7-year-old boy drowns after falling into pond in Kyoto

Can children these days not swim?

Thunderbird2: My guess is that most can, but you never hear about the kids that can swim in the news -- only the tragedies. Besides, it's possible he could swim but just couldn't find a way out of the pond; like it had high, slippery walls and hence the other kids couldn't help him. Or maybe he got snagged on something. In any case, a tragic case of some monkey business gone wrong.

Can children these days not swim?

Not without lessons

Yeah, there may have been extenuating circumstances like, he hit his head and went into the water unconscious, but it is more likely he couldn't swim. Sadly, swimming is not a mandatory part of children's education in Japan. Gaining a 25m swimming certificate was part of my elementary school's curriculum for all first graders (6 years old). It's a tragic death, but most likely a preventable one.

Can children these days not swim?

Not without lessons -

It's the kind of a pond surrounded by all concrete and steep drop. Even adults would have hard time trying to come up. Also, ever heard of "panic"? you know people drown even in a very shallow kiddy pool, this pond is very deep, imagine how scary it was for the boy.

A little boy out with his mates and doing what kids do.... having fun... no need for speculation. So sad.

Very sad tragic event. All kids by the age of 7 should be able to swim and learn not to panic when you fall in. Do schools in Japan have a swimming program ? In Australia kids by the age of 7 can become trainee lifesavers (nippers). We live on an island, we should all teach our children to swim with confidence.

Like the UK, Japanese children should be taught swimming fully-clothed at school.

Every pond, body of water need to have a life saving device on hand nearby.

As a number of poster pointed out in the article "Number of children in Japan falls to new low" including JAL1973 post. Many in Japan can not even begin to think of having children simply because their work shifts, hours, conditions and salary prevents them.

When you do eventually decide to have a child, its that very same "work shifts, hours, conditions and salary" that prevents you from being able to properly look after your child.

The end results are tragic loss as this. Those of us who are frequent on Japan Today and any other Japanese news sites are aware of the many incidents of this kind that occurred in the past two months let alone the year.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/number-of-children-in-japan-falls-to-new-low

Could better child care or amended work shifts saved this child's life? Is it about time Japan gaited river banks and other waterways that pose such danger?

In the UK the River Thames or Thames River as its better known as in Japan, splits up to many smaller streams, these streams run along many borough throughout london, these streams can become quite severe during the rainy season. Each council have took it upon them to properly gait these waterways. You should be able to see it via Google maps, satellite view.

Such a loss, perhaps a solution might be; A few mothers that took time off to look after their own child can also support the child of others who are not able to take time off from work. Something like a "local temp kindergarten", surely it would cost less than childcare, the mother that took time off would had a form of employment as well. If anything incident as these would be prevented.

Hardly any Japanese school swimming pools have anything deeper than 1.5 meters.

Most kids aren't used to being in deep water nor nor are many able to tread water until much later.

I think this is one of the reasons so many kids/teenagers drown in these ponds, calm rivers and lakes.

Strategist, the pond was surrounded by a high fence topped by razor wire. I saw it on the news last night. I am not sure how much more authorities could have done to make it harder to get in.

As for (again) the idea that this occurrence is uniquely Japanese, CDC statistics-

"From 2005-2009, there were an average of 3,533 fatal unintentional drownings (non-boating related) annually in the United States — about ten deaths per day. An additional 347 people died each year from drowning in boating-related incidents."

20% are 14 and under.

Most are in private swimming pools. It's not that American kids don't drown, it's just that these deaths don't make the news.

I see, so put simply it was just a kid being mischievous? It turns out in this instance it cost him his life. Could the blame be put on the lack of parenting?

Yes as someone rightly pointed out, in the UK they teach kids swimming in primary school (grade school) perhaps so, it wasn't so for me, I attended a state run school, I was never given the chance to attend swimming classes 'teaching French was of a higher priority' instead we were told of the risk of drowning, nevertheless I was wise to not fool around near rivers etc, my parents only enforced the risk posed.

In the end I had to gain swimming skills to be accepted in the MAT (British Police Force).

I only make a big deal out of such news because I somehow feel as though i've lost something myself, I know its not my child but still, many don't give such news as much as 2 minutes, why because its not someone famous? That's beyond the point, its still an loss of an innocent child's life. Such news always effects me emotionally.

My apologies for such an odd post, please warn your little ones of such risks

I have seen these artificial ponds / reservoirs. Mostly surrounded by high concrete walls and ull of stagnant water and litter, they don't look particularly forgiving if one falls in. However - several I have seen do have a ladder leading to the water so it should be possible to climb back out for all but the most feeble swimmers.

My point exactly, lack of parenting and education.

7-year olds need supervision.

Sorry to hear about this tragedy. We don't know if he could not swim, maybe he hit his head and was unconscious and clothing like shoes and trousers make it all the more difficult. Either way it's bad news. My J-wife can barely swim and they had a pool at her school with swimming lessons. Japan is not a swimmers country like other places. In the USA many people I know that living away from a body of water like the ocean, lakes or rivers are not swimmers or poor swimmers unless they had lessons with a proper swim teacher or their parents.

UK9393, your bang on the money! there should be a life float or some device near by, if these ponds are constructed rather than a natural type pond there should be a ladder for access/exit or something to hold onto or foot holes in the side of the concrete wall. a simple design mistake but a tragic accident could have been avoided, very sad either way.