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

Saturday 15th August, 09:08 AM JST

NAHA —

A 49-year-old man has been arrested for beating his mother to death because she hid the TV remote control from him, police said Friday.

Nanji City resident Yo Onaga is suspected of beating his mother Fumi, 76, in the head repeatedly some time after 10 p.m. on Wednesday night. According to police, Onaga showed up at a local police box on Thursday to report that his mother had collapsed and that she was bleeding from the mouth.

When officers arrived at the residence, they found Fumi dead in her bedroom. After questioning, Onaga admitted that he had hit his mother. He was quoted as saying: “When she hid the TV remote control from me, I just snapped and punched her.”

News reports

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Latest 15 of 42 Total Comments Show All

helloklitty at 10:42 AM JST - 16th August

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.
seesaw at 11:04 AM JST - 16th August

a 49-year old did that? unbelievable..and again this is Japan. Anything can happen.
GAYMAN at 11:55 AM JST - 16th August

when women start playing hide the remote con. with their sons anything can happen
tamesu at 05:08 PM JST - 16th August

"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....
cleo at 05:18 PM JST - 16th August

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.
TokyoRoughGuy at 05:38 AM JST - 17th August

Other issues beneath the surface here.
fishy at 09:06 AM JST - 17th August

there're way too many people with anger management issues... some people get so angry unbelievably easily and it kind of scares me.
Klein2 at 11:08 AM JST - 17th August
Allow me to enter the discussion with some odd points. Everyone seems to be saying the same thing.
1. 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...)
2. 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.
3. 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.
Klein2 at 11:11 AM JST - 17th August

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.
boboh at 11:16 AM JST - 17th August

Hang him.
dasyhard at 08:45 AM JST - 18th August

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.
stirfry at 05:22 PM JST - 18th August

should read "man" not man
Richard_III at 11:20 AM JST - 20th August

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.
Mayura at 03:55 PM JST - 20th August

Kill for a remote and now he has to live in prison without even getting one. What's the point? Moron.
thedeath at 04:46 PM JST - 20th August

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

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