Saitama court to send 15-year-old girl to reformatory for killing father

Thursday 20th November, 06:27 AM JST

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FreeInJapan at 11:36 AM JST - 20th November

@Smithinjapan - I've gotta agree with Notginger on this one and recommend you take a valium or something. If someone can find the original story on this and post it I'm more than willing to rethink my stance, but from the sketchy details provided in this article alone I don't think it's a stretch to entertain Notginger's suggestion that the father could very well have been abusing her. Many children that are abused never come to grips with what happened to them simply because they don't want to face it. To me, "in the chest and ELSEWHERE" means that she stabbed him, well you know, elsewhere... suggesting that there are possibly issues behind the scenes that aren't being reported in this case. My point being, the lack of detail and wording leaves a lot of room for individual interpretation, don't get mad when someone has a different point of view other than your own... In addition, I'd say the kid's still a bit psycho (be it a result of bad parenting, abuse, or whatever) and 4 years in a reformatory sounds too leanient...
fatloser at 11:37 AM JST - 20th November

The girl was upset after her mother talked to her sternly about her falling grades and the girl was also having trouble with her friends, the judge said.

INTERESTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She murdered someone in a fit of anger because she was shouted at. Same case as dumb 19 year old runs over man after father shouts at him. It doesn't seem as much a home problem as a problem with Japanese society. A shouts at B so B kills C. I suppose if she were forced to shout at another person, she would be killed and her father would be revenged.
fatloser at 11:39 AM JST - 20th November

Mr Smith-I sympathize with you 100%!!! Every time a male and a female have problems the man is blamed by some closet wife beater.
Molenir at 11:42 AM JST - 20th November

It does sound like a lenient sentence. 4 years for murdering her father... That said, the article was rather sparse with the details. As others said, maybe there was a bit more to the case then is being reported. If so, perhaps there was some justification for this. Otherwise, 4 years seems like a rather poor joke.
TPOJ at 01:08 PM JST - 20th November

Your speculation is disgusting! If the father had been abusing her, why on earth would she not raise that in her defense, or at least hint at it, or the mother say something??

Is this a joke?

Or do you prefer to believe that a 15 year old girl just went nuts and stabbed her FATHER after her MOTHER "scolded her about grades?"

The speculation that her father had been abusing her is 100% spot on with basic criminal psychology, at least as it stands. Is it proof? Nope. But with what we have, it's far and away the most likely scenario.

So far as your question as to why neither she nor the mother bring abuse up in their defense...frankly, it's such a ludicrous statement I'm a little embarrassed to be addressing it, but honor and the family name trumps all in many non-Western societies, especially Japan. It's not a stereotype, it's a core truth, and you either know it, or you're even more naive than you appear.

Let's lay this out for you: what you're saying is that a 15 year old girl, while failing in school and getting crap from her friends, comes home, and is scolded by her mother. Thinking of her failures at school, her irritation at her friends, and shamed by her mother's scolding, she gets a knife and stabs her FATHER repeatedly.

If that scenario makes more sense to you than the abuse scenario, you are an exceedingly bizarre individual.

Again, it's not proof. There could very, very easily be some piece of the puzzle missing that would make some other theory more plausible. However, that piece isn't here, may not exist, and the paternal abuse situation is distressingly common EVERYWHERE.
fatloser at 01:10 PM JST - 20th November

Yoinks!!!!!!!!! You are a husband abuser!! Sorry,Missy! It doesn't seem to be a crime to murder your husband or father. The girl who cut her sleeping father's throat received a mild chiding, as well. Of course, the mother is happy, but WHAT ABOUT MONEY?? Who will make the MONEY?? It seems that many social problems in Japan could be traced to LACK OR RESPECT OR APPRECIATION FOR THE FATHER
TPOJ at 01:13 PM JST - 20th November

It seems that many social problems in Japan could be traced to LACK OR RESPECT OR APPRECIATION FOR THE FATHER

Wife cheated on ya, huh?
nandakandamanda at 01:19 PM JST - 20th November

From what I remember of the original story, it was what was not said throughout that spoke the loudest for me. Why would she not speak in her own defence? It is a typically Japanese scenario not to say the facts. There are more important things in J society, and those around you will let you know it in no uncertain terms in case you might have missed it.

Notginger's suggestion has to be big on the police cards. FreeinJapan and TPOJ are also spot on the money, IMHO.
Orchid64 at 02:18 PM JST - 20th November

There is an awesome amount of naivete of Japanese culture in the comments here. You can't imprint your cultural values onto the Japanese justice system. If the father was abusing the daughter (and I'm not saying he did, this is pure speculation), the Japanese way of thinking would not be 'he's dead, so why not bring it up as a defense?' The idea would be, 'he's dead, so why bring it up as a defense?' The idea would be not to spread the shadow of his shameful behavior to the surviving family members (especially the mother who should have known the problems and done something about them) when he's already received the ultimate punishment.

This is also reflected in the way the police investigate certain corporate crimes. If the head honcho commits suicide, investigation into his compatriots ceases because they feel he has paid for the crime already. In fact, this is one of the reasons corporate criminals kill themselves. They know that it'll stop their family or associates from being implicated as it all stops with their death.

I don't know why this girl killed her father, but the public will never find out what the depth of the problem was whether it be her mental health or some dark problem within the family. However, the fact that important evidence wasn't used to defend her doesn't mean nothing terrible happened. It is all part of a very different mentality in Japan when it comes to justice and revelation. You apply Western-style logic and reach any sort of reasonable conclusion about the truth.
Orchid64 at 02:19 PM JST - 20th November

Bah, that last line should be "you can't apply Western-style logic and reach any sort of reasonable conclusion about the truth."
dennis0bauer at 03:33 PM JST - 20th November

TPOJ Or do you prefer to believe that a 15 year old girl just went nuts and stabbed her FATHER after her MOTHER "scolded her about grades?"

In Japan with the pressure parents lay on their kids , yes
BBLeo at 04:52 PM JST - 20th November

Girl must be mentally disturbed, or she lost one of her screws off the brains in school. I wonder if she did belong to any ‘cannabis relaxing club.' Therefore she could just be an honest student, and pressure from parents made her lost her plot. I would say that she will plead not guilty due to mental disturbance at the time. Depend how much and who is paying for good lawyer.
bamboohat at 09:51 PM JST - 20th November

I'm going with the abuse theory. That is a lot of hate and anger to kill the dude while he was sleeping. She'll get out of reform school at 19, 20? What kind of future will she have? Zip. Hostess club? Yakuza girl? AV starlet? Maybe she'l catch some kind of break and turn her self around in the clink. Who knows.

If the abuse theory is true, then the dad really ruined his whole family, didn't he?
kavikahi at 05:40 AM JST - 21st November

Abuse?? This is about a fifteen yr. old murdering her own father.
JOKERXJOKER at 10:47 AM JST - 21st November

Dear reader, don't judge the book by the cover....in life there is no simple conclusion..think...