6-year-old girl falls to death from 43rd floor balcony in Osaka

Sometimes the lack of child-proofing here astounds me. RIP to the little girl.

oh my god... speechless.

rest in peace... this breaks my heart.

I didnt know windows could be opened on the 43rd floor of any building or at least not in such a way that children could climb/fall/jump/drop out.

won't be surprised if the mother will admit that it was not an accident later, its too common.

Why the mother? It could also be the father. The fact is accident or not it's tragic and more than sad.

How on earth a window in the 43th floor can be opened to the point someone can jump from there? That is a fundamental design flaw to me.

I never knew there were 40+ floor residences in Osaka.

Whenever I read these articles, I always go look for articles in Japanese press because there are details there that may not appear here.

In this case, the window in her room that was open was not a window directly to the exterior of the building. It was a window to a verandah/balcony. And the railing of the balcony was 1 meter high.

So, this was not a case of a girl climbing out a window and falling to her death. It was a case of a girl going out the window (the sliding door?) to the balcony and then going over the side of a 1 meter high balcony.

Doesn't change the end result, but may change how people view this incident.

If it can possess a child to climb out of a 43rd floor window, they probably need to name the animation in the interest of public safety.

An open window on the 43rd floor? You have to be kidding me! Regardless of the parents child proofing of the apartment this must have been a relatively modern building. Why was it not childproofed by design?

The story has been updated to include those points.

@well statistically speaking, Women abuse/kill children FAR (like night and day difference) more than men do, despite what SJWs will try to make you believe.

It is completely reasonable to believe that the mother will come out in a few weeks to say "moshiwake nai" in a teary voice and be given a suspended sentence, as per the status quo for carebearing the female criminals here.

So commenters here never seem to have looked up... there are high-rise residential buildings. Do you really believe people would buy those if the windows didn't even open? These aren't office buildings we're talking about here.

Balconies are a selling point of high rises to dry clothes outside. Office buildings do not have balconies.

Sad story. RIP little girl. And peace to the family.

It is completely reasonable to believe that the mother will come out in a few weeks to say "moshiwake nai" in a teary voice

While the possibility exists, it's not reasonable to believe that this will happen.

RIP

Thanks zones2surf, the balcony makes a bit more sense.

We live on the 50th floor and of course you can open the windows! There is even a balcony where you can enjoy your morning coffee. From balcony you can always CLIMB over the guard railing if you wish to do so...

she had to use a chair to climb up to the 100cm window from her room. from there, she could go out to the balcony where there's a 100cm fence. 6 year-olds are around 120cm so she probably had to use a chair or something to actually go over the fence, too. 6 year olds are not toddlers, they normally have a sense of danger so this incident seems a little fishy to me. RIP little girl.. :(

My feelings of sadness for the little are almost over-ridden by how angry I am that this sh!t keeps happening. Little kids falling from windows/balconies/rooftops - seriously it happens probably once a month or more in Japan, if the constant articles are anything to go by. Seriously, what the Christ?

Why does this seem to be a monthly occurrence that a child has died falling from a high building? RIP.

Thanks zones2surf. As a father of two kids, I cannot stand hearing such a sad news. You should take care of your kids carefully whenever you can.

Watched it on the TV just a second ago where they showed the layout of the balcony. I cannot see how a 6 year old woul be able to get out the window and over the balcony. I expect this story to be moved to crime in the coming weeks.

"If it can possess a [SIX-YEAR-OLD] child to climb out of a 43rd floor window, they probably need to NAME THE ANIMATION in the interest of PUBLIC SAFETY"

Yes!! If that is the excuse being offered up by the parents I WANT TO SEE THIS ANIME FOR MYSELF.

So that I can keep my children safe from evil...

If I am not wrong, lately, some similar incidents happened where children were also involved...also with the elderly...but the later usually are murder or suicide...of course some couple might offend...because neglect...

A news report on tv suggested the child might have climbed on an outdoor unit of an air conditioner and then moved or jumped over onto the balcony rail. I can't comment on the specifics, but I do know that under 10s can be very strong climbers.

What a sad story. RIP.

Such a tragic story. Condolences to the family. Poor little girl... RIP.

What on Earth is an apartment doing on the 43rd floor with a BALCONY?

Without any evidence to the contrary, I'm going to give the parents the benefit of the doubt. Kids make dumb decisions all the time and there is only so much you can do to protect them without going too far. It is part of the process of growing up. Sometimes those dumb decisions lead to scrapes or broken arms. Unfortunately, sometimes it leads to a loss of life. And having a balcony in a highrise is a lot safer than having sidewalks next to roads. A car accident is less novel, however.

Having once been a kid, I can say for sure that I made a lot of dumb choices and a few of those put me in the emergency room. Somehow I lived through all that. One particular time that comes to mind was when I was six years old, oddly enough. I had just finished watching something involving jumping out of planes. Maybe it was The Fall Guy or the A-Team. Anyway, my parents were busy in another part of the house while I went up to the third floor with a bed sheet and climbed out the window onto a ledge. Up until that that moment, I had thought using the sheet as a parachute to jump down two stories to the cement below was the best idea ever. Just as I was about to jump, I hesitated and decided to think it through some more from the safety of indoors. I had great parents who loved me. They never knew about that close call until I mentioned it in my adult years.

Don't beat up these parents without reason. You can't assume much of anything from that artical except for the huge amount of grief the family of going through right now.

My wife tried to fly with an unbrella after watching Mary Poppins and broke her arm, only from the first floor.

