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Body found in Chiba river may be that of missing 7-year-old girl

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It must have been particularly hard for the mother since she left the house only 5 minutes after her daughter. Just 5 minutes and a lifetime of regret....

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Of all the News Stories here on JT, this one is one of the saddest. My heart goes out to the Family.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Who brought the kick scooter to another park ? I hope the police find the true . R.I.P

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

As I said, stats don't lie, but they are also often very inaccurate to the true situation.

Any time you apply a general statistic to an individual, you have a high likelihood of failure. One instance does not a failure prove or disprove.

That doesn't change the fact that if you are a human being on this planet, man, woman, girl, boy, or other, there is almost nowhere safer on this planet to be than Japan.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

According to local media in Matsudo City, Saya had learning difficulties and was not able to speak Japanese well. The first volunteers out looking for her were the family and the local Chinese community. They searched this riverbank several times within hours of her disappearance after finding her kickboard in the park and found nothing. The shoes were found the following day in the same place they had searched. Locals here are not convinced this girl took off her own socks and shoes and fell in the river and cannot understand how the search teams failed to spot them. Surveillance cameras only show she travelled towards the park alone on her kickboard, but no one witnessed her in either park, and of course no one knows why she did not go to the local park and wait for her mother there. The police found another body in the river during the search, this time an adult male. He has not been identified and his discovery in the river is not being treated as suspicious! This was only reported locally. I still think this was an accident, but plenty of people here do not believe it was.

There is a story here with a lot of details.

12 Days After a 7-Year-Old Girl Disappears in Japan, a Child’s Body Is Found in a River (vice.com)

2 ( +2 / -0 )

So utterly tragic. With a seven year old 1nensei daughter of my own, I’d really taken Saya-chan’s disappearance to heart and kept checking the news for updates. I can’t even begin to imagine the distress of her family this whole time. I’m glad they’ll have closure now.

I’ve shown the news to my daughter every evening it was shown and warned her of going off alone, or approaching water. All we can do is hope this never happens again. This is nothing to do with Japan being a “safe” country or not. There was no crime. Just a very sad accident.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

"Comaprivte safety to what countries? To the US and developing nations, yes, agreed. To Western Europe, the UK, Canada and New Zealand, very much disagree." Japan ranks 170 out of 172 countries for homicide rate @ 0.26 per 100,000. Only Singapore, Monaco, San Marino and Andorra rank lower. Monaco, San Marino, and Andorra have equal rates. Singapore's is 0.16. By comparison, Canada's is 1.76, New Zealand's 0.74, the UK's 1.20. The stats don't disagree...

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

What makes you say Japan is a safe place for children?

One measure: when you see young kids taking trains alone in the biggest city in the world and it's normalised and nobody blinks an eye. Or when you see kids out alone walking the streets (horror of horror). And perfectly normal for kids in the countryside to walk a couple of kms to work. Etc.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

"say that to that little girl's parents" cheap shot that ignores the comparative safety of Japan to other countries. You could open up a newspaper for any other country and say the same thing "say that to the little boy/girl's parents"...way to use the death of a kid to not make a point you think you've made

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Kids should never be left alone….period

Disagree. Adults here already have too much learned helplessness.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

"(As a Dad of kids with a Japanese mum and 15 years in Japan)"...as a dad of 5 kids with a Japanese mum and 30 years in Japan...I disagree.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

If Japan is very safe, i never imagined letting one of my 5 year old child go alone for minutes, even in the middle of the countryside where there would be no one. It is called common sense.

Even when adult, if something goes wrong, no one to save/help you. It should be avoided but there are means to get ready (cellphone, whistle, know how to swim, etc.)

RIP

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Kids falls/jumps into river here. JT readers assume foul play.

Reality is Japan is indeed a safety country. Like when some freak out when they hear of tiny kids riding the train alone in Tokyo area to go to primary school.

People need to relax and chill out.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Saya was filmed on several surveillance cameras going towards the second park. She was definitely not abducted from the nearby park her mother thought she was going to. She headed towards there on her kickboard, alone, as proven by surveillance footage. There are no witnesses who saw her in either park, but the weather forecast was poor, and most people stayed home that day. The Edo riverbanks are very near the park where the kickboard was found, and that's where her shoes were found. The area is overgrown and slippery, not a clean concrete bank. Most likely this was a sad accident, but she must have known which park her mum was going to meet her in, and according to her parents, she was afraid of the water and did not go near the river. If walking on the riverbank, why would she take her shoes off? Kids don't tend to sit on wet riverbanks with their feet in the water. It is a bit strange.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

This child was too young to be allowed to wander near water alone.

Very sad. I guess every parent has a right on making an assessment on what is safe or not safe for 7 year old child. I if I had a child that young personally wouldn't of allowed it but that's me. We all have the right to make our own decisions about how we manage young children. RIP to the little girl!

