Samantha Zoe Aso comments

Posted in: Gang leader killed boy, say 2 other suspects See in context

There have been cases of beheadings in Japan previously, I seem to remember. Whether ts was 'inspired' by ISIS or not, doesn't diminish the horror or repulsion of the crime. That poor boy.

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Posted in: Two children, aged 4, 2, die in apartment fire See in context

What kind of person leaves a 2 and 4 year old home alone?????

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Posted in: Transport ministry to unify rules for baby strollers on buses, trains See in context

Wow, I was blown away by some of the comments here. Never mind that I bought and paid for a ticket too mentality. There is no way I could sit anywhere on a train, silver seats or not, and consciously let a pregnant woman, a frail elderly person or someone struggling to hold a young child stand in in front of me. Yeah, I paid the same price for a ticket but I wasnt raised that way and neither are my kids. A little bit more empathy rather than theIm alright Jack mentality would sure make this world a better place.

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Posted in: Japan expected to ratify Hague Convention on child abduction See in context

To all those poor souls out there bearing the brunt of this injustice, my heart goes out to you all. I had a British friend a few years back whose japanese husband was extremely violent and she returned to the UK for a holiday to try to get her head together. She genuinely had no intention of staying and had a return ticket. An order was issued and police went to her parents house where she was staying. She was informed that if she didnt return with the child within a week, the child would be taken from her and held with Social Services until arrangements could be made to return the child to Japan. Back in Japan,when she called the police out next time hubby starts getting pushing her around, they didnt want to get involved. So Japan has no compunction in utilising the Hague when it suits Japan. Otherways, we hear locals spouting off about respecting Japans laws and culture and basicallyignoring` requests from other countries to return children who had been taken without consent .I switched off there and lost quite a lot of respect for Japan on this issue.

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Posted in: Japan expected to ratify Hague Convention on child abduction See in context

Shumatsu Samurai. The UK has had shared custody for many a decade now. My own parents are divorced and kept it amicable for the sake of myself and my siblings.

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Posted in: Fault beneath nuclear plant in Aomori Prefecture also believed to be active See in context

Earthquakes cannot be predicted. We don't know where the next shake may hit. Better to be safe when you could be talking about the lives of a lot of people. Never mind the environmental and emotional mess it leaves behind.

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Posted in: Scottish author's book details efforts to locate sons taken by Japanese wife See in context

It`s not just foreign fathers who have found themselves in this terrible situation, I know a few foreign mummies too.

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Posted in: British PM Cameron to fight back on crime after grim week See in context

And lets not even touch on folk waltzing in from the EU, free to claim benefits and when a crime is committed,they are allowed to stay as deporting themabuses their human rights`.

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Posted in: Woman arrested for killing newborn baby, leaving body in locker See in context

There are hundreds of children languishing in orphanages who cannot be adopted due to the fact that their parents wont give up their parental rights. The parents dont want them and they wont let anyone else have them either. The whole system needs huge changes and to ctually start putting the rights of a child to have a nurturing and safe family environment. The doctors involved in this womans case should also be held accountable. These stories break my heart. RIP little innocents.

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Posted in: Man arrested for beating 3-year-old daughter after he loses at video game See in context

You know, we used to hear excuses of 'Because I couldn't pay the rent' or ' We didn't have any money to pay the electricity bill' as a lame attempt to try to possibly justify beating a vulnerable Blue little being ....who just coincidentally relied upon you for their survival. Now it's because 'I lost at a game'. Pretty.much sums up society these days worldwide. Most of them don't even know they are born. Totally sickening to the core.

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Posted in: TEPCO employees' children forced to give money to classmates to repay rate hikes See in context

So wrong on so many differing levels.

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Posted in: Fukushima nuclear plant workers face stigma, threats See in context

Apologies for my typing. My keyboard is on one.

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Posted in: Fukushima nuclear plant workers face stigma, threats See in context

Colby222,My heart goes out to you and your family and the thousands who are suffering the same plight. I too am sickened reading this article but am sad to say, I am not surprised. Reports were bounded about after last years disaster of people being turned away from city offices due to radiation contamination fears, kids from Fukushima being bullied at the new schools they attend.....the list goes on. The ugly,side of Japan. A society where the powers that be can basically do what they want with no accountability and the masses have allowed it to happen. All that anger, hopelessness and loss of control over their own destinys, Id feel like lashing out too. The only difference is that Id recognise that its the fat cats sat in their ivory towers who should be held accountable, not Joe Watanabe in the trenches or his child who goes to the same school. But thats what you get when you have a nation that is taught to suck it up and shut up while the powers that be fiddle the night away. I hope I am proved wrong but I have this terrible thought that its going to get worse.

