23-month-old boy drowns in irrigation canal

Sorry but toddlers must be watched, access to outside via doors or windows must be prevented. Basic parenting.

RIP Shuto kun

NOT AGAIN! Another little child is dead because of complacent parenting. Go ahead and make excuses for the mother.

Unless they were playing in an enclosed backyard, the boy shouldn't have been outside playing with his brother the first time.

Sad story but ones again totally preventable, yesterday i watch as two little boys on a train platform roughly 1 and 5 y.o playing around right on the edge of the platform while mom played with her iphone. It got to the point i had to call out to the mom to get her to notice the risk. I dont know why but in Japan people dont see the risk/danger in there actions or lack of as much as westerners do. Nanny state affect maybe.

Rest in peace Shuto Kun

This being an internet judgement board, I suppose we must find someone to blame. As such, I'm glad to see the JT "blame the parents!" mob out in full force again. As we all know, a true "accident" is impossible, because it is always preventable and foreseeable, and the person deemed to have failed to take action is to blame. As Sensei258 says above, no excuses allowed.

My daughter is exactly the same age and even though she's CONSTANTLY trying to get away and wander off... But not once has she ever gotten close because I take the proper precautions and I never let her out of my sight. If there is even a chance that she won't be in my direct view (cleaning, cooking, etc) I make sure all of the doors and windows are safety locked, baby gates are secured and there's nothing she can hurt herself with. I'm not a perfect parent and sure it's a huge pain but a lot better than her hurting herself or god forbid something worse. Usually I'm on the side of the parents, as it is certainly difficult to keep them 100% safe 100% of the time, but I'm sorry a baby not yet even 2 years old... This could have been easily prevented. RIP little guy. Tragedy.

I'm glad to see the JT "blame the parents!" mob out in full force

Who else was responsible for that child's safety, especially knowing the kid was gengki and there's an irrigation canal nearby? That's why I said "complacent parenting", because people think it won't happen to them, or it never crosses their minds in the first place.

That's why I said "complacent parenting", because people think it won't happen to them, or it never crosses their minds in the first place.

Or maybe, get this, it may have been an accident. Sometimes people - gasp - make mistakes. Sometimes people are on point all the time and - gasp - slip up.

Of course JT posters have never done that, never do that, and never will do that, because they are perfect parents, and were in fact born that way, it's in their DNA. Never a mistake made.

Or maybe, get this, it may have been an accident

Sure it was an accident, the boy didn't commit suicide.

Sometimes people - gasp - make mistakes

I agree. Her mistake was putting her household chores above the safety of her child

JT posters have never done that, never do that, and never will do that, because they are perfect parents

Of course we're not perfect parents, but if you live near a canal and you have a little kid, it's not rocket science.

I'll say it again,as I have so many times this year, the safety of your child must be your ultimate concern, not the laundry, not the dishes, not cooking supper, not chatting with your friend, not not not...

I'll say it again,as I have so many times this year, the safety of your child must be your ultimate concern, not the laundry, not the dishes, not cooking supper, not chatting with your friend, not not not...

I agree - but sometimes people make mistakes. Being a parent, sometimes with little sleep for months/years on end, and a million things to take care of is not easy. Someone may be an excellent parent, and slip up that one time, and that slip-up ends up being fatal. It doesn't mean they were a negligent parent, it means they had a bad moment.

I think you'll find few actual parents who didn't have at least one 'I'm so lucky nothing bad happened' moment because of a momentary slip-up. I lost my kid at the grocery store one time when I was reading the ingredients on something, and he bolted. It took me 10 minutes to find him. Someone could have kidnapped him at that time. If I lived in a house near a canal, he could have ended up in that canal in that same amount of time. Accidents happen. Although according to the Perfect Parenting brigade, they should never happen, and you should be on top of your game 100% of the time, forever and always, and they are so perfect they would never make a mistake.

23 months - less than 2 years old and out alone near a canal. Hmmm ...

When I sleep at night, I lock my kids in padded room with me. No furniture or blankets they can get smothered in or bang up against. When I use the bathroom I put the kids in that room. I don't let then watch tv or talk to strangers. We sanitize everything in site. Only for a good life.

This woman must feel absolutely terrible. It is tragic what happened. RIP young one. I pray the mother (and her husband) can forgive herself.

Shilo, I do hope you are being sarcastic. If not, they'll never know the joy of running with scissors!

Those Irrigation channels should be a concern to all people who live on the Kanto rice plain. They've always been a death trap and I've often wondered why the JFA don't pave slab them over as they are less than half a meter wide. It's not uncommon to see a kei truck stuck in one and it's no longer a shock for me to hear of another dead child.