RIP little one.

This item lacks one main element a "decent journalist". Q need to be asked like how dangerous is the cartoon. What is the name of the cartoon. Were the parents tested for intoxication? If not, why not? if so were they intoxicated or not? Why was the child home from school? Why did they leave the child alone for a short while ? how long of time is the short time? THis Item lack detail with a big D and it has been corrected by the moderator once already

M3M3M3Apr. 11, 2016 - 03:29PM JST

they probably need to name the animation in the interest of public safety.

What good would that do? There are hundreds of cartoons showing "a character flying in the sky".

Kids at that age don't understand danger, they are still familiarizing themselves with their own environment. They will explore and in this case perhaps this is what the little one did. Please don't say kids make dumb decisions, adults make dumb decisions and make stupid statements!!

R.I.,P dreadful.

That's a terrible way to go. Can't imagine what goes through her mind during those last few seconds of her life. I hope she blacked out and wasn't conscious at impact.

You live on the 43rd floor and you weren't scared to death for your kids safety? Why didn't the parents put kid-proof locks on the windows and doors, they only cost 108 yen each? I did all that when our grandkids moved into our place, and it was only on the 7th floor.

"Can't imagine what goes through her mind during those last few seconds of her life"

FORTY-THREE FLOORS is a long way down and her parents would have us believe that the SIX-YEAR-OLD girl thought she was FLYING...

But I think that she was probably thinking something else!!

I remember first watching Disney's Classic, Peter Pan when I was around 5 or 6. But I also remember that there were NO SUCH THINGS as pixies, fairies and Never-Never Land.

I certainly knew one couldn't "fly." That just went without saying. Nobody had to tell me.

"An apparent suicide" C'mon! This is tragic and sad, but a suicide?

It's a story I've heard before.

At a local authority I used to work for, everyone was stunned by the story of a child living in a twelfth floor flat belonging to the authority crawling out of a window and falling to its death. The immediate result was that every flat belonging to the authority above a certain floor had its windows altered so that they could not be opened enough for this to happen again.

Didn't bring the child back, but it possibly saved others from a similar nasty fate.

J-Government should look into increasing the heights of the railings on all existing and new hi-rise residential apartments and condos. They should recommend a higher railings that are much hard to climb over, and keeps the railing off of the horizon view when seated. Get rid of any horizontal rail or ridges running of any height so that there is nothing to put the feet on to clamber over. Have a keyed lock to your balcony door.

Supplement your windows with additional locks. Place the locks at the uppermost part of the windows where children can’t reach for them. Look into limiting the extend of your window openings, both for sliding and swing windows, by installing a stopper into the rail of your window guides.

Japan should make it is illegal to tend high riae apartments'' high floors to family with children.

Even second floor is dangerous.

Stop with all the persecution saying that this is probably not an accident and that the parents meant to do this. There is absolutely no proof, and your witch hunting does nothing. And I also agree that there is no difference from falling from the 3 floor or the 43rd. You're probably going die either way, so again, stop raving about Japan created laws about windows and not allowing families certain apartments. Yes, at this height, there should have been more safety measures in place put up by the parents. However, that is not a crime. Just like all things, I know for a fact there are thousands of families in high rise apartments where the children live perfectly safe without 24/7 supervision. This is sad, tragic accident. Just offer your sympathies and move on. Save your self righteous, self erecting judgments for your faults.

Eric Clapton's 7-year-old son died the same way in New York City. Anyone who has kids knows that few things are "kid proof", and that you have to keep an eye on them at all times. The balcony railing at my own building is nearly one-and-a-half meters high, but I still don't trust it to keep my children from finding a way over it. The doors and windows to the balcony have locks that they can't reach or operate easily.

No one knows how it happened just a sad story. 3rd floor or 43rd same results. Most of us think back (especially guys) and we are kinda surprised we survived childhood with the dumb shit we did. All I can think of with this story looking at my six year old girl would be the terrifying fear she experienced for the few seconds the fall took. Gives me the shivers. Hope your next life is a less tragic one little girl. :' (" (is this un-vulger enough for our moderator?)

:( :( :( RIP little one. Poor kid! I heard she has just started school on Friday..:( I was in Abeno Harukasand and was on the 17th floor from there I could see that building where she fell. There is a balcony after the window. I suspect that child was just in her curiosity mode after watching that animation thing where a certain child could fly.

I can't imagine how hurting this is for the parents. :( Nobody knows what really did happen but no matter how it happened, I still say, we parents have watch them...:( more vigilantly .. Maybe Japanese government needs to change the safety rules on apartment buildings. Maybe much higher touching the ceiling but with little holes on in.

Kids at that age don't understand danger, they are still familiarizing themselves with their own environment. They will explore and in this case perhaps this is what the little one did. Please don't say kids make dumb decisions, adults make dumb decisions and make stupid statements!!

It was a dumb decision for the little girl to step out to the balcony and deliberately scale the 100cm high railing. My bet is that she did not intend to die. And you certainly can't say it was a smart decision. But it was certainly a deliberate decision that required effort to carry out. This was not someone who accidentally fell out of a window. This was a very poor choice made by a child. Making dumb choices and learning from them is part of growing up. In rare cases the dumb choice leads to death. This rare, natural, and tragic.

Let me make something clear. I am not saying the little girl was dumb. But you can't say scaling a meter high barrier and jumping to try to fly is anything but a dumb and tragic choice. Separate the action from the person. @misunderstood, the only person this is making judgements of character is you.