An 8-year-old boy on Monday fell to his death from the balcony of the 9th-floor apartment where he lived with his family in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture.
According to police, the incident occurred at around 5:25 a.m. NTV reported that the boy lived with his parents and older sister. Police said that the mother, who woke up at the same time as the boy, saw him going out onto the balcony. She told police she took her eye off her son just for a few seconds during which time he apparently climbed over the 1.2-mete-high glass railing and fell.
The boy was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said, adding they have not yet determined what happened on the balcony.
© Japan Today
34 Comments
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kimuzukashiiiii
Wow.. very sad indeed. I wonder why he did that?
At 8 years old I would have imagined that he knew better.
Regardless RIP little guy .. I hope theres not more to this story than it seems...
nath
RIP young man:
combinibento
Admittedly I did not grow up in an area with a lot of high-rise apartment buildings, but I did live in a large metropolitan area - and yet aside from Eric Clapton's tragedy, I never heard of this sort of thing happening in the news. Yet here in Japan it is pretty much a monthly, if not more often, phenomenon (judging by the frequency I see such stories here on JT at least). I am guessing the mother was a little less than honest when she claims to have taken her eyes off her son for "only a few seconds." Don't these parents child-proof their balconies? If not, never let him go out there.
Kapuna
Maybe bullying? RIP young man.
Yubaru
Kid is a serious early riser! 8 years old up and about at 5:25 AM on a Monday AM, probably a school day too?!?!
Wow this is sad, and having kids of my own I understand the "few seconds" and crap happens, but what in heaven's name was an 8 year old climbing around on a balcony at that hour of the AM anyway? By that age he should have known better.
Do you have any kids?
combinibento
Yeah, I do. Somehow I missed the fact that he was 8 when I posted. By that age you pretty much assume your 3rd grader will not climb over the balcony...
Onniyama
8 years old. You would think he would know better. 5:25 in the a.m. Something fishy about this story.
Yubaru
Just because you don't hear about it, doesnt mean it doesnt happen. JT has a "thing" about posting these stories. Over 500 a year in the US, not including suicides.
http://danger.mongabay.com/injury_death.htm
pointofview
Another fishy story. Why climb up on the rail? Why didn`t the mother tell the kid to get his ass back inside?
slumdog
Regardless of the circumstances behind it, it is a tragedy. The poor boy.
Elbuda Mexicano
A regular 8 year old would not do this! My guess this poor kid was ??? Some kind of mental problems?? No kid with any kind of sense would do this!! I see many poor xxxxx kids near my part of Tokyo and they always run away from their teachers etc...right into the street so if this kid in Ibaraki was mentally sick, no surprise here but it was a suicide??? Then a bit surprised but this is Japan, Land O' Suicides!
Ms. Alexander
Poor boy :( Hopefully there was no foul play involved.
I wonder if he was sleep walking? I mean, why would he get up and go straight to the balcony?
jumpultimatestars
at that age it doesn't make sense why he would do this accidentally. This was either suicide or murder.
smithinjapan
My guess is it's the usual kind of thing -- some clutter and things being kept on the balcony that could kid could climb up on and over the railing. Tragic regardless. RIP.
spudman
My RIP young man got a thumbs down, JT crowd is tough.
sensei258
I agree with the "fishyness" of this story. What 8 year old kid is awake at that time of day?
Crazedinjapan
Seriously I think parents and children alike lack common sense here. 8 years ov age he should be smart enough to know about that extreme danger. Parents for obviously not raising a very swift kid. How many times a year are we going to read about this fully avoidable situation ??
cramp
when making comparisons to the US or China, please always consider the disparity in population size
Moderator
Such comparisons are not relevant. Please stay on topic.
Disillusioned
I have my suspicions too. Was there a chair or table for the kid to climb up on? It's hard to believe an 8y/o would get out of bed and climb over a 1.2 meter railing, which would have been as tall as him or taller. This is an extremely sad event, but I smell a parenting fail.
Mirai Hayashi
Why would an 8 year old be climbing the railing on a balcony at 5am? I would be investigating the mother.
Elbuda Mexicano
Miria! I think you are on to something!
Maitake
RIP sonny.
should have had a healthier sense of fear
Speed
Being up at 5:25 and suddenly climbing over the rail of 9 story balcony makes me wonder if he was sleepwalking.
I used to walk out of my house and walk over to the next door neighbor's house, while sleeping when I was a kid. Perhaps this is what happened. Poor family. Poor kid.
inverse
Though I wouldn't rule those out entirely, remember that kids do crazy, unexpected things all the time. As adults, it's easy to say "that doesn't make sense!" but kids see the world in a different way than we do. In any case, RIP.
Fadamor
A 1.2 meter glass railing is pretty much "child-proof". Child-proofing something is aimed at protecting toddlers to pre-kindergarten. If the child can climb over a railing that high, then a lack of child-proofing isn't the cause of this tragedy.
ka_chan
My guess is that the boy was just a bit taller than the railing. If the police was truly investigating this incidences, then they should be looking at the school. Was the boy bullied? Third grade seems a bit young but you never know these days. It just seems odd that he could have just fallen off a railing that was just less then his height.
squeeks
That's definitely not how anyone would want to start a morning, knowing their child just leaped off a balcony, whether on purpose or accidental or not, and is now gone.
Elbuda Mexicano
If this poor kid did sleep walk, let it be a warning to all parents! RIP little boy
Mirai Hayashi
Even if this were true, for the boy to accidentally fall over, the rail must only be waist high or lower. The average height of an 8 year old is about 135 to 145 cm. Waist high would be like 70 to 90 cm. That would be too low for a railing on a balcony on the 9th floor of a building. At 120cm the top of the rail would be at chin height. It would require a lot of effort for an 8 year old to scale that. The only way I could really see this happening is if the it were vertical bars, and if he were to somehow be able to squeeze between the bars.
Although not impossible, suicide at 8 years old is highly unlikely. Again, the mother is very suspect to me. Why would an 8 year old be going out onto a balcony and climbing the railing at 5am...sound way too random to me. My first question to the mother would be, does your son normally walk out onto the balcony at 5am, and does he have a habit of trying to climb over it. I would then watch her reaction
cuteausgirl
RIP young man. I have to say that those that think 5:20am is too early to be waking up , it isn't. This morning my 5 yr old woke up at 5:30am ( he usually doesnt) but because of the sun streaming through into his bedroom he did. My son is also 130cms tall already so it is quite possible for a child to climb up onto a balcony especially I would say for an 8 yr old boy. I hope it was a tragic accident rather than murder.
duke
8 yrs old is old enough to know better.