Man arrested for killing ex-wife in Fukushima after crashing into her car

Tuesday 13th May, 10:41 AM JST

FUKUSHIMA —

Police on Tuesday arrested a man for stabbing his ex-wife to death after chasing and crashing into her car with his vehicle in Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture, on Monday. Miyoshi Kanno, 35, was arrested for allegedly killing his ex-wife Yumi, 33, around 7:20 a.m.

According to police investigations, neighbors witnessed the suspect’s car crash into the victim’s car on the street and called police. When police arrived shortly after, they found the victim in her car, dead from stab wounds. Police arrested Kanno who was still at the crime scene. Police believe he waited outside his ex-wife’s home and then followed her in his car when she left for work.

Police said the two have lived separately for about two years and agreed on divorce terms last January. But they had been arguing over custody of their children, police said.

Latest 15 of 29 Total Comments Show All

romulus3 at 05:09 PM JST - 13th May

well we have nothing to go on but assumption. he cannot have been that bad a guy before something triggered his rage. It says they lived separately for two years. if he was a complete psycho he may have done the deed earlier. we also have read that they successfully negotiated the divorce. Usually crimes of passion happen much earlier than divorce. more likely at the point of separation. so now all thats left is the custody battle. from here we can only assume that in a world where men get screwed out seeing their kids after divorce 9 times outa 10, he may have felt out of options.
LFRAgain at 06:18 PM JST - 13th May

Romulus,

You're wearing your heart on your sleeve, Romulus, and reading a little too much personal experience into this story. To suggest that murder falls into the realm of a last "option" makes you little better than this nutcase who has no business raising children when he himself can't find the courage to resist his own baser impulses. If he can't curb his own rage, how the hell is he going to impart any such wisdom to his children? If you want to play the speculation game, how about this: The mother knew this and the courts did too. Thus he lost custody rights.

This man let his emotions overcome common sense and commited a horrific crime which has effectively orphaned his own children, and for which he deserves little sympathy or understanding, even from veterans of divorces that didn't go well, like you, apparently. That you believe 9 out of 10 custody decisions effectively "screw" the father, implying of course that 10 out of 10 fathers are simply angels seeking to protect their rights, is telling. FYI, not all men seeking child custody are victims, as you would have us believe. Not 10 out of 10. Not 9 out of 10. And likely not even 8 out of ten. Just as not all women are perfect either, some men are not suitable for parenthood. The man in the above story proved that point loudly.
romulus3 at 07:14 PM JST - 13th May

LFRAgain,

Take it easy. just an outsider looking into what may have caused it. Theres no way in hell to justify his behavior. Its a horrific crime. Clearly family courts favor woman heavily but thats no reason to kill, if indeed is the case. have a kit kat and smoke a peace pipe why don't you.
romulus3 at 07:20 PM JST - 13th May

also LFRAgain. This is not my personal experience at all. To imply that based on the fact you have never even met me and know zero about me shows some personality issues you may be having due to perhaps your own marital history. Also you judged him to be a bad father. Where does it say that in the article? You are jumping to just as many conclusions as anyone else here. some about me and some about the murderer. talk about hypocritical.
weedkila at 07:39 PM JST - 13th May

Sadly, these kinds of incidents will not decrease until Japan sorts it's pathetic family court system out. I would never condone murder but the guy might not have turned to that if Japan had a reasonable system of dealing with child custody/visitation. Japan must be one of the only countries on earth which cannot enforce it's own civil laws. At least that's the case with visitation. Any divorce settlement signed with a visitation clause is basically worthless to the non-custodial parent if their ex decides he/she does not want to cooperate. It's a joke and leads to people doing some very desperate things, as perhaps it was the case here. I'm assuming this guy was not violent before because the story mentions nothing about a restraining order.

May the mother's soul rest in peace. And poor children - it's always them who get shafted because of selfish parents.
weedkila at 07:58 PM JST - 13th May

This url gives a little more info...

http://www.sanspo.com/shakai/top/sha200805/sha2008051310.html

According to neighbours he was a quiet and serious person. There's nothing about previous violence.

菅野容疑者の自宅周辺の住民によると、元夫婦は約２年前に別居。同容疑者が小学６年の長男と同３年の長女を養育しており、「おとなしくまじめな性格」だという。
Molenir at 12:48 AM JST - 14th May

Sure hope the prosecutor asks for a lot more than 17 years.

lol, yeah definitely. Well, unless of course they want to make a joke out of this case like they're doing for another one.
KitsuneYoukai at 04:16 AM JST - 14th May

How very sad...and now the children are without their mother or father. People can be very selfish and cruel.
LFRAgain at 09:22 AM JST - 14th May

Romulus,

As a supposed casual outsider looking in, you certainly present yourself as an authority on the subject, declaring, among other things, that crimes of passion happen at such-and-such a time, and that the only reasonable assumption left is that he somehow was unfairly screwed in a custody battle, leading to him snapping. You present these things more as a forgone conclusion than as casual speculation, which leads me to believe that you are either a divorce lawyer or someone who has had close experience with ugly divorces, either personally or through an acquaintance. Whatever the case, if you don’t want people to make assumptions about you, and conversely, want readers to give your position more thoughtful consideration, then you might want to refrain from starting off on the thread with your diatribe against the evils of selfish women, a la your May 13, 12:01 PM post:

I really cannot understand why some woman do that. Use their kids as a weapon to hurt their ex husband. Only the kids get hurt. People need to abandon their selfish stances for the sake of children. If the man was willing to stick around and help out, great! well, she paid the ultimate price…

I mean, really, where the hell did that come from? You go from a woman murdered by her ex-husband for completely unknown reasons to “She paid the ultimate price (for whatever treachery).”

