3-year-old girl gets finger severed by escalator in Hokkaido store

Thursday 11th June, 01:32 PM JST

OBIHIRO —

A 3-year-old girl shopping with her mother at a Yamada Denki electronics store in Obihiro City, Hokkaido, got her right little finger severed while playing near an ascending escalator, police said Thursday. The girl’s pinky got wedged in a space of about 5mm where the belt of the handrail was being stored.

Although the escalator immediately shut down, the girl’s fingertip was severed at the second joint. The mother told police she had been keeping an eye on her daughter while shopping in the cell phone aisle, but she became distracted, during which time the accident occurred.

News reports

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Latest 15 of 34 Total Comments Show All

Disillusioned at 04:49 PM JST - 11th June

Typical Japanese mother - Mother examining cells phones, got distracted, kid playing at escalator, loses finger. She's lucky the kid didn't take a tumble down the escalator and break her neck. And, I don't wanna hear any crap about how difficult it is to watch kids constantly. It's not bloody difficult at all! It's being a responsible parent. I saw a 3 or 4y/o kid run off the train the other while her mother was texting away on her phone. She just managed to get the kid before the door closed cos the little old lady sitting next to her gave her a shunt. Sadly, too many Japanese women don't deserve to have kids. They do deserve a swift kick in the #%$*!!
Molenir at 05:42 PM JST - 11th June

Fairly typical selection of comments from those who really do know about kids and those who so obviously don't.

Pretty much yeah. Bunch of people condeming the mom, obviously don't have kids and most likely have never had to deal with them. Myself I don't have kids, but I come from a large family, with quite a few younger brothers, and quite a few neices and nephews. Let me tell you, babysitting little kids, is a nightmare. You turn your back for even a second, and they're gone. Its not negligence or bad parenting, its kids being kids. Parents can't watch their child 24/7.
dammit at 07:06 PM JST - 11th June

Hubby told me about this last night. Apparently her finger got stuck and the safety kicked in, stopping the escalator. Then mum panicked and dragged the child away, pulling the hand and finger apart in the process. Normally they could have got the finger out unharmed if it wasn't for that.

And the place she got her finger stuck was where the hand rail disappears into the ground at the top (as I recall) of the escalator.

The mother wasn't taking proper care of the child. You can't keep an eye on a child in a place like that and talk to a salesperson. That's why you keep hold of them, or put a harness and reins or some other sort of safety contraption on them so you can keep them close.
SpanishEyez37 at 07:52 PM JST - 11th June

I really hate when people chalk things up like this as ''kids being kids'' incidents. Looking at cellphones while your 3 year-old is playing near AN ESCALATOR, does not constitute that.

I know maybe I'll get flamed for it,but when my kids were smalee, I did the harness thing and oh get this:I kept my kids close when I was a a store..hmmm.

Not that hard moms....
SpanishEyez37 at 07:54 PM JST - 11th June

Typo ''small'' not smalee lol
SpanishEyez37 at 07:57 PM JST - 11th June

Or my personal favorite, the moms who's kids are maybe 2 or 3 years-old ,walking way ahead of the kid,and the poor little one trying to catch up. What the is that about? I want to scream at them to get their kid. Anyone could just snatch them and mom none the wiser.

Please pull your heads out of your ,well you know.
timorborder at 10:59 PM JST - 11th June

Charge her with reckless endangerment. Parental responsiblity is absolute not conditional. My own kids are well-adjusted, active and healthy, moreover, they have all their body parts.

It just really gets my goat when you hear about these parents whose negligence ends up getting their kid hurt. Moreover, unless the police get involved, the parents will blame anyone but themselves. One of scariest things I have seen in Japan was a 2 year old doing a hulla dance on the top of a table at a kaiten sushi place (I shxt you not). Anyway, the inevitable happened and the kid did a Greg Louganus off the table onto the (fake) marble floor. Who did the parents want to blame? The owners of the store. They even called the police. I couldn7t believe it. I had to speak up, asking the cops if they would arrest dump and dumper for letting their kid dance on table (about 20 years too fast).
Squally at 11:06 PM JST - 11th June

While I believe that you can't be too protective of your children, when at public places in Japan I notice that some parents just let their children run a little too wild. Kids will be kids but there is a point where you have to wheel them back in. Lady was probably too distracted by all the fancy keitai.
elbudamexicano at 11:24 PM JST - 11th June

I agree with Spanish Eyes, but it is very, very difficult to keep an oye on your own kids 24/7! I have 2 of my own, and I wish I had a Filipine made like all them rich folks in Saudi Arabia or Hong Kong.
ptolemy at 11:49 PM JST - 11th June

My all time favorite is watching a tyke jump up and down on the train seat and then when the train stops the kid falls off the seat. Never fails that the super moms always chew out the train driver.
Super moms are either texting, primping, or chatting on the phone relaying such important information as "asouka? hontoni!, or sou-sou-sou." rather than wathcing their child. The worst I've ever seen was a five year old boy fall out of a window on the third floor in NYC. Parents tried to sue the building owners for not having bars across the window. I agree Disillusioned. I have a kid and it wasn't that difficult for my wife and I to keep an eye on her, hold her hand, or me as pops to carry her when she was younger. She's 11 now and my wife and I still have her in arms reach out in public.
NYC_Samurai at 03:38 AM JST - 12th June

Christ, its the same rehash of posts every time something like this happens. It just isn't that complicated. Watch your kids or they might get into trouble.
SpanishEyez37 at 12:03 PM JST - 12th June

Mom should of been watching her kid ,instead of keitai...end of story...
Coolasapool at 01:14 PM JST - 12th June

she had been keeping an eye on her daughter while shopping

sure she was
nikoniko at 06:24 PM JST - 13th June

NYC - so true but so not happening here in Japan! rather in shops or out in the streets. DISILLUSIONED - agree (more or less) with that! and the country promotes pregnancies! gah how about SAVING THE CHILDREN that are already HERE! so sad. // re LAWSUITS do not hear of many cases where ppl take advantage of being able to sue a company for "faulty" this or that / i mean look at the escalators now .. ALL have warnings about "croc" type shoes getting caught and causing injury since the parents never warned their kids to stop sticking their toes into the escalator steps (duh i know) ((not to mention it was "in the news" for weeks))
dracpoo2 at 09:16 AM JST - 15th June

My heart goes out to the frightened liitle one. Honestly, As a potential mother to be who loves kids with all my heart, my heart breaks alot here in Japan. The mothers really need to be more careful. I have been to many malls and seen where kids are climbing over railings even three floors up. At one time I had to go and tell one little boy in all the Japanese I know "Dame desu" he was going to fall head first to the first floor. I saw no parent even after shoutiing at the kid.

On another occaision, I was at a crossing and a little girl was riding her bike infront of her mother and the mother said nothing even when the child was fast approaching the crossing. I saw that a car was coming at a good enough speed, I nearly had a heart attack, the driver saw the child and stopped. These moms are only humans, but they can do much better.