16-year-old girl arrested for beheading classmate in Sasebo

Where are the suspect's parents?

What???

So sad...

A couple months over the ten year anniversary of the Sasebo slashing. Disturbing.

The suspects parents are likely living at home and she has gone away to high school.

C'mon abt time names are revealed, faces exposed. What's the point in protecting wrong doings?

As always, suspects can't be named, but victims always can.

Having lived in Sasebo I just feel horrible knowing in the last 10 years or so, amongst the Japanese citizens in this small country town, the highest profile murders in Sasebo have been children on children.

The TV news said that the 15-year-old was living alone in the apartment. No explanation of how or why.

Why should they protect this girl’s future after she completely took away another girl’s future?

Where are the suspect's parents?

We don't know when the parents got home. If they do live with 15-year I don't think it is too strange for 15 years to be home alone at 8pm. The parents could have gone shopping or at the grandparents house. There are tons of reasons.

I am wondering how she hid the body if they do live together? Did she cover her with a blanket? Did the parents not go into her room?

For a teenager, it not unheard of giving them there space. I think the teenager could have realistically hid her friend for at least a day or two.

"The suspect, who cannot be named because she is a minor" ok, then who is responsible, parents? society? schooling? because a human being lost her life and she also destroyed her own life, when and how such news will stop coming one the page again and again

Well, a resounding "WTF!" to that!

@disillusioned the main reason I made this user ID

Sorry to say but she was beheaded.

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20140727-00000045-jij-soci

how would the parents know that she wasn't "home" since she doesn't live with them. this story has too many holes in it.

Wow! Flashbacks to that loon that out heads on the school fence posts in Osaka 15 years ago or so. She cut off her head? That's just nuts man!

I blame the lack of censorship on TV. Small kids can see graphic, bloody stabbings at lunchtime.

Dear me. Appalling details of a hideous event, the poor girl's parents, I just can not even begin to imagine having to know that anyone's daughter had this done to her. Beyond belief.

Can't we have a 'Some readers may find this story distressing' warning?

OMG! You would have to be a total loon to be able to cut someone’s head off!! And at 15 years old!? That's crazy. I can't remember the last time I read crazy news like this.

Headline not enough of a hint?

@Yongyang - There's a small hint that the story may be distressing in the headline:

15-year-old girl arrested for beheading classmate in Sasebo

That wasn't the original headline, though JT never gives any indication when they've edited a story.

Too young to be named but old enough to live on her own? Japan, sort you laws out please because if she's not old enough to be named, she's not old each to live alone.

RIP. I'm going to throw jealousy in the ring as a reason. That's a lot of rage for a 15 year old. Doubt bullying.

The beheading and gate thing was Kobe, not Osaka and that monster is out - and rumored to be in Tokushima. He killed two kids and got a slap on the wrist. This girl needs to be locked up forever. That poor family.

Don't blame TV. There's worse in many other countries. More blame goes to breaking up of families, alienation, society that only appreciates material goods and success, schools that don't address bullying and only put exam pressure on kids.

@Row, Bur, perhaps Yang's idea would also embrace, now wait for it, the headline as well, I read that as given. Smart aye.

Burningbush:

" She's only 15 and she may be innocent, don't print her name. "

Innocent?? She already said she did it. Insane, perhaps, but not innocent.

Sakakibara seito. A nasty bit of flashback news.

There are distinctive features of adolescent violence and unfortunately minors do not actually tend to view themselves as invulnerable any more than adults. Instead minors are more likely to behave as if they are invisible because of immaturity, impulsivity, and bad judgment. They lack experience and being less mindful of obligations, responsibilities and consequences they can display an indifference to risk that encourages dangerous behavior. Therefore many minors either learn or come to believe that aggression is a acceptable method for settling interpersonal problems and conflicts encountered in life. In the end this reflects the source of a lot of violence committed by minors. Sadly, however these acts are not necessarily intended but behavior that got out of hand for no good reason at all.

"the victim, Aiwa Matsuo, also 15, was visiting the suspect at her apartment when the incident occurred at around 8 p.m. Saturday. The suspect, who cannot be named because she is a minor, was alone with her classmate at the time of the crime. Police said she does not live with her parents."

A 15-year-old living in an apartment alone...

A 15-year-old living in an apartment alone...

Maybe to be close to the High School?

WOW! Any loophole drug involved?

Who knows how many 15 year olds have their own apartments in J-land.

But one beheads a classmate and suddenly its an obvious no no to some people..

As if 15 year olds living with mum and dad never committed any heinous crimes!

I am going to go with "the girl was already mental in the first place". I think there are plenty of minors out there who can and do handle emancipation pretty well. And I somehow did this one would have stayed out of trouble no matter if she lived with one parent, both, a couple siblings and/or grandparents in the house.

Did the victim's parents know she was going to that girl's apartment?

Police said Matsuo's head had been severed with a large knife and her left hand cut off.

And then...

and she was confirmed dead at the scene.

I know this is official police procedure and language, but sounds kinda redundant....

Because the suspect is 15, her name will probably never appear in print, much like Kobe's Sakakibara, who at the time was known just as Shonen A in the press. His real name and photo did appear on the internet, but not officially. Then again, in 2000, the Diet lowered the age for criminal responsibility from 16 to 14, so maybe they'll release her name and photo. Both are horrible cases.

This case should keep the police psychiatrists busy for a while.

Just speechless...

Knowing her name would bring nothing. The girl if she did it, or the other person if it's not her, is a dangerous freak. I don't know if rehabilitation is ever possible. What will the system do of her ? A few years of juvenile jail then set free or lifelong psychiatric internment ?

Who knows how many 15 year olds have their own apartments in J-land.

Not many. But I agree that's not the problem.

FYI Her Mother passed away last fall and her Father got re-married early this year and she started to live alone away from her Father in April.

This is insane...I originally thought it was 'just' a murder...which is horrific enough...But a beheading and hand being cut off? This is a hardcore psycho...knowing how lenient they are over here I with juvenile offenders, I cringe at the idea that this nutcase will be walking around freely in public again....

A lot of readers on this site don't read very well. The report clearly stated that the Alleged attacker doesn't live with her parents. Why then are you all speculating on the whereabouts of her parents ?

Beyond belief... a 15 year old girl did that. It used to be Japanese news was full of tragedies and murder from the USA.... now unfortunately Japan no longer needs to import such stories.

Japan pop. 130M, USA pop. 315M, China pop. 1.35B. The surprising thing is why similar events don't happen more often in such large populations.

Can't believe it happened in Japan... :'(

Two years in reformatory and she will be free ... like the Sasebo killer

Don't blame TV. There's worse in many other countries. More blame goes to breaking up of families, alienation, society that only appreciates material goods and success, schools that don't address bullying and only put exam pressure on kids.

Vikingflute's right! Don't blame TV or any medium for that poor girl's murder. Especially manga, Anime and video games!!

rest in peace, aiwa-chan. =( condolences to your family and love ones.

"FYI Her Mother passed away last fall and her Father got re-married early this year and she started to live alone away from her Father in April."

And?! I've got numerous students who have had a parent due and the other get remarried. They aren't killers. Japan needs to stop with the stigma of single parents, divorce and death of a parent as I think it is more damaging in itself. Dad needs to be hauled in and questioned as I do not think its legal here for a 15 year old to be living alone.

I'm hoping this girl never gets out. A lifetime of counseling won't fix someone who beheads and behands someone.

R.I.P.

And?! I've got numerous students who have had a parent due and the other get remarried. They aren't killers.

@tmarie Its pretty obvious that sanjigen was just correcting the mass of misinformation being spread in this thread and was not implying anything at all.

Regardless, family troubles like those contribute to delinquency and mental issues. I said contribute, not cause. And as I said earlier, I think the girl already had issues. The death of her mother and whatever compelled her to move away from her father might have pushed her over the edge.

LSpiroJUL. 27, 2014 - 04:30PM JST

Why should they protect this girl’s future after she completely took away another girl’s future? To LSpiro, etc.

Not naming young killers is about protecting them, it's about protecting us! You may notice how frequent copycat killers are in the USA. The Columbine killers saw another school shooter attain great infamy and that gave them their idea to go out in a flame of glory. Their faces were then plastered on every magazine cover. There names, became house-hold names. Copy-cats abounded.

Naming young killers and turning them into infamous celebrities a BAD, BAD, BAD idea.

"Can't believe it happened in Japan... :'("

Care to explain? Is human nature somehow uniquely unique in Japan? If not then it is no surprise there would be murder in Japan.

The girl's name is private because she is still a suspect, and beyond that, a minor.

The reasoning behind keeping such names private is well documented and isn't something that should need rehashing here.

@SenseNotSoCommon i blame the total lack of empathy in Japanese upbringing and there is no way to send a troubled girl to a counselor here in Japan.

Good lord this is one sick puppy!

Strangerland:

The reasoning behind keeping such names private is well documented and isn't something that should need rehashing here.

And yet, because JapanToday insists on including the phrase " who cannot be named because she is a minor," every single time a minor is arrested, as though this is not normal, standand procedure around the world, there's always a newbie or two who rants and raves about the names of minors not being publicized.

Wow... Crimes over here getting more hidoi everyday - AKB members slashed, a woman's body delivered as a doll, young girls found dead in woods, now a beheading - and all in the space of a few months...What's going on Japan?!

Apparently the suspect's mother died last year and the father remarried (that's what I think I heard on the news just now).

No further information on the father.

It's a shame that a young life has been been lost before it had the chance to flourish. It's sick that people use the fact to push some agenda.

I live in Cambridge, Massachusetts USA and this was the first thing I heard on the radio news this morning. My heart sunk especially for the victim and her parents.

Wow... Crimes over here getting more hidoi everyday - AKB members slashed, a woman's body delivered as a doll, young girls found dead in woods, now a beheading - and all in the space of a few months...What's going on Japan?!

Nothing. You're just reading the news. The country is safer than it's ever been.

Let's focus more on the poor victim and her family. This is very sad indeed..

This is an absolutely grisly story. Let's reserve judgment until all facts are presented.

Watching a J TV special on this today and they said the young girl had a history, that is she had previously had problems at school. Once was something she did during a dissection class and another time she mixed washing-up liquid into a classmate's lunch.

The program's psychiatrist suggested that the girl wanted to do this to someone but needed to find a classmate who would be unsuspecting and receptive to the idea of visiting her apartment. In other words it was nothing to do with the victim, and all to do with the planned crime. The police now say she told them she wanted to kill someone and dismember their body.

They were also saying that someone had been updating a blog or page with strikingly similar detailed progress on attempting to dismember a body, and the police think there is a link there too.

My condolences to the family. May she rest in peace.

Too much J horror watching...?

:(

@Strangerland ".. just reading the news. The country is safer than it's ever been."

It's not "just" the news.

It's not "just" the news.

Well, insofar as the news is talking about real things, yes, it's not 'just' the news. But in regards to how safe or dangerous the country is, it's safer than it's ever been.

Her mother died recently. Her father remarried recently. The 16 year old girl came from a very rich family. She lived alone. Was she spoiled by her parents? Did the fact that her mother die and her father remarry so soon have anything to do with this? Probably. However, I call her a bad seed.

I must also admonish her for closing her classmate's book with little logic. Their interactions not only with each other, bust also society through all means, including digital varieties, deserved and still do a thorough investigation from an objective third party, as the gov't clearly failed in this regard by not heeding that psych's advice for what reason? his is continuing education for mankind's management of self and neighbor. She is now 19? Better help her as a child rather than mop after her as an adult, for everyone's benefit, except maybe your wallets? 1.4M Y=$14K=1yr@Open Level Employment Status, w/~254 900 numbered and progressive tax in a global tech and entertainment powerhouse with free range on downloadable games, ut fixing that issue, while reducing these events, will not flatten them as much as heavily offered psych treatment, with a focus off drugs, as they only cage the core problems with greed. I, in both responses, meant PSYCHOLOGICAL treatment.