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Posted in: Boy's suicide over bullying sparks death threats at Shiga school See in context

@Mrs Alexander. Good for you! I am glad that something was done. However, the mop doesn't always flop that way with every case. My son, along with a few others was being bullied and whilst the 1st grade teacher was on it, in second grade the whole situation was allowed to rear it's ugly head again. Second grade teacher seemed to think that if you were being bullied it was your own fault. In fact, she actually helped the bully concerned by pairing him up with my son in a swimming class one day and my son had his head held under the water until he nearly passed out. My son didn't tell me, another Mum heard about it, incidentally from her son who was terrified of this kid. I stormed in to the school and if my hubby hadn't been with me that teacher would have been in hospital. She knew the history from Grade one. She chose to ignore it. We moved schools. Countries in fact. Talk, talk and no action. There were other kids at that school were quite violent acts were going on, parents were going in and complaining, getting the 'Hai, hai. Wakarimashita' and then being fobbed off. Other parents do no want to rock the boat. What happened to this poor boy wasn't just bullying. It was systematic mental and physical torture. Children can be cruel but then there are kids who have mental problems to go out and treat someone like that on purpose. The parents should be held accountable and anyone else who didn't help that poor lad. I've had to deal with a son who through bullying, wanted to kill himself, went off his food, couldn't sleep and was too scared to go through the school gates. It's devastating for a parent to try to comprehend that your child ( a 6 year old) wants to die or expresses they want to die. Dealing with that and trying to enforce some sense of normal into a child's life in that state is a very precarious balance. I cry at the thought of his parents trying to deal with him and officialdom the best they thought in this matter. That poor boy. I was beyond shocked, sickened and saddened when I read what he went through. I am going to go and give my children a huge hug after I have finished writing.

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Posted in: 70-year-old woman robbed of Y43 million in telephone scam See in context

And I forgot to add that you'd think immediate family would be a bit more proactive about educating/ protecting elderly family members from this type of crime.

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Posted in: 70-year-old woman robbed of Y43 million in telephone scam See in context

43 million. Wow, I can't even imagine having that much loose cash lying around! You'd think after all the campaigns the police have been promoting, how much in the news these types of cases have been reported, it would start sinking in that you double check first before sending/ transferring cash to anyone. A few years ago, I could understand it but now....

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Posted in: Police refuse father's complaints about bullies linked to son's suicide See in context

My son was a victim of bullying in primary school in Japan. It got so bad that he told me he wanted to kill himself. The 1st Grade teacher was amazing. After I called the school, he immediately came to our house and the class was given a talk that bullying was wrong. He also told me he was frustrated as instead of being able to just teach the class, most of his day was spent just trying to control this one boy who obviously had severe behaivour problems. In 2nd Grade, class remained the same, different teacher. This teacher kept pairing my son with the boy who had bullied him in 1st Grade. The problem started up again. Despite numerous complaints, she didn't tackle it at all. In fact, the rights of the bully to have an education superseded the rights of my son ( and other boys who were being terrorized but their parents didn't want to rock the boat!) to be educated in a safe and nurturing environment. There are people out there who are fighting to stamp out this problem and bring in strict penalties but they are swimming against a strong tide.

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Posted in: Baby dead 'for a day' as mother chats on Internet forums See in context

Hate to be cynical but after reading up on this, I bet the three year old's death was down to neglect too. Neighbours reported seeing the baby ''unchanged and dirty' and evidence of 'lazy parenting'. Why wasn't this woman under the glare of Social Services? Japanese Law needs to grown some teeth and start protecting the rights of it's most vulnerable. Stop mollycoddling neglectful parents and charge them.

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Posted in: Baby dead 'for a day' as mother chats on Internet forums See in context

Sad on so many differing levels. It would be interesting to know if the son who fell off the balcony was unsupervised at the time. What involvement did Social Services have.....or was it another well, shes lost a son and is in hell now so we dont need to punish her any more kind of thinking?

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Posted in: 2 children, aged 4 and 3, die after falling into irrigation canal See in context

Nigelboy. That s my whole point and it isnt my own personal interpreation, its a perceived cultural one....and I use the wordperceivedbecause in Japan they do have laws against leaving kids alone, using seatbelts etc but they dont seem to be enforced. UNICEF- Every week, Germany, Italy,UK,Ireland 2 kids die from abuse/neglect. France 3 a week, Japan reported figures stand at 4 with USA up there with a 27 figure.

The thing is with Japan, only at the beginning of this year the NPA reported a few hundred child abuse/neglect cases when in factThe Ministry of Health,Labor and Welfare reported thousands. This was reported on Japan Today. I presume that the couple of hundred were the ones that were taken to court. There are thousands of cases out there that never see the light of day.

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Posted in: 2 children, aged 4 and 3, die after falling into irrigation canal See in context

Sandiegoluv. I think if folk are only going to make comparisions with one country, incidentally a country which has one of the highest levels of reported child neglect figures, it doesnt really reflect how Japan is doing on an international scale. Check out UNICEFs figures.

