the child was alone.

Either way, that is terrible that one should lose their child.

Why list the nationality? Simple, it's just like the 3 minute hate sessions in Orwell's 1984.

The nationality is probably mentioned because the mother and girl just came to Japan on July 21st as tourists from China.

Probably. Only the author knows why the "tourist" part was left out if that was indeed the purpose of mentioning the nationality.

I think the wording can be better... ie: 'A 4 year old Chinese girl has died after...' places less emphasis on the fact she was Chinese than having a sentence at the end that is there to specify it, but still gives the information that people may want to know.

That said... it is very sad and the mother must be going through hell right now. I feel very sorry for everyone involved.

A tourist on the 12 floor of a condo @irbn3 or someother flop house trap ?

Little children can be extremely determined to get back to their mothers when left alone and do anything not knowing the dangers. This is so unbelievably sad. Please, never leave your infants alone, not even for a few minutes.

While that wording would have been better, it's still information that is not relevant to the story at all.

I respectfully disagree. I think all information is relevant to at least somebody. If it was any other nationality mentioned would this discussion be taking place? Somebody said in a post above that if it was a Japanese national then it wouldn't be mentioned. That is true, but it's true only because it would be assumed anyway that the girl was Japanese, as it happened in Japan. Any other nationality would (or should) be mentioned if it were known. I agree placing it as a note at the end of the article is pretty poor form though.

The girl landed outside the convenience store, right in front of all the people on the sidewalk and the smokers the doors. Horror.

I agree that being Chinese has nothing to do with a little girls death but I am wondering if it's like when a car crashes, or a plane and nationalities are listed as to the nationality of the deceased. What a horrific and tragic accident.

What a sad story and what an interesting back-and-forth regarding the nationality of the mother and daughter.

First, to the most important point, which is the death of this young girl. Sadness. @presto 345 is absolutely right. Young children will do anything to find their parents when left alone and if they are in unfamiliar surroundings, whatever sense of boundaries they may possess will disappear. No doubt the daughter was trying to find her mother and put herself in harms way in so doing. Just deep sadness. RIP little one.

Second, regarding the nationality of the victim and mother. I may get down-voted for this, but I think far too many people are reading far too much into this. Whilst the article could have done a better job of incorporating the information into the text rather than just as a stand-alone statement at the end, that is just a question of good writing/editing, nothing more and nothing less.

The rule on writing "incident" reports like this is to cover all of the relevant facts. Date, time, place, persons involved, etc. When one reads these types of articles in Japanese newspapers, the assumption is automatically made that the persons in question are Japanese. And this is the way the articles are written. However, if the individual is not Japanese, this will be noted. It is just the fact. No one is suggesting that their nationality contributed to the accident; rather, it is just a descriptor of the victim and her mother.

Now, one could argue that it could have been written as "non-Japanese" rather than "Chinese" but then the question is, why write "non-Japanese" if you know the nationality. Then it seems like journalistic gymnastics to avoid mentioning the nationality.

Regardless, a little girl is dead tonight in what was clearly an accidental but entirely preventable incident. RIP.

The mother and the girl are Chinese nationals.

JT: You moderate (often times over moderate) comments that you consider to be offensive, even when the comment isn't even close to be offensive. And yet, you callously include this gratuitous statement that is completely irrelevant to the events in the article , which makes so many negative implications against the Chinese and the Japan expat community general.

I understand that many of your stories are sourced from other news organizations, of which some may have included these types of statements. But you REALLY need to understand that the people who come to this site, and the people who go to the Japanese news sites are a completely different audience, so you really should be more sensitive to your international audience when publishing stories, otherwise it just makes you seem very nationalistic and insensitive.

You can choose to delete this as you normally would do, but before you do, please consider what I am saying here before publishing such statements in future articles.

There is absolutely nothing offensive or callous about stating the nationality. It is relevant. Every news organization that reported this story stated the nationality. Furthermore, if the child had been American, Australian, French, German, British, Russian or any other nationality, that is something that readers would like to know and we would have reported that also. That ends discussion on this point.

I think the wording can be better... ie: 'A 4 year old Chinese girl has died after...' places less emphasis on the fact she was Chinese than having a sentence at the end that is there to specify it, but still gives the information that people may want to know.

While that wording would have been better, it's still information that is not relevant to the story at all.

Even if the kid was purple, the only important part is that it was a human being.

Everybody is having a fit over the way the article is written and not focused on the real problem, a dead 4 year old.

I wonder what led the woman to leave her 4 year old at home alone living on the 12th floor. Did the girl climb and just jump because she was cranky? We will probably never know, RIP

It doesn't actually say what floor she fell from. It just says the building was 12 stories high. It doesn't mean she fell from the top floor. Not that it matters, just curious. If they're tourists, why are they staying in an apartment building? I also don't see how a four year old could open any door by themselves, but maybe it's possible...

Does anyone know is JT translated into japanese on some right wing sites?

Happens all over the world. Just happens more in countries that have a higher population density, as they usually have more tall apartment buildings.