12-year-old boy jumps to his death from Tokyo condo

Tuesday 02nd September, 07:29 AM JST

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ultradodgy at 10:58 AM JST - 2nd September

I'm not sure what's more sad - that a 12 year old knows what suicide is, and goes through with it - or that incidents like this seem to have barely a whisper of an impact on the nation's psyche.
flawlex at 11:21 AM JST - 2nd September

I think it is a problem of the Japanese society which is a closed society. Having lived in Japan for a couple of years it does not suprise me. The Japanese have this 'I don't care attitude', where even family members know little about each other, workmates know little about each other. And they do not seem to care that they do not know about each other. However, when a big problem comes, the individuals do not know where to turn to for help. It is one of the biggest problems for foreigners in Japan where for example if a foreigner is suddenly fired from his or her job, there is no way they can get an alternative job because the Japanese lack that compassion to help. I discovered that it is the same even between Japanese themselves.
martyman at 12:08 PM JST - 2nd September

Either he was suicidal or he was locked out of his condo and trying to get in through the Balcony (spiderman style)
ambrosia at 12:15 PM JST - 2nd September

serendipity and buggerlugs: Wake up! I don't think you could find too many 12-year old kids in either Japan, the States, England or Australia who don't know what suicide is. Sure we'd like them not to be aware of it but sadly they are and I find it hard to believe that you didn't know what it was at that age. To say you didn't contemplate it I can understand but you must have been leading one heck of a sheltered life to not have known what it was.

Martyman: A rather pathetic attempt at a joke. A child is dead. Have some compassion.
ColAmerica at 12:17 PM JST - 2nd September

flawex; Nice informative post.

I found the same atittude in Japan. maybe this is why the poor kid took his own life, i pray Japan takes measures to help people who may contemplate ending their lives.

Luckily my Japanese side of the family are new age/hippy types, which makes their neighbours think they are weird, but in western ways they are happier and a closer loving family than any other Japanese family i have encounterd.

There is a lack of showing true emotions (apart from a strange tendency to burst into tears), which makes expressing feelings hard for Japanese. For guys it is thought of as a sign of weakness, and leads to emotions being bottled up.

Japan, start caring for each other, and the less fortunate. If you are selfish your society will grow poore finacially and morally.
OgieDoggie at 12:52 PM JST - 2nd September

I keep seeing people post "Condolences to his family" but it might have been his family that did this to him. There's a story here that needs to be told but who's alive to tell it? Twelve years old is mighty young to kill yourself so there had to be pressure from somewhere home/school. Was he bullied at school and didn't want to go thru another year of it?

My condolences to the kid.... may your soul rest in peace now that you are away from the horror of this life.
dennis0bauer at 01:07 PM JST - 2nd September

i agree I'llwait with the sympathy for the family until i know what the cause was.

they would probably say "we do not understand, we just bullied him to perform like any other japanese family would do"
pointofview at 03:49 PM JST - 2nd September

I think one of the problems is that people dont really ask questions here so they never really know. Consequently, they stay bottled up. Asking questions might help people open up a little more. There are lots of great people in Japan but they can be a little too timid to "take the bull by the horns." The oppression doesnt help either.
kirakira25 at 03:51 PM JST - 2nd September

One can only speculate on why a 12 year old boy would kill himself (if indeed that is what happened) but what a shame he felt like he had absolutely no-one he could turn to for help. I would feel like I had let my own kids down terribly if they ever committed suicide.
serindipity at 04:11 PM JST - 2nd September

I would feel like I had let my own kids down terribly if they ever committed suicide.

I know my kids well enough to know they would not contemplate suicide. There is obviously a lot more to this kid's situation that we are never gonna learn (from JT).
bamboohat at 10:06 PM JST - 2nd September

A witness saw him climbing over the balcony and called the cops? Didn't try and shout the kid down or talk him out of it? Good Lord I hope they did and that part was left out of the story. I'd hate to think somebody watched a kid kill himself and didn't try to stop him, other than calling the cops.
JoiceRojo at 11:35 PM JST - 2nd September

It makes me very sad... If suicide is reaching pre-teens and teenagers then Japan is sick... Japan needs to be more caring, to listen more to their children.

A couple of months ago I watched a movie called "Suicide Club" ("Jisatsu saakuru") where many young people killed themselves for no apparent reason, it was a ok while it was a movie, but it is scary if the movie becomes reality in Japan or any other part of the world.
tattit742 at 01:06 AM JST - 5th September

I do agree with the things people have said on this post about how Japanese people are lack showing true emotions on the surface and that kind of a thing, I used to think Japanese people were so unfriendly, cold, I'm part Japanese but I was born and raised in America so I couldn't relate to japanese people at all & I remember just missing being with friendly Americans but I just wanted to inform everyone, Japanese people have thick walls and its hard to get in but once you do, they are truly, genuinely really nice people that really...like its hard to see their true colors at first but once you are able to get close with them they are really not what they come off as on the surface at all and are actually very honest and kind trustworthy people. Breaking the walls is hard but once you do its only good friendship from there
tattit742 at 01:07 AM JST - 5th September

BUT i forgot to mention i do agree a change is necessary in Japan for people to stand up and not be so..weak-ish
martyman at 11:15 AM JST - 7th September

Ambrosia -

A rather pathetic attempt at a joke. A child is dead. Have some compassion.

Sorry about the late post, fortunately I do have compassion for any child that passes away, accidentally or through some other means.

This story is vague at the very least.

The boy was wearing his school uniform when he jumped, said a witness.

Where is the follow up on the mental state of this boy before he jumped? Could it been a dare from his friends to cross the rail and jump? Could this single witness that made the report, actually been the one pushed this child over the balcony? Too many questions not answered. Murder is not out of the picture if you have been following the recent threads on JT.

A witness called police after seeing him climb over the handrail of the stairs between the 11th and 12th floors.

Why did this "witness" do something beside call the police? Maybe try to stop the boy once "he/she" saw the whole episode evolve?

As far as my spiderman comment, I have one childhood friend that is now a parapalegic from attempting to enter his apartment(third floor) through his window after being late coming home.