A five-year-old boy died after he was hit by a train in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, on Sunday morning.
According to police, the accident occurred on a crossing on the JR Yosan line at around 10:40 a.m. TV Asahi reported that the driver told police he saw the boy suddenly appear on the tracks. He applied the brakes but it was too late. The boy was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead about 20 minutes later, police said.
Police said the boy and his four-year-old brother and their mother, who live in Osaka, had been visiting friends for the New Year holidays. The friends' house was near the tracks.
TV Asahi quoted police as saying the two brothers told their mother they were going to watch the trains go by.
The crossing gate was down and the warning alarm had sounded as the train approached, police said.
© Japan Today
15 Comments
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sensei258
If your small children tell you "We're gonna play by the train tracks", a red flag should go up in your mind.
CrazyJoe
Don't let children play in the vicinity of railroad crossings or parking lots. Always keep an eye on them if they are.
Disillusioned
So, this week we've had a 5y/I drown in a river while playing with his father, a 2y/o abducted while shopping with his parents and now, a kid that was playing near the train tracks with his mother's consent. Does anybody else see a pattern of poor parenting here?
Mirai Hayashi
There should be mandatory parenting classes in Japan. "Always supervise small children 101" should be the first subject taught.
Devie Ikesue
Yap.,..mother chit chating, kids having good time around, poor kid 5yrs.old till needs observe. RIP baby.
TheInterstat
Jesus.
I am still seeing parents smoking around their kids here, kids dancing around on the front seat of the moving vehicles, kids allowed to play in heavy traffic areas, etc. Ridiculous and they will never learn.
Badge213
Picking a few news story out of thousands and stringing it together.
Any case, boys and trains are a natural part of Japanese society, at one time or another boys tend to be fascinated about trains, you never notice all those photographers standing at the end of train platforms sometimes? Some boys (like myself) never grow out of this fascination. It may seem strange to you, but nothing abnormal about seeing kids watching trains in Japan.
gogogo
So sad :(
iceshoecream
After what I've seen in my years in Japan, I can say that this doesn't surprise me.
kimuzukashiiiii
A 5 year old and a 4 year old should not be going anywhere unsupervised, especially anywhere near a train track.
This was 100% the fault of the mother, and my sincere sympathies go to the driver of the train, who will have that image of that poor little boy forever.
iceshoecream
Nope. Circumstances in these three stories were totally different. Now if you say that the tragedy in this article was due to bad parenting then I agree a 100% with you.
cleo
According to UNICEF, the number of deaths from injuries intentional and unintentional among those aged 1 to 14 expressed per 100,000 children in the age group makes Sweden the safest place to be a kid, with a rate of 5.2; followed by the UK and Italy (both 6.1) and the Netherlands (6.6). If accidental child deaths are all down to poor parenting, the worst parents are apparently in the USA (14.1), Portugal (17.8), Mexico (19.8) and Korea (25.6). Japan is just behind Finland (8.2), Germany (8.3) and Ireland (8.3), at 8.4.
Mocheake
Incredibly irresponsible parents! They should be brought up on charges. So sad to see such young ones die.
fishy
I have kids around 5.. there is NO WAY in the whole world that I would let them go play by the train tracks by themselves.. Why didn't at least 1 adult go with them? I'd be so scared to let them go by the train tracks without an adult..
Although I feel terribly sad for the parents/family, they are responsible for the child's death.
Dennis711
RIP little boy. Too sad to comment on this one, except to say, the mother will suffer the consequences of her decision for the rest of her life.