As to a solution, well there are japanese professionals in this field out there trying to have laws changed over parental rights, children`s rights etc.The system needs to be a bit more proactive on checking up on reports of neglect or possible abuse. Just raising awareness about child safe environments through media and at maternity hospitals/ clinics might be a good cause. Having said that I still find it astounding that parents have to be told that going out and leaving young children home alone with such things as kerosene stoves is dangerous.

Maybe you have more compassion than I but I still do not feel one ounce of sympathy for parents who leave kids unattended, for periods of time in obviously dangerous places. It`s a bit like having a drink or two and then driving your kids home in the car with you. You got away with it that time, maybe you can again and so on. I still totally believe that a parent who very obviously left a child in a dangerous situation and was negligent in their parental duties should be punished by the law.

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Posted in: 2 children, aged 4 and 3, die after falling into irrigation canal See in context

Stranger..... Its not just about beingstupid, its also about laxed morals and/or lazy parenting.

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Posted in: 2 children, aged 4 and 3, die after falling into irrigation canal See in context

Sandiegoluv. Thank you! Yeah, I get your point but if you are an adult and you do something that puts another adult in danger or in some way caused their death, you`d be/ could be punished under the law. Why not the same with children? At least an adult could speak up or make objections, a child cannot.

Totally agree about the social workers aspect but all round the world, even the best intervention from trained social workers isn`t going to help unless the parents are willing, and able, to make better life choices. You can lead a horse to water......... .

As I said before, I`ll save my sympathy for those who lost their children to an illness or in circumstances beyond their control.

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Posted in: 2 children, aged 4 and 3, die after falling into irrigation canal See in context

It may be me but I haven`t read of a case here in Japan where a parent has been imprisoned or punished for basically being negligent. ( By that I mean, the away parents and kid falls off 13th floor balcony/ kid out cycling on trike unsupervised hit and killed by a vehicle kind of news.)

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Posted in: 2 children, aged 4 and 3, die after falling into irrigation canal See in context

Fadamor- I am sorry but I`ll save my sympathies for the parents who lose their children to illness or accidents out of their control. Having spent time with a dear friend whose daughter was hospitalised with a life threatening sickness on a ward full of very, very sick children, I cannot understand how some parents seem willing to play russian roulette with their kids.

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Posted in: 2 children, aged 4 and 3, die after falling into irrigation canal See in context

I agree that we dont know the full facts of this story however....... I am sat in complete disbelief that some posters on here obviously think its okay to let young children, toddlers even, play outside unsupervised. It beggars belief! I used to play out all the time when I was a child but we were always watched over. Yes, children need to explore and learn from new environments but it is a parents basic responsilbility to ensure their childs safety. If that is too hard for you well, take classes to learn or dont have children. Why should some poor wee soul have to suffer because aparent` is too busy, mentally challenged or lazy to make sure this very basic component of parenting responsibility is carried out.

Unfortunately, whenever this kind of article breaks, a lot of people do assume it`s parental negligence due to incidents witnessed or read about previously. Parents who are genuinely victims of tragic circumstances are labelled the same. I personally feel that the laws in Japan should be a lot stricter when dealing with negligent parents. It might just act as some kind of deterrant.

RIP little boys.

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Posted in: Crisis plans still lagging in Japan nuke towns See in context

Russian roulette.

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Posted in: 11-month-old baby falls to death from apartment window See in context

My lot had all started crawling (in a fashion) by 11 months. Couldn`t take my eyes off them for a minute. Bought one of those enclosure fence thingies so I could just hang out the washing a few feet away and know they were okay and in a totally safe environment. They were still only a few feet away, well within my grasp and eyeballs!

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Posted in: Record number of people living on welfare See in context

You know, its super easy to comment on another persons life situation when you yourself have never been there. I mean, how many of the folk making comments on this forum regarding the tsunami victims were actually affected by it,?How many of you lost family members, your home, your belongings, your business and/or job in one fell sweep? How many of you are, only over a year later, trying to deal with the physical and emotional aftermath? I personally feel that unless you are one of those poor folk directly affected, you don`t have the right to comment. I am all for getting back on your feet but sometimes people need someone to help them to stand in the first place.

Japan can hardly be compared to other countries,such as Britain. During my time in Japan, I felt that most Japanese had a strong work ethic and were too proud to ask for help, even when totally warrantedand at times with quite dire consequences.That`s why welfare systems were supposedly set up, to help out people when Fate throws those curveballs.

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Posted in: Panel says gov't meddling added to Fukushima nuclear crisis See in context

Oh here we go with the deflecting of blame and resonsibility. TEPCO screwed up big time.Kan was in there trying his best. This just makes me feel sick to the stomach.

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