Mother of murdered girl releases comments after funeral in Chiba

Friday 26th September, 10:08 AM JST

CHIBA —

Taeko Narita, 37, whose daugther Yukimaro, 5, was murdered in Tokagane City, Chiba Prefecture, last Sunday, made her first public comments on the case after the funeral on Thursday.

In a letter to media, Narita said: “I have never imagined that I would have to say goodbye to my daughter like this. Although she lived only five years, she was loved by everyone and her life was full of happiness. Now, I just regret I couldn’t do a lot more for her as her mother.

“I can’t stop asking myself why did this have to happen to my daughter. I am angry and frustrated because the killer has not been caught, but I know that even if he is found and apologizes, Yukimaro will never come back. I just freeze with horror when I imagine the suffering and terror that she must have felt in those final moments.”

Narita urged authorities and the community to provide a safer community for children. “What we can do for Yukimaro is make our community safer for children through cooperation among police, media and local residents.”

She concluded her remarks by saying: “I really appreciate all the concern and support from the bottom of my heart.”

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Latest 15 of 42 Total Comments Show All

cleo at 05:43 PM JST - 26th September

moonbeams -

She was suffocated. Her clothes were in a supermarket shopping bag, thrown under a car 100 m away. Hard to imagine she'd take all her clothes off, put them in a bag, throw the bag away, walk 100 m and then collapse.

It's reported that fingerprints have been found on the bag.
YangYong at 07:34 PM JST - 26th September

Right then. The death penalty does not deter, neither does life imprisonment, what is there then that we can do as a society to stop this kind of crime; or are we destined to be ever plagued by the death of innocent people from opportunist murderers?
Sarge at 07:45 PM JST - 26th September

"what is there then that we can do as a society to stop this kind of crime(?)"

An excellent question! Well, everyone could live as I do, always being kind to others and never cheating or stealing or hurting or killing people...
xrc at 08:15 PM JST - 26th September

Yes, we are all perfect and the countries we come from are the greatest (weapons dealers, drug & human trafficking) yet we now want to add Japan to the way we see things...come on give me a break! Do we implant chips into every human now!
Dogdog at 08:22 PM JST - 26th September

now want to add Japan to the way we see things...come on give me a break!

They could start by stop sexualizing little girls and grow a pair on a few more so called men in this country so they start seeing girls and woman as people like themselves, rather than objects for their violent rages
moonbeams at 10:33 PM JST - 26th September

Dogdog is right on.

Yes, these crimes happen everywhere, but in Japan it is socially acceptable to have comics featuring rape of children.

Children need to stop being sexualized. Look at the covers of the major manga weeklies. Many feature teenage girls in bikinis. 17, 16, 15, 14
YangYong at 11:44 PM JST - 26th September

XRC: My question was direction at human society, not a specific region. Plus that kind of emotional response is not going to produce anything other than blust and blunder. Other posters have mentioned the sexualisation of children. I'd argue that the sexualisation of children is a major problem in many socities, namely in Europe and North America, it is certainly not unique to Japan --regardless of 'degree'. Let's not quibble 'degrees' for now. Let's get some fundamentals down.
YangYong at 11:48 PM JST - 26th September

XRC: If it meant that those who would do such crimes can be prevented or quickly apprehended, yes, I'd have a GPS chip 'installed', why, because I'll never do anything I'd need to hide.
countryplus7 at 09:06 AM JST - 27th September

My heart goes out to the girls family, but why would anyone leave their 5 year old daughter walk all alone to someones house? Daylight or not.
BlackTieAffair at 09:42 AM JST - 27th September

I am moved by the mothers anguish, she has to take full responsibility for this tragedy though. Recently there have been many stories of careless parenting going on in the news. I can only hope that others learn from these mistakes.
CavemanLawyer at 02:34 PM JST - 27th September

moonbeams and dogdog,

Could you please explain to us the relationship between sexualization of anyone or anything and murder? I am not seeing the connection there or with this case, badly as you two seem to want there to be one.
Blue_Tiger at 11:29 PM JST - 27th September

I am sorry that this woman and her family is suffering.....but I place much of the blame on her. How could she let her 5-year-old go off by herself? When I was 5, I was allowed to go one place by myself: the yard around the house. If I went anywhere else, it had to be either with parents or with someone my parents trusted and knew. I am sorry, and I grieve for this little one's death; I teach a hundred like her every week at a yochien and hoikoen. This was a tragedy, and I hope the killer gets locked away for the rest of his life, if not given the chair. However, this mother's allowance of her daughter to go and walk around the neighborhood by herself is symptomatic of an endemic problem here in Japan, and if parents don't wise up, and realize that, yes, even in smaller burghs like Togane, Chiba, there are sickos who will hurt their children, we will continue to see tragic stories like this.
lipscombe at 01:53 AM JST - 28th September

I am in total agreement with Blue Tiger, blimey
memyselfI at 03:43 PM JST - 30th September

What day and the time did this happen ? I think the day and time is most important. If I was the police I would do a house to house interview with everyone in a 5 mile radius of the crime scene. I the killer could be a unemployed man.
humptydumpty at 02:04 PM JST - 2nd October

I totally agree with DOGDOG...spot on