Mother arrested for killing her two sons in Fukuoka

Saturday 19th September, 10:09 AM JST

FUKUOKA —

Police on Friday night arrested a 37-year-old woman in Fukuoka on suspicion of killing her two sons, aged 5 and 2. Police said they received a call just after 8 p.m. from a woman who said “My children are getting cold.”

When they arrived on the scene, they found the woman’s two young boys dead. The woman had knife wounds on her hands. According to police, the two boys had both been strangled, and were found lying face up on a futon. No one else was living with the woman and two children at the time of the incident.

The woman, who is a single mother, was quoted as saying, “The future looked bleak, so I killed them.”

News reports

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Latest 15 of 31 Total Comments Show All

igotchu at 04:10 PM JST - 19th September

Stricter rules for divorce aren't necessary, the actual legal procedure can take quite some time if one party disagrees. There are serious problems with the process - the mediation is the biggest issue that needs reform. When children are involved the mediators tend to take the women's side without actually trying to figure out the root causes of the problem. The mediators don't build that level of trust with both parties to get them to open up and explain honestly whats going on in the marriage. Both parties tend to be guarded about their true feelings for fear of swaying the mediators to the other parties side. These mediators who are literally marriage counselors are not qualified, as far as I know they have no formal training. I'm not saying mediation is bad, I'm saying the process needs to be reformed to ensure the mediators can identify the problems in the marriage and be able to offer real solutions to fix these problems to keep the marriage together. Japan has solutions after the divorce to keep the women and the children from falling into poverty, but as we all know the welfare checks they pass out is not enough. What's needed is for the mediators to correctly identify when the marriage is breaking down because of a financial crisis. Once this is identified the government has to implement policies to financially support the man so he can keep his family together. Temporarily supporting a husband who is trying to support his family makes better since than providing a lifetime of support to single mother. Lets face it no man likes welfare, but the government can come up with something else that keeps the breadwinner afloat through difficult times.

Now divorce will still happen, thats why changes to the law are needed so dual custody and guaranteed parental access allows for both parents to participate in the upbringing of the child.
bamboohat at 04:29 PM JST - 19th September

What a horrible story. Who knows what was going through this woman's mind.

If Japan were to develop some kind of social program for nutters like this, they would have to admit that safety japan has it's share of problems.

Unfortunately, that ain't gonna happen any time soon.

Self Destructing Nation of Too Proud Nutters.
Cicada at 05:07 PM JST - 19th September

skipthesong

Is it me, or does it seem like this crap is increasing in Japan?

Especially in Fukuoka. What gives, I wonder?
Memorex at 06:31 PM JST - 19th September

Japan really has to beef up it's social welfare system big time. Even in Western Australia we have perfectly sane men and women killing their children. In the last 4 months there have been more than 3 cases of this phenomenon. It's even more tragic to know that these people were sane when they killed their own offspring. It's easy to call them witches or deranged psychopaths but thats just a morons way of wimping out on trying to come to grips with what has actually happened and why these people do these things. Japan is no different to the rest of the world except it's social welfare and support sevices for people are woefully inadequate, and as a result when single women are faced with a future that they can't handle things like this happen. Not everyone can be a rock in really tough times. The world is not making it easy for some simple at the moment.
hakujinsensei at 08:14 PM JST - 19th September

yes, these things are increasing here in japan and will continue to increase and the social fabric will continue to degrade as the society becomes more and more fragmented... I feel so sorry for those kids and believe it or not, the mother as well. how horrible to feel so alone and distraught that one could come to such an act.

many posters have called for better social services and claimed that this is rooted in the pride of japanese culture. I completely disagree. social services are natural result of having a community with a sense of connection and feeling of mutual responsibility. the more that people clamor for these services as a way to skirt their own social responsibilities, the more the effectiveness of the programs will also degrade. The real solution to these kinds of issues is having relationships with our neighbors and family members.

