Newborn boy dies after being found in Tokyo Internet cafe toilet

Thursday 30th July, 08:42 AM JST

TOKYO —

A baby boy with its umbilical cord still attached was found in a toilet in an Internet cafe about 300 meters from Shibuya station on Wednesday, and was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly after.

A female employee who checked on the women’s toilets at about 5 p.m. found the baby naked in the toilet bowl and called police. The baby was not breathing at the time and was pronounced dead about an hour later, police said.

A young woman in the cafe who later told an employee she felt unwell was also taken to hospital, where she is being questioned by police.

News reports

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Latest 15 of 50 Total Comments Show All

polarmalik at 09:12 PM JST - 30th July

Avoid Sex totally if you cannot face the post sex consequences. I feel sad and sorry for the baby - his mother and father were cowards to have taken his life to save themselves from the consequences.
polarmalik at 09:14 PM JST - 30th July

This is murder and the punishment for murder is death - biological mother and father should be found and put to death without fail.
honey at 09:52 PM JST - 30th July

Clearly this women is evil to the soul.However,I wish abortion was available to girls in