Parents arrested for strangling 35-year-old abusive son to death in Chiba

Wednesday 22nd July, 02:34 PM JST

CHIBA —

A 67-year-old man and his 61-year-old wife were arrested for murder on Tuesday, after the pair turned themselves in at a police station and told officers they had killed their 35-year-old son.

Kazuo and IkuyoYamanaka went to the police station on Tuesday afternoon accompanied by a lawyer, and told officers they had strangled their son to death. Officers rushed to their home in Funabashi City and found Hiroshi, 35, dead on a futon.

The pair are believed to have killed Hiroshi at around 9.30 p.m. Monday night, after he started punching his mother Ikuyo. She is accused of strangling Hiroshi with a towel before Kazuo fetched an electrical appliance cord and strangled Hiroshi to death with it.

Kazuo told police that their son suffered from a mental disorder and would suddenly become violent. He said that their son had punched and kicked them over the past seven years, and was quoted as saying: “It came to the point where we thought if we didn’t kill him, he would kill us.”

News reports

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Latest 15 of 24 Total Comments Show All

tkoind2 at 04:52 PM JST - 22nd July

Japan is truly lacking in mental healthcare options. I think a lot of what we see in violence is a demonstration of this fact.

Japan needs to change in so many ways to improve the lives of ordinary Japanese families that it is getting hard to see past the mountain of issues to a better future.

It starts with a more representative goverment that can take the wishes and needs of the people seriously. Japan needs a political reinvention followed by years of hard, expensive and painful restructuring to achieve what the people will inevitably need.
WilliB at 05:13 PM JST - 22nd July

How could this go on for 7 years??
medievaltimes at 05:14 PM JST - 22nd July

Kazuo told police that their son suffered from a mental disorder and would suddenly become violent. He said that their son had punched and kicked them over the past seven years, and was quoted as saying: “It came to the point where we thought if we didn’t kill him, he would kill us.”

This went on for 7 years!?

Wonder what his diagnosis was... Wonder what his doctor has to say about this...

As has already been posted Japanese mental health services is in the dark ages.
nandakandamanda at 05:56 PM JST - 22nd July

There are tens of thousands of patients under medication in mental institutions in Japan who should not be there. The WHO ordered the J govt a couple of years back to free up 75,000 beds and organize care in the community for those who really shouldn't be incarcerated.

At the same time they were encouraged to provide special wards for the criminally insane.

At present it seems that a lot of people need help and sorting out one way or the other. The example above must be the unfortunate tip of the iceberg.
Disillusioned at 06:12 PM JST - 22nd July

NetteMarie - That is the Shin-Keisei and there is a school for the mentally handicapped along that line near Yabashira and it is the only one in the northern Chiba. I used to use that line regularly and many of the young handicapped people using the train were not physically or mentally capable of using the train unassisted, however, many were using the train without supervision and their assistance came in the form of JR staff helping them on the train. I did see quite a few incidents of passengers being terrorised by out of control handicapped kids.
retirednavygaijin at 08:03 PM JST - 22nd July

I was a little baffled by this story until I read JayJayE's official medical differentiation between "retards" and "nutters". I now feel more confident and better equipped to tell the difference next time I ride the trains, thanks!
xpidf1 at 09:19 PM JST - 22nd July

A crime that saved their lives, LITERALLY!!!
Badsey at 09:40 PM JST - 22nd July

Don't use the word "retard" --> they say "mentally challenged"

Many people have mental hardships or are feable minded, roaming aimlessly thru life, working the same job, the same train until death.

I bet 90-100% of these people got to see the eclipse while you missed it working. -So whose the nutter?
jigjapan at 10:58 PM JST - 22nd July

cases like that is very hard to handle....most especially if mental dis-order person and his parents living in the same roof...everyday punch may experience from mentally ill....which is very difficult and a nightmare...an elder person being punch...
usaexpat at 11:05 PM JST - 22nd July

Sad story, it sounds like they didn't have much of a choice. Could they have had him institutionalized, is that even an option in Japan?
seesaw at 11:23 PM JST - 22nd July

Doesn't Japan have a mental hospital or institution hidden somewhere within the country..? Japan has many 'mental clinics' though...I wonder what those mental clinics meant when translated in English. Psychologist/Psychiatrist?
mnemosyne23 at 12:42 AM JST - 23rd July

sigh Another case of aged parents killing an abusive adult child. This is twice in as many weeks, am I correct? Tragic, tragic, tragic.

Japan needs a political reinvention followed by years of hard, expensive and painful restructuring to achieve what the people will inevitably need.

Hear, hear! Though I would argue the political reinvention should merely be a catalyst for change. You can't legislate a new social consciousness, but you can get the ball rolling and start people thinking while implementing new policies.
Icewind007 at 04:25 AM JST - 23rd July

It's very hard for me to bring this to the fault of the parents. We're they offered or had available services that would be able to give proper attention to their son? If not, they weren't left with much choice. Like it is said, "Better to be standing before 12 than carried by 6." I agree with that 100%.

Don't use the word "retard" --> they say "mentally challenged"

"They" are the same fools who make words taboo for no good reason other than "they" have nothing better to do. "Retard" may have been the proper word to describe his condition or it may not be. However, terms like mentally challenged or physically challenged (or whatever people arbitrarily decide not to be offended by nowadays) are useless fluff to describe what they were in the first place. It's like calling a dead person "life challenged." Meaningless.
fishy at 09:17 AM JST - 23rd July

i hope these parents won't have to go to jail ... they did it to protect themselves, not like those crazy young parents who abuse their young children and kill them.. It must have been very very hard for these parents and they've already suffered more than enough.
Klein2 at 11:42 AM JST - 29th July

JayJay, you could just as easily say it nicely as say it like Eric Cartman. Forget taboo and hew to the golden rule and you will be perceived as being a decent person. As it is, I feel sorry for people who have received care from someone with as little sensitivity as you are showing.

And Icewind, you make the case for convenience of language. Why not call people what they want to be called? I mean, why not? If you do not know what that is, then think about what you would like to be called. I am just betting that would not be retard or nutter. There must be some epithet applicable to you that, while true, would anger you. I wonder what it is.

I do agree with your little kotowaza, though. I feel bad for the parents. For convenience, let's just call them murderers to avoid confusion, though. I think it is meaningless to call them parents myself.

If not, they weren't left with much choice. Like it is said, "Better to be standing before 12 than carried by 6." I agree with that 100%