Japanese are not too prideful to ask for help but it is hard to ask for help from people they have relationships with. How many of the posters here have asked their neighbors over for coffee or dinner? How many have taken the time to learn enough of the language to communicate with their neighbors?

as for social services here in Japan, single moms and low income people are eligible for public housing for very reasonable rates, childrens medical care is 200 yen per visit to the doctor. mothers are provided classes before they give birth and after they give birth teaching about maternity and motherhood including cooking. these classes give expectant mothers a chance to meet other expectant mothers in close proximity because they are held in the local prefectural health building. they also have follow ups and get togethers for the mothers as well. finally, injections are free sans some shots that are not deemed critical and even flu shots are provided at discount for low income people.

bottom line is that programs and welfare are not the answer. community is the answer and if the foreigners here have time to castigate this women and run japan's social system and culture down, they should have enough time to be examples and spread the love among their communities.
bamboohat at 10:44 PM JST - 19th September

Love from your neighbor only goes so far. When people grow up in loveless households and are treated as objects or status symbols, it's difficult to overcome.

Parents are supposed to love their kids and take care of them until they can love and take care of themselves. Doesn't sound like this woman and her dead kids had anything remotely close to that.

There are many, many others just like her that are dangerously close to such a horrible act of misguided desperation.

However, from a objective scientific viewpoint, any society with over a hundred million people is bound to have it's fair share of kid killing parents in every generation, despite the amount of love between neighbors.
MeanRingo at 10:56 PM JST - 19th September

"give up her children for adoption. There would be so many people who would love to take them." Doubt that. Not in Japan at any rate. Adoption is more often viewed as a pile of dirt best swept under the carpet. Very few couples in Japan would want to adopt a five-year-old boy along with a two-year-old. The social stigma of doing so would be unbearable. RIP boys. Hang your head in shame woman.
HonestDictator at 12:26 AM JST - 20th September

Still adoption would be the best choice. While it may not go over well in Japan, many want to be parents over seas would probably be able to step up with that.

This is so damned frustrating hearing more news like this. Single mother in Japan, while not condoning her actions she's probably feeling helpless due to their social moors on women without husbands or boyfriends to look after them so to speak. I was raised in a single parent household and luckily my mother had career opportunities to support the home and raise me without feeling that sense of "I need a man to take care of me or I can't live" mentality.
ComradeRuskie at 02:34 AM JST - 20th September

Gah! I hate when parents kill their own children. Kill yourself lady but leave the kids alone!

She should have given them for adoption. I am pretty sure someone from another coutry could have adopted them.
AK619 at 07:33 AM JST - 20th September

Japan's welfare system dosen't help enough for single parent families. Some people talk bad about America's welfare system, I know to many people that grew up on it, and now they own there own businesses and are successful people. Japan should stop enouraging Japanese to have babies if the government is not going to help support the growth. If Japan wants to become stronger, the government has gotta start giving more tax support to there people. The days of rich Japanese and economy has come to an end years ago. People are going to keep killing there kids because there hopeless, whose going to support an unemployed person with kids? The only way to protect a family is government support, but the Japanese government discriminates and looks down on poor families. At least in America people have a chance with all the free colleges, job training schools, and non-profit organizations to help get rich and poor people to work. No education is free in Japan, accept to join the school of porn.
bushlover at 07:47 AM JST - 20th September

This is terrible. So the kids went cold but what about you mom? Didn't have the guts to do yourself in?
tokyokawasaki at 08:32 AM JST - 20th September

The woman, who is a single mother, was quoted as saying, “The future looked bleak, so I killed them.”

And you think it is now going to get better for your? Can someone really be that stupid?
Makun at 08:55 AM JST - 20th September

Humanity, ladies and gentlemen.
ChrisBiggins at 09:05 AM JST - 20th September

This story made my cry!! Why oh why?
Antonaru at 12:23 AM JST - 24th September

This is so sad.. are the minds of japan so week that they think killing there childrean is there only way out.... soooo stupid