Mz comments

Great pic! But would be nice to have more info - for example (and obviously!)who won??

I read this article and just want to scream. How ridiculous!

My best friend happens to be German and you wouldn't find a more anti-gun person anywhere. This story is shocking and the victims and their families certainly have my sympathy.

Scary!

bcbrownboy - pierce does not always mean going all the way through. Evil woman, what an awful means of discipline! Never heard of a time-out?

She wasn't injured? An exaggeration by someone then?

Sorry, there is a lot of room for doubt here. If you were woken by someone kissing or groping you, you then find your phone and take time to type a message? Surely your reaction would be stronger than that?

"50m from a police station" - so? If she was waiting to cross then the lights would have been green (or blue, whatever) for cars. It would take no more than a couple of seconds for the car to slow, perp to grab her bag and go. So no time for cops to react.

The poor jogger for having to come across the situation. What must trouble someone so much that they should kill themselves in what must be an excruciatingly painful way..?

Yet another weird family murder....

Spidey, this is true but you can't watch them 100% of the time. Children can be very fast and these things can happen in a frighteningly short space of time....My sympathy to the parents.

KumaNiku - well said.

Kwatt - OK, that might be the case but I am sure that births are not induced to be sure that there is a doctor available. I'm also even more sure that women do not enter hospital around their due date to ensure they have a doctor or bed (which you were originally saying), unless there is a problem which may need monitoring.

Disillusioned - the infant mortality rate in Japan is among the lowest in the world

Sorry Cleo, what I said may have come across wrongly. Indeed in a way we are lucky to have given birth here. No offence was intended to you. My remarks were directed towards Kwatt.

Kwatt - Cleo is not "lucky", she is a normal woman giving birth in Japan. I have given birth here, many of my friends (Japanese too) also and noone knows what on earth you are talking about. Yes, this is Japan. The pre-natal care I received was second to none. What are you basing your theory on? Load of nonsense! This is a very sad case with not much back-up information.

space monkey and neverknow2, sincere condolences.

PepinGalarga- read the reports. The fire moved faster than a locomotive.

For those who thought people could have escaped sooner: one person who was interviewed said that at one point the fire was 70km away - within 30 minutes it had covered that distance and engulfed everything....noone could have predicted that. My condolences to everyone involved...Gambatte brave firefighters.

Sorry for typo - Apsara!

What a totally dreadful story. By the way, I'm British and never heard the expression "de facto husband" before. Thanks Aspara for the explanation.

FYI, since my first comment, JT have added "this year" after Jan 10.

Disillusioned - you certainly seem to be. It's a spa not a swimming pool. Onsens are usually very very clean so your piddler's paradise comment is a bit unfair. Just because the water isn't clear doesn't mean it's dirty!

Am I reading this correctly? The ex-wife and family only moved out on Jan 10? So all those people lived together with a corpse???

Early days yet....

I thought the whole thing was hilarious and (as someone wrote earlier) a welcome relief from all the bad news recently.... Am a bit baffled though as to "being released...mental instability". If he is mentally instable should he not be getting care?

Dogdog, noone made you read the article. This is a very moving piece and I found it interesting. Akikusa endured (along with many others) a horrific experience. I'm glad he was able to return and pay respects to his friend.

To Serendipity: You say "biased speculation" - speculation maybe but biased? what do you mean? The first thought I had was I wonder if the mother was involved. I'm not racist, I have lived here in Japan very happily for 12 years and have a young son. Biased towards what? And discussions promote speculation, no?

I would wonder if she was wearing her helmet correctly - or was it around her neck while she was climbing? I don't see how this could happen if it was on her head.

I once saw one of those documentaries about a plane crash that happened at sea (sorry, don't remember where/when) but while there were some survivors there would have been a lot more - many people inflated their lifevests inside the plane. They didn't block the exit but as the water filled the plane they were pressed against the ceiling, unable to submerge to go through the doors...Maybe the crew need to emphasis the info when going through the safety stuff? On topic though, I think removing them to save a mere 25kg is ridiculous.