49-year-old Okinawa man kills mother for hiding TV remote control

It's this new generation of electrical appliances that can't be operated without a remote. Gets to me, too. Not to the point where I've wanted to beat a family member to death, though...

Wow, how sad and sick can it get. Murdered over something as trivial as a rimokon. His mother probably still had to baby-sit this fellow. Well, the state will from now on.

Murdered over something as trivial as a rimokon.

Or even a remote control <massive eye roll>.

What can someone comment about this one? Just sick....

Could have been even worse. If she'd hidden his keitai he would have drawn and quartered her.

there is only so much of "croon along with Oba-san" a man can take.

Summer madness seems to be in effect! This dude is off. Another single guy living at home with his mom. Probably was spoiled as a child up until his thirties. Now he gets mad because mom doesn't treat him like a baby anymore.

Disgusting!

People are sick. Does he deserve a trial or should he be killed on the spot?

We're having a bit of a problem dealing with the elderly, are we? That bodes poorly given the current demographics.

The punishment for this crime? Hide the remote in a room with a few pit bulls that haven't had a meal for a while, blindfold him and see if he can find it.

As much as the result is sickening, the lead up to the event wreaks of the standard emotional immaturity. "You are a bad boy. I am hiding the remote so you can't watch TV. And, you can make your own breakfast!" No doubt it was her badgering that pushed him over the edge. This nut is 49 years old and his mother hides the TV remote so he can't watch TV? Welcome to Play School!

The guy should have stopped for just a second before hitting her and asked himself, "Do they have remocons in prison?" They don't, to my knowledge, just cons.

Anyway, the guy snapped, but there is WAY to much of that in Japan, be it pushing another in front of an oncoming train for not saying excuse me, stabbing someone if they ask you not to smoke in a non-smoking area, or driving into a bunch of people -- society is wound up too tight. Now this guy killed his mother over a remote control, and at first the coward couldn't admit as to why.

This man child killed his mother over a TV remote control? What a air headed barf bag!

Cons... nice smithy.

I just hope he had cable TV. No point killing over what's on the regular channels you get. Just senseless.

Ahhh TuneinTokyo. How easily you have been manipulated. You want to hand out the death penalty on account of what JT wrote. Have I taken your online handle to literally?

In order to stay on topic i say TV is bad for you.

Funny how the locals can only muster the courage to act when someone is much weaker than themselves. And any silly little matter justifies them in their actions as well. Weak in mind and body.

disillusioned: Do you think she was visiting him at his house hiding the remote or do you think it more likely that he was living with her? If it's the latter, as I suspect it is, the solution for a 49-year old man is relatively simple, grow-up and move-out if you don't like the way mommy treats you!

I suspect there must be something else than remote control stuff. The guy must be lying.

Never heard about such case in my life... Yop, TV is the root of all evil...

Animal!

Why not, eh!

49 and still living at home with Mom...seems to be lots of issues here, but what he did is beneath disgusting.

Maybe this isn't the entire story. The main problem in Japan is that there aren't enough care houses for the elderly and they are expensive. Most people have to care for their own parents. I don't know if it is the case here, but if anybody in here have ever cared for a dementing parent I can tell that it certainly is enough to push you to the limit of what is humanly acceptable. My parents did it. In the end it got so bad that they were no longer able to sleep because she was waking up all the time. Luckily in Belgium care houses are abundant and she could be taken care of by professionals. Otherwise it would have been a living hell for them. That one year took two years for them to recuperate afterwards.

There's a nice japanese movie about the subject. I don't remember the title but it's about a head of police who kills his dementing wife. He has an impeccable record up to then so nobody understands. The judge hearing the case is also caring for his own dementing father at home. Anybody knows which movie I'm talking about?

It is unfortunate that in Japan, a mother is killed by her own son for the sake of tv remote. This shows other side of prosperous Japan, known for tradition and culture. It is time that we should learn to respect our family members and fellow citizens.

That's the human condition, folks. Just goes to show, there's plenty of messed up parent-child relationships out there in the world. Killing your mom over the remote though, that's pretty sad.

Seems like Japan, and plenty of other countries, need some kind of special homes for disgruntled, anti-social, middle-aged men. Where they can zone out on TV, thumb through well-worn tentacle mangas (or whatever fits the bill in said loser's nation of residence), surf for pron, and drink cheap rot-gut all day, and leave all the rest of us alone!

asked himself, "Do they have remocons in prison?" They don't, to my knowledge, just cons.

(heavily berating sarcasm on)yes, especially when the guy obviously stops and thinks in English.

If you annoy others you will be punished. This is something the old woman never learned. What's disgusting about it? Annoying people deserve to be not around. I support this.

I envision a "knock of granny" business as being extremely profitable for the future.

a 49-year old did that? unbelievable..and again this is Japan. Anything can happen.

when women start playing hide the remote con. with their sons anything can happen

"suspect there must be something else than remote control stuff. The guy must be lying."

2 U.S. shore patrol officers told me "Japanese never lie"

anyway another koseki tohon bites the dust....

anyway another koseki tohon bites the dust....

What's this thing you have with koseki tohon? All the koseki shows is your parentage, not your criminal record.

Other issues beneath the surface here.

there're way too many people with anger management issues... some people get so angry unbelievably easily and it kind of scares me.

Allow me to enter the discussion with some odd points. Everyone seems to be saying the same thing.

But everyone can relate to how this guy feels right? Everyone, sometime in their life, has gotten livid over something that seems silly, right? I mean, it seriously could not have been "just the TV." I would bet it was a Norman Bates domination thing. She was just riding him and riding him and probably forced him to sell his car, stop drinking, stop smoking, and this was just the last straw. It changes nothing in a legal or moral sense, but it is something to think about. I do not think I have been in a killing rage ever, but getting into a bloody fight at a sports event over some name calling is exactly how much less reprehensible than what happened in this case? (Then again, it IS his mother...)

Has anyone noticed appliances being sold WITHOUT manual controls? This is happening more and more, and it might mean in this case that the woman was not taking convenience from him, but access. She was not talking while he was reading, for instance, it is as though she took his glasses away.

Television. People kill for drugs, religion, passion. I must say that if there is anything more trivial than television, I do not know what it is. Some people really really need it, and that is sad. Even A and E and Discovery and the like just spew misinformation these days. There are too many reasons to give up TV and too few reasons to value it over any person's life... I personally would have just given up watching TV and made the old bitty pay NHK and cable fees by herself, for ever and ever and ever and ever.

Fishy and Tokyo... you are both so right. People are on edge these days. I have been bottled up so tightly at times... Many times problems just seem to pile on, and there is no way to deal with other than to take control of your own life. Few people do that, of course, which makes them psychotic eventually. In a general sense, the world is messed up, and that must be extremely stressful for most people.

Hang him.

I, myself live with my mother and I'm 57. I can relate to how this son feels by snapping at a given moment. But there are limits that he should have established within himself which he failed to do and it's sad that it resulted in this tragedy. He will never have a normal life from here on. For those of you readers who are in this same predicament, set some standards for you to control your temper flaring. Only you can set it because every character is not the same. An example is finding ways to make your relationship better with your mother so she doesn't irk you. I found this route is the most successful but if it doesn't work, stay away from her until you can find other resolutions. Anger management may be helpful but if the situation is ongoing, I think the long term will result in violence.

should read "man" not man

Japanese TV is pretty bad and it's clear that unless remedial action is taken there will be more of these types of sad crimes as people fight over the right to press the standby switch.

Kill for a remote and now he has to live in prison without even getting one. What's the point? Moron.

beat up elderly, beat up mama over something that small!

oh, my! j-tv isn't worth a fight...in all circumstance.. at all!