Mother attempts suicide after strangling 3-month-old son in Tokyo

Thursday 24th April, 11:21 AM JST

TOKYO —

Police on Thursday morning arrested a woman for allegedly strangling her 3-month-old son with a towel on Wednesday night. The suspect had also drunk a bleaching substance and cut her wrists in an attempt to commit suicide, police said.

Megumi Iwase, 33, called police around 5:15 p.m., saying she had strangled her son Shuji in their apartment in Edogawa Ward. When police arrived, they found the child dead and Iwase still conscious despite her suicide attempt. She was taken to hospital where her condition stabilized overnight.

The mother was quoted by police as saying, “I was upset because my son’s development was slower than other children his age.” The child’s father was at work when the murder occurred.

Latest 15 of 29 Total Comments Show All

serendipity628 at 03:45 PM JST - 24th April

Often mothers like to exaggerate what their babies can do. If she was in some maternity group, maybe the other mothers in the group were saying things like, "Taro can already roll over...sort of" or "Hanako is such a good baby, she almost never cries" and so on. So maybe this created the idea that her baby was slower. We all compare ourselves to our peers or neighbours. So sad and so stupid. But there is a lot of pressure in these groups and especially when it is a mother's first child. You never really know until you have one of your own. Every day is exciting (but kind of scary at the same time) because you never really know what the baby will do and you've never had the same experience before.
rtrhead1 at 03:54 PM JST - 24th April

Okay, so it may have been post partum. So now she can have post partum in a 6x7 ft cell... (or however big they are) And you know what, in other countries if a woman claimed post partum, they would still probably go to prison. God help them if they go to an American prison after killing a child.
jerseyboy at 04:06 PM JST - 24th April

rtrhead1...I'm sure Brooke Shields and the countless other mothers who have suffered from post partem will appreciate your enlightened view. (I believe Brooke even admitted to having thoughts of hurting her child.) On what basis can you and Tom Cruise pass judgement on these ladies?
Wottock_Hunt at 04:11 PM JST - 24th April

String 'er up.
blvtzpk at 06:24 PM JST - 24th April

I'm sorry for considering that there might be other factors involved. Yes, we should always go to the clearly identifiable source of the problem and deal with them forthwith, and not look beyond that. How narrow-sighted I am.

Excuse me, I have a bandwagon to jump onto...
tclh at 08:14 PM JST - 24th April

My baby is slower than others,so I kill him!This woman is insane...ningen janai. My weeps are for the baby.
Patrick Smash at 09:24 PM JST - 24th April

No amount of peer pressure gets a mother to muder a 3-month old baby. Anyone who thinks so is as nuts as this woman clearly was. Dads need to leave work, go home, look after their wives and attend to their kids. Those who won't, or believe they can't, should not have children. We don't know that this father wasn't attantive, sounds like another case of mental illness/depression with no support to me.
usaexpat at 11:11 PM JST - 24th April

Glad my wife is not a nutter. Taking paternity leave isn't a luxury we could afford. I took off 2 days for the birth of my son and 1 for my daughter. We had help form my wife's parents and support from other family members that we wouldn't have had from my family in the States. Obviously this woman had mental issues, maybe pp depression and maybe more beyond that. I actually feel most for the father and of course the child RIP
medievaltimes at 12:47 AM JST - 25th April

Mental illness doesnt exist in Japan.
Zaphod at 09:22 AM JST - 25th April

I can`t figure out what his "development being slower than others" is supposed to mean for a 3-month old baby??
rtrhead1 at 11:47 AM JST - 25th April

Did Brooke Shields kill her kid? Did the thousands of other mothers that have post partem kill their children? The overwhelming majority did not. I am not for the death penalty in this case BECAUSE OF THE OTHER FACTORS INVOLVED! However, she doesn't deserve to have her freedom. Lock her up in a psychiatric hospital for all I care and ensure that she never has a child again. That is not too much to ask. I sincerely don't believe in saying oh, it was post partum, well off you go. I feel so sorry for you. She took a life. Not in self defense or in the defense of others, but because she had a problem that she didn't want or know how to deal with. Her husband may also share the blame. But, I do know that it is tough with Japanese women to know how they feel because even more so than western women, they won't tell you or give you any hints. However, that is no excuse for what she did. If a woman (she doesn't deserve to be called a mother) kills her child in America and blames it on post partum, she still gets locked up. End of story. You bleeding hearts are a big part of what is wrong with society...
CMEANDU26 at 04:00 PM JST - 30th April

They should have let her die. She deserves it.
CMEANDU26 at 04:01 PM JST - 30th April

Thinking about killing your child and doing it are two different things.
TheguyNextdoor at 02:42 PM JST - 1st May

She should burn........stop giving these types of people excuses. She did it and now people want to blaime it on PPD...whatever...she needs to burn.
CMEANDU26 at 03:17 PM JST - 1st May

They warn everyone. It's not just a thing that happens in japan it happens everywhere. She killed her child and if she is found to have PPD let her get help while she is in jail. Let her serve her punishment like any other killer.