1 ( +2 / -1 )

It sounds like the girl went to a different park to her mother's understanding, hence the kickboard being found there. A child wanting to go to a park before his/her parent is ready may not be the world's best communicator. The same applies to a parent who lets a child go ahead because they are too busy to doing something. I don't know what happened, but it sounds like it all follows on from this initial "let's meet at XX park" miscommunication.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Did she see something in the water and tried retrieve it? I hope they find out exactly what happened

Exactly. She supposedly took off her shoes and socks and jumped into one of the biggers in Kanto like it was a kiddie pool. How are we to know it was all accidental without details? With there being a share of these river drownings(large city/suburban), why are there never any cameras present near them?

5 ( +6 / -1 )

For crime, Japan is the safest G7 nation. In the top 10 safe countries.

https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/news/survey-japan-is-one-of-the-top-10-safest-countries-in-the-world-in-2022-072822

0 ( +6 / -6 )

This case is really mysterious. The girl went to park B instead of park A. You have to wonder, did the girl think her mom was meeting her at park B? Did she go to park A but was grabbed there by someone and had her scooter dropped off at park B? Was the girl taken to the river or did she go on her own? Did she see something in the water and tried retrieve it? I hope they find out exactly what happened.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Japan is very safe, even if you don't like to admit it..

There is no such thing as "safe" - that is an entitlement/privilege statement that a certain group of people makes until something happens to them.

Japan actually is a "secured" country with practices in place based on previous tragedies like train jumper guards, shutter gates for businesses after hours, and a street camera system.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

And it is still one of the safest countries in the world, things like this happen a lot in other countries, much more than in Japan...

Japan is very safe, even if you don't like to admit it..

And yet, this news exists. Don't be lulled into a false sense of complacency. We live in the world, not in Candy Land.

7 ( +11 / -4 )

And it is still one of the safest countries in the world, things like this happen a lot in other countries, much more than in Japan...

Japan is very safe, even if you don't like to admit it..

say that to that little girl's parents

-7 ( +5 / -12 )

A tragic loss for her family.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

I always wonder why young children are allowed to roam around alone here in Japan. Sometimes I see the tiniest of children walking around alone in the city.

No parents around.

But I am told, Japan is safe.

And it is still one of the safest countries in the world, things like this happen a lot in other countries, much more than in Japan...

Japan is very safe, even if you don't like to admit it..

1 ( +10 / -9 )

You can’t conclude from that one tragic case on the safety of kids in the whole country. Almost all children are very safe here, they are trained and used to walk alone, do some shopping or take trains etc. and they very well listen to their mothers when it is said to meet in park A, then they are in that park A, not going to park B and then go swimming in a strong river.

5 ( +9 / -4 )

The first time I saw kids riding the train by themselves (a group of kindergartners) on Yamanote’ , I was terrified. Obviously there’s still plenty of reason for that.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

As newcomers we usually admire the sight of small kids wandering around with their peers, but reality is, this all change when you have your own child. I would be confident to leave my son to go to school with other children or even go play around the neighborhood with his group of friends, even 1 other kid should be enough. Leave my son completely alone to go for the groceries, play in the park? Abs no way!

7 ( +10 / -3 )

RiP little angel and my prays for parents in such terrible loss. Japan is more safe than many countries but risk exist everywhere.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Kids should never be left alone….period, regardless of how “Safe” you think your environment is.

Yup just keep 'em locked safely inside glued to their devices. And drive them to and from school in a big SUV (and have an accident and perhaps lose one of your darlings anyway).

Kids today are weak. They have terrible immune systems since not exposed to a range of pathogens that was normal for thousands of years. Myopia is becoming endemic as well as a huge range of other diseases that were unheard of in children before.

And no environment can ever be completely "safe", unless it's a padded room.

2 ( +12 / -10 )

The scooter didn’t get there by itself…did somebody hijack it after she went in the water by herself…or somebody PUT her in the water ?

Kids should never be left alone….period, regardless of how “Safe” you think your environment is.

2 ( +7 / -5 )

I always wonder why young children are allowed to roam around alone here in Japan. Sometimes I see the tiniest of children walking around alone in the city.

No parents around.

But I am told, Japan is safe.

-11 ( +9 / -20 )

terrible news. But not unexpected.

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

As a Matsudo resident, with a young child of my own, that's just horrible. Poor family. I can't even begin to imagine how difficult that would be to deal with as a parent. Rest in peace, little one.

11 ( +11 / -0 )

Rest In Peace little angel. May the parents have inner peace and comfort in their souls, and overcome this tragedy.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

RIP little one, I hope that the family can have peace now that the body was found and put to rest.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

Very sad.

Never leave a small kid out in the jungle alone…

6 ( +13 / -7 )

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