This is not my personal experience… To imply that … shows some personality issues you may be having due to perhaps your own marital history.

Umm… Okay. So, personality issues that caused me to suggest that any negative divorce experiences you may have had were clouding your perspective suggests that my marital history is, umm, what? Happy? As opposed to the bitterness lacing your posts? Thanks for the insult, I think. Not sure where you wanted to go with this attempt at a “boo-yah,” but I assure you, I wasn’t trying to shame you. I was asking that you be more objective. Sorry you took that as a personal affront.
romulus3 at 10:49 AM JST - 14th May

LFRAgain, no bitterness in my post. just an observation of how things may have gone down. the fact that you found bitterness in it shows how your mind functions. Lets face the facts. I, and other posters who posted similar theories stand a mighty chance of being 100% on the money. The family court system and culture in Japan or in most countries does not favor men after divorce. Men are supposed to sink away into oblivion but expected to keep paying out. Of course killing her is bad, no matter if he was being tormented and harmed mentally. But what right of recourse did he have IF indeed this line of THEORY is accurate? Shut out by ex wife, lawyers, judges, ex in laws, etc....I am other posters merely commented that this MAYbe the driving force behind his rampage. No one is suggesting that homicide is justifiable on any level. Geez
LFRAgain at 02:23 PM JST - 14th May

Romulus,

And there you go again.

But what right of recourse did he have IF indeed this line of THEORY is accurate?

Again with the idea that with all other options theoretically closed to him, murder seems like the next inevitable step. You may not be overtly stating that homicide is justifiable, but you are suggesting that it's understandable, given your hypothetical scenario. And I'm saying it's not.
weedkila at 02:45 PM JST - 14th May

LFR, take it easy. Romulus has some good points and he is right about men (or to be more accurate, the left-behind parent) being expected to sink away after a divorce. He might not have experience in this but I do and can vouch for what he is saying. Although Japan might be a better place for men than women in the work place, in the Japanese home it's a totally different story. It's a fact that the courts tend to favour the mother whether she is suitable or not. (In J.ese-Foreigner divorce cases the J.family court fully supports the Japanese, whether male or female.) The couple in this story divorced in January. If the victim had legal custody and suddenly decided that she would not let her ex see the kids anymore, then there is nothing he can do about it. Nothing! Again it's only an IF, but the story did say they were arguing over custody so it's a reasonable assumption.

Btw, the percentage of women getting custody in Japanese court cases is around 80%. In Japan the deal is abductor takes all (as a rule.) The courts like the status quo and if the child seems settled, well, custody goes to the parent who has the kid, whether that parent is suitable or not. Btw, Romulus there is no such thing as legal joint custody in Japan.
LFRAgain at 04:06 PM JST - 14th May

weedkila,

Thanks for bringing some interesting info to the table. I don't deny that Japanese courts tend to favor the mother over the father in custody hearings. What I do take issue with is posters who equate this admittedly unfair situation as one which could understandably lead to murder, in effect saying, no scratch that, actually saying, "well, she paid the ultimate price," as if that were naturally the last word on a subject deserving of far more consideration than, “The *itch probably had it coming.” I don’t care if the courts are biased towards the mothers. I don’t care if the fathers are left out of the equation after divorce. I don’t care if the woman in the above story was the most insufferable, manipulative wretch of a human being imaginable. Short of being Pol Pot, hunting her down, ramming her car, and stabbing her to death to avenge a slight determined by the courts is abominable and unjustifiable.
weedkila at 04:47 PM JST - 14th May

in effect saying, no scratch that, actually saying, "well, she paid the ultimate price," as if that were naturally the last word on a subject deserving of far more consideration than, “The *itch probably had it coming.”

Call a spade a spade. She did pay the ultimate price. It's a terrible thing but that's what happened. I did not read anything into Romulus' sentence other than that. Certainly not “The *itch probably had it coming.”

I thought Romulus made a very valid point saying that some parents use their kids as weapons. We don't know what really happened in this case but going by the limited info there is it seems the motive was to do with c/custody. The man went way too far obviously but, like I said before if the court system in Japan were even a little bit reasonable, crazy stuff like this would happen less frequently. You know how bad the system is when a judge tries to abduct his kid back.

http://www.crnjapan.com/articles/2005/en/20051023-jpntdy-lawyerkidnapsdaughter.html
romulus3 at 09:22 PM JST - 14th May

thanks weedkila!