2-year-old boy falls to death from 7th floor apartment in Osaka

Monday 14th July, 10:54 AM JST

OSAKA —

A 2-year-old boy on Sunday night fell to his death from the balcony of his apartment on the 7th floor of a building in Matsubara City, Osaka. He was taken to hospital but died upon arrival. Police said that Yuito Murai, 2, either climbed over the railing or somehow squeezed through the bars about 10 p.m.

A neighbor found him and called police. According to police, the boy’s father, 33, was working at the time and his mother, 26, had gone out after putting him to bed with his brother.

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Latest 15 of 68 Total Comments Show All

romulus3 at 10:57 AM JST - 15th July

Blue_Tiger,

how do you know?
ambrosia at 12:10 PM JST - 15th July

Zen_Builder at 07:27 PM JST - 14th July

And, btw, check up with "Child Protective Services" what THEY define as neglect.

Yeah! I'll get right on that. And thanks for the laugh!
Zen_Builder at 12:13 PM JST - 15th July

You might get a surprise that a child under your "supervision" having an "accident"(as you call it) is actually neglect too.
Hughgarse at 12:35 PM JST - 15th July

mother, 26, had gone out after putting him to bed with his brother.

Cardinal sin that is! how utterly ridiculous... There should be legal consequences for this surely.
romulus3 at 12:50 PM JST - 15th July

the fact is, if she, as a one off, dashed to get necessary supplies, she should have at least secured the premises before hand. its hardly gonna kill a kid to be locked in their room for 10 minutes alone. but if it became her habit and she got sloppy about it, then she deserves some of the blame for the accident for sure. anyway, we know half the facts to make an accurate judgment. she may have a had a chronic migraine for all we know and went for painkillers. gonna wake up your kids when you have a migraine? no way. so we really cannot judge without knowing the full story.
ambrosia at 04:50 PM JST - 15th July

zebbuilder: I don't understand. Are you simply taking a childish tit-for-tat stand now or do you actually have some example of what this surprise might entail? Face it pal, you don't leave a child alone, unsupervised in a high rise no less. Got a migraine? Call a neighbor, friend or family member to ask for help. Hungry? Order delivery. Bored? Deal with it. My parents managed to live just fine without any 7/11s or grocery stores within a 10-km radius as I'm sure did the parents of many posters here. I could almost understand dashing out if you're in a house surrounded by neighbors who you know and trust, at least one of whom has been told to keep an ear out for any crying. But on the 7th floor of an apartment building? I don't know how parents relax at all when they have kids in such high places let alone to try and justify going out and leaving them alone. I feel sorry for her but she still has reason to feel guilty, migraine or not.
Zen_Builder at 04:56 PM JST - 15th July

If you don't understand yet than I doubt that I can make you understand.

From your posts I might assume that you haven't got kids yet yourself(correct me if wrong).
ambrosia at 05:00 PM JST - 15th July

zenbuilder: From your posts I might assume that you haven't got kids yet yourself(correct me if wrong).

You are wrong and on so many levels, it boggles the mind. And if you do have kids who are still alive after you left them alone in a high rise or otherwise neglected them, then you ought to be thanking your lucky stars that you're not going to have to live with the guilt this woman will and should have for the rest of her days.
Zen_Builder at 05:06 PM JST - 15th July

Ambrosia.

I have a lovely and healthy 7yr old son, we live on the 5th floor with a luvely roof-terrace.

Funnily enough most Millions and Millions of kids grow up in high-rises and nothing happens to them. And Many of those are left alone at one time or another.

You are over-reacting and sound exactly like someone that has read tons of books on raising kids but never done it themselves.

Not need to count　my　Lucky　Stars as my son has been trained and taught from a very young age what he can do and what he can't.

Anyhow have a good day.
romulus3 at 10:07 PM JST - 15th July

today, outside my high rise apartment were some mothers gossiping. two had child monitors on there buckles. I went away for 30 minutes and came back home. they were still there. Been no sirens or ambulances thus far. Didn't see no smashed toddler bodies in the car park neither. people are over reacting on this post. if you must, you can leave your child for a few minutes. lock the kid in his/her room. make sure its a safe environment.

I bet the same posters bleating that "if a child is screaming just leave them alone and take a break but don't kill the kid" are here right now saying never leave a kid alone. Hypocrisy.
Blue_Tiger at 10:58 PM JST - 15th July

romulus3 - Because my parents aren't stupid....
JapanHusker at 04:36 PM JST - 17th July

Blue Tiger - LOL! To me, that simply and clearly sums up difference between parents who DO and who do NOT leave their small children home alone: STUPIDITY.

Absolute worthless parenting. Yes, there SHOULD be legal consequences. Operative word: SHOULD. But sadly here in Japan, this kind of thing doesn't even register on the illegal scale. It's considered to be a twist of "atarimae" and "shikata ga nai".

"Secure the place and lock the door" and it's "okay"? It only takes a spark to start a fire.

"What if the mom was just in another room? Would it be her fault then?" Feeble justification. I'd bet the farm this poor kid woke up and was looking FOR his mom. And I am almost equally sure he first went room to room to find her. Unfortunately, she was "out".

I have a 4 year old son and we live on the 10 floor here in Japan. I, have never left him alone - and neither has my wife.

How do I know?

Because she isn't stupid.
BlackTieAffair at 12:34 AM JST - 19th July

Japanese mothers seem to be too careless when it comes to their children......WTF. I stopped two kids from becoming road pizza recently cause their mother was not paying attention.
Orangeporange at 09:13 PM JST - 20th July

Well, when you are the only adult taking care of the kids 24 hours, taking out the trash, hanging the laundry and unhanging the laundry, doing the shopping, doing the cooking, feeding, bathing, nursing and supervising the kids, cleaning up, washing the dishes day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, you are bound to make a mistake or two that could be downright deadly to your child.

The reality is that Japanese mothers have it tough. We do NOT have the right to judge them, but frankly pitty them and empthize with them. I am a mother of a 3 year old and am pregnant and let me tell you, I get so tired I can hardly stand up sometimes and yea, I sometimes have to OH MY GOD..SLEEEP while I am ALONE with my child, thus leaving her unsupervised!!!! Even if she was sleeping, she could get up, unlock the balcony door and do god only knows what. She has unlocked the door and gotten out of the house a few times on her own and thankfully I have woken up just in time. She did fall down the stairs once. Sorry...I know I am a horrible mother. God forbid I should fall asleep on the job!
JapanHusker at 01:01 PM JST - 29th July

Orangeporange

She wasn't asleep. She LEFT the apartment. If you have to sleep, you have to sleep. That does not make you a mad mother.

If you leave your children (2 year old!!!) alone, you are.