14-year-old girl arrested for strangling grandfather to death

Police quoted the girl as saying she killed her grandfather because they hadn’t been getting along recently.

Sounds reasonable..

I guess she will now know her attitude about life.

Japan seriously needs to do something about improving its mental health system. Then perhaps tragedies like this might be prevented.

Usually, you think your grandkids are more adorable than your kids. The girl may have been having bad chemistry with her grandpa. RIP.

Another one of these punks! "I was reprimanded!" Is not an excuse to kill. Try her as an adult and throw away the key, please

Grandpa yelled at her and she went to the cops?

Hmm....

I wonder if she was living with him instead of her parents for some reason. Otherwise, she could have just NOT gone to his place to be "berated".

And I wish my grandpa were still here so I could give him a big hug...

@smithinjapan Children's brains are much different than adults', as far as I understand. What's the rationale for trying a child as an adult? I'm curious about cases like these. Does she have a conscience I wonder?

yeah, likely more to this story, surely visits to grandpa wouldn't trigger this, living with him under odd circumstances, might....

Wow she obviously has some mental health issues and is a dangerous person. Most unstable or violent minors would perhaps show aggression or even brutal violence towards someone who's making them angrier, but to come up from behind with a cord and strangle someone to death is something on another level altogether.

...so why had the local authorities not taken it upon themselves to investigate further, Japan being the ultimate nanny state? Might it be down to the patriarchal attitudes toward women that pervade the thinking of police and policy makers?

Japan seriously needs to do something about improving its mental health system. Then perhaps tragedies like this might be prevented.

But, is it really mental health? Or, is it the culture as a whole? I read these kinds of articles up to two or three times a week! Kids killing parents and grandparents, mothers killing their kids, child abuse cases in record numbers, older people killing siblings, the list of in-family murders goes on and on! Is it really a mental health issue? I don't think so.

Quite unusual for a 14 year-old female to murder at all, let alone by using personal force, as opposed to poison or something less direct.

In short, she is a dangerous lunatic and almost certainly unredeemable.

No good. No rehabilitation, no mercy for such a young psychological defunct individual.

the girl went to police last October and complained that her grandfather was berating her a lot.

She lived alone with him ? There seems to be more to the story.

Usually, you think your grandkids are more adorable than your kids.

My grand-dads were way cooler than my parents. They supported and defended me for all my teen weirdnesses.

Attitude problem? You think?

14 year old kills grown man... there is so much missing from this story...

So this murderer decides to take the law into her own hands!!

Police quoted the girl as saying she killed her grandfather because they hadn’t been getting along recently. She said he had been reprimanding her about her attitude toward life.Local media reported that the girl went to police last October and complained that her grandfather was berating her a lot.

RE: Japan seriously needs to do something about improving its mental health system. Then perhaps tragedies like this might be prevented.

Your right,first Japan needs to get rid of western manipulation and back to old school, so take your westernized philosophy and let Japan handle its own affairs.

This is part of the problem when foreigners regardless of how long they have lived in Japan are not prone to the ways of Japanese culture and society and will never understand to be Japanese. There are many other ways to approach this situation and trying a person based on media evidence is not one of those.

Shallots: "@smithinjapan Children's brains are much different than adults', as far as I understand. What's the rationale for trying a child as an adult?"

14 is only technically childhood; you know FAr better at that age than to murder, and that it is a heinous crime. What do you suggest? It be chalked up to a learning experience and a shouganai? A six-year-old's brain works differently, yes. A fourteen year old knows right from wrong.

The old and young in Japan are worlds apart. Her grandfather was prob very strict and old fashioned. They don't make an effort to understand the youth of today and how westernized the youth has become.

On the other hand, the youth have become spoiled rotten, yet they're expected to fill big shoes.

She has an attitude toward life. Ya think so? Wow...but so sad. She really should be tried as an adult. I think she knew what she was doing.

Three generational families are not at all uncommon nor is it uncommon for children to live with their grandparents while their parents work in Tokyo or Osaka.

@smithinjapan

14 is only technically childhood...A six-year-old's brain works differently, yes....A fourteen year old knows right from wrong...

Scientific consensus disagrees with you. The frontal lobe, where judgement and appreciation of negative consequences take place, does not mature until after 19 or 20.

What do you suggest? It be chalked up to a learning experience and a shouganai?

No. That is definitely not what I suggest.

shallots: "Scientific consensus disagrees with you. The frontal lobe, where judgement and appreciation of negative consequences take place, does not mature until after 19 or 20."

So, you think fourteen year olds do not know right from wrong. Well done. I think we can see who is right and who is wrong, here, and while people like yourself just hmmm and haw and suggest she just made a silly teen mistake in wilfully murdering her grandfather because he said she made bad life choices, here's what happens to young adults in other nations, that actually KNOW fourteen year olds know well enough:

"Kali Jade Bookey from New Richmond, Wisconsin, was charged as an adult by police on 28 July with attempted first-degree intentional homicide. If convicted, she could be jailed for up to 40 years."

Now, before you go saying something like, "Well, thank goodness this is Japan, then!" remember that this is not the first time we've read this reason for a teen killing their relatives even this month for similar "reasons" in Japan, and the same kind of snapping and murder of relatives or not pretty much every day, with the worst being "I wanted to see what it was like" in Japan, and there is little to no punishment in most cases if the person is under 20 (and so it continues).

Yes, she should absolutely be charged as an adult and locked up, and I think you should be ashamed for feeling otherwise, or at least get ready for the "I told you so" when we read about this again in a few days.

And I wish my grandpa were still here so I could give him a big hug...

---Mariam Tebourbi - JUL. 27, 2016 - 05:41PM JST

+1000

I agree. Mine passed when I was in Japan and I couldn't get home for his funeral.

This young lady has no excuse. She knew what she was doing, and she knew it was wrong. She'll get a light sentence because she's a minor.

Tragic...prayers for the family of this Grandfather...