national

Brothers aged 6 and 4, left at home alone, perish in fire in Hokkaido

20 Comments

Two brothers aged six and four died in a fire that destroyed their father's house in Nakashibetsu, Hokkaido, on Monday night.

Police said that flames were seen coming from the two-story wooden home of Tomoyuki Honda, 38, at around 6:30 p.m. by a neighbor who called 119, Fuji TV reported. It took firefighters about one hour and 45 minutes to extinguish the blaze.

Inside the ruins of the house, firefighters found the unconscious bodies of Nachi Honda, 6, and his four-year-old brother Manato. They were taken to hospital where they were pronounced dead.

Police and firefighters said Tuesday they believe the fire was started by a cigarette lighter which was found by the body of one of the boys on the second floor.

Honda and his wife live apart and the children usually live with her. However, on Monday, she had dropped them off at Honda's place before she and Honda went shopping at a nearby supermarket.

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

20 Comments
Login to comment

Rest in Peace to the poor little brothers.

Yet more rubbish, despicable adults (they cannot be called parents) supposed to care for their children. Long, long prison terms please.

-7 ( +14 / -21 )

What scumbags the two “parents” are. They murdered their children. Simple as that. Let them rot in a prison cell with enough time to think about what they’ve done.

-16 ( +11 / -27 )

Never leave kids that young home alone.

That said, I would hesitate to throw scorn on the parents. I have kids that age and losing them would be a million times worse than a death sentence to me, as I'm sure it is for them. They were definitely negligent to leave the kids alone (more so with access to a lighter) but from the article all they did was pop out for a quick trip to the nieghborhood supermarket. Its a far cry from the behavior in most stories like this where the parents were abusing their children, or leaving them locked in boiling cars while they played pachinko all day.

21 ( +23 / -2 )

Why was it necessary for the two of them to go to the supermarket?

5 ( +14 / -9 )

Horrific.

Please, please do not leave children at home alone. There is never a good enough reason.

14 ( +16 / -2 )

Very irresponsible. No sane parents out there would leave their 4 and 6 years old kids alone at home, what's more with potentially dangerous (for children) items within their kids' reach.

4 ( +10 / -6 )

Not sure calling it irresponsible is true. I used to stay home and look after my younger brother when I was six and he was one but then it was only ever for about half an hour or so at a time. But by the time i was six in my home country I was already in the second grade of elementary school unlike Japanese kids who only start school after they have turned six. So perhaps they are a bit more immature at six here.

-4 ( +7 / -11 )

Unfortunately separated parents and a careless father led to this unnecessary result.

No. TWO careless parents, the father AND mother, led to this unnecessary result.

7 ( +11 / -4 )

Honda and his wife live apart and the children usually live with her.

OK

> However, on Monday, she had dropped them off at Honda's place before she and Honda went shopping at a nearby supermarket.

So they live apart, but HAD to go grocery shopping together?

And they couldn't be bothered to take the kids?

So Honda couldn't watch the two kids at home while the wife went shopping alone, or vice versa?

Conclusion, the story is just made up to what actually really happened.

OR

These are two completely useless individuals that need to be locked up for life.

-4 ( +6 / -10 )

Wow with some of the comments you know why mob mentality is a real thing.

The parents werent being abusive. They made the terrible error of leaving their kidz alone. That is negligent and and very poor judgement, but to wish them more pain, more punishment, saying its “murder”...

They are probably suffering more than anyone can imagine. This is a very tragic thing.

4 ( +12 / -8 )

Surely a 6-year old boy knows how to unlock a door. Why didn't he just run out of the burning house with his brother? The article only mentions that the boys were found unconscious, not burned.

Anyhow, a terrible tragedy.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

I don't understand why people assume the parents were separated. In some countries it is common where parents will park their children in baby strollers outside of the restaurant and go have coffee. I am not saying the parents were right nor am I saying they were wrong. What works in one country does not fit well in another, so please don't judge. I am sure their are many Japanese mothers who leave their children at home daily and take a quick run to the market and nothing happens, in this case something did and we are left to criticize and read about it.

-8 ( +1 / -9 )

Bad news, I want to cry. I don't like news of kids dying, it is painful.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I dont understand leaving your children alone. My j-wife and I always took turns and never left our children alone. RIP little ones.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

These poor parents. They'll live with the grief from that mistake for the rest of their lives.

RIP little guys.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

What’s the bet they were locked in too?

Leaving little kids at home alone is a disgraceful act of negligence. It’s also illegal to leave children under 12 unsupervised, not that you would know because it’s so very common in Japan.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

They are probably suffering more than anyone can imagine. This is a very tragic thing.

I truly hope so, but there isn’t enough suffering these two animals can be subject to in order to get justice for what they’ve done.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Honda and his wife live apart and the children usually live with her. However, on Monday, she had dropped them off at Honda's place before she and Honda went shopping at a nearby supermarket.

Why not take the kids with you? Why leave the kids at home with a lighter just lying about in the open? What were they expecting to happen? SMH!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites