14-year-old boy in hospital with iron burns after card game gets out of hand in Fukuoka

Friday 10th July, 08:37 AM JST

FUKUOKA —

A 14-year-old boy suffered burns to his arms, legs and back last weekend after a card game he was playing with his friend got out of control, police said Thursday.

The boy went over to his classmate’s house in the district of Tagawa on Sunday morning, and started playing cards with the winner entitled to flick the loser on his forehead. But the penalty for losing began to escalate and in the end the boy was burned in five places with a heated-up iron. The boy’s mother noticed a burn mark on his arm the next day and took him to hospital, where he remains with the burns expected to take up to a month to heal, police said.

Staff at the boy’s junior high school told police the boys had been friends since elementary school and often played together, adding they never saw anything like bullying between the two.

News reports

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Latest 15 of 36 Total Comments Show All

goodDonkey at 11:19 AM JST - 10th July

I have a feeling it was less about violence and more about not understanding the extent to which the iron could do damage. I have certainly touched an iron to see if it had heated up. If you touch it quick it does not damage but 1 second can really cause a blister. Anything more is extremely dangerous. I think it is a case of nothing more than boys, bravado and braggadocio.
wontond at 11:35 AM JST - 10th July

Looks like a case of "boys will be boys", although stupid boys at that. If the kid wasn't too bothered by the burns, I don't see why anyone else should be. Hopefully, a stern lecture to both kids will do the trick.
flatearther at 11:43 AM JST - 10th July

The fact that the boy was hospitalized for his burns certainly implies it was a little more serious than your standard boys will be boys behavior.
elbudamexicano at 11:48 AM JST - 10th July

Idiots will be idiots, not that all boys are idiots, but these dorks burning each other? Well just plain fools! They need a good horse whipping and teach them some common sense!
Africanist at 12:51 PM JST - 10th July

"We were playing pinochle. It's a rough game." - Stalag 17
LFRAgain at 01:02 PM JST - 10th July

I suspect overreaction.

I'll second that.
flatearther at 01:09 PM JST - 10th July

How can one be hospitalized for an overreaction in Japan when hospitals here even turn away women in labor? I'm a little curious about that, but luckily have never been in a position to find out personally as I have yet to go to a hospital here.
I'm not surprised that he kept quiet, most children in these situations do, and most Japanese are loathe to complain about anything.
goodDonkey at 01:17 PM JST - 10th July

"We were playing pinochle. It's a rough game."

More like playing Pinochet (you know the Chilean game).

elbudamexicano said:

They need a good horse whipping and teach them some common sense!

Hmmmmm, Let's go from "Boys will be boys" to "Adults will be masochists."
borninjapan at 02:44 PM JST - 10th July

so theyre tough boys....i remember playing a game in high school when I was 15 where you throw a knife into the ground and yuo have to move your foot to the place it lands without going off balance, and well, once my friend misfired and it lodged in my inner thigh OUCH!!!!! you can imagine me explaining this to my conformed japanese parents!?! I had to go to the hospital and received 12 stitches, and I can clearly remember the doctor slapping me across the head as the feeling of embarrasment was huge. all Im trying to say here is that kids are just kids, and really dont think about the consequences like 90% of the time. Sencho
outofmydepth at 03:02 PM JST - 10th July

gotten out of hand?!?!??!?!?!?!??! this is assault.
peachy871 at 03:15 PM JST - 10th July

Have to totally agree with gogogo!! lol...you see stuff pretty darn close to that on TV all the time here.

And yes, boys will be boys. This is nothing new, as amazingly intelligent and mature as we all might fantasize that we were in our childhoods, many of the guys out there got up to some daft stuff (ok, ok, we girls did too...sometimes). Boys did stupid stuff, are doing stupid stuff and will always do stupid stuff. It is part of growing up. That is why parents (and doctors) are here to give "slaps" up side the head to make sure boys understand that stuff IS stupid and to ensure they actually do grow up rather than get killed by the stuff they do.
Okinawamike at 04:30 PM JST - 10th July

I don't know. I've have a pan of flaming hamburger grease spill on my leg and spent zero days in the hospital when I was 11 years old.

This iron must have been hotter. 1 month to heal and a stay in the hospital? What a wuss.
mnemosyne23 at 10:42 PM JST - 10th July

I think it is a case of nothing more than boys, bravado and braggadocio.

Agreed!
usaexpat at 11:36 PM JST - 10th July

Boys being boys, I remember my best friend and I shooting each other with bb guns. He won and I had to dig a pellet out of my leg. Then there was staff fighting (with pool cues) on the roof of another friends house where he nearly fried himself by swinging a metal pool cue into an electric line. How about punching each other in the shoulder as hard as you could to see who would cry uncle first? Playing chicken with cars on a country road? The list is too long to remember but there's a few from my childhood.Anyone who thinks this is bullying or assault or whatever is either female or didn't have a very rough and tumble youth. Never underestimate the stupidity of junior highschool age boys.
Fadamor at 02:43 AM JST - 11th July

Hmmm... what is the word I'm looking for... Oh yeah! BAKA!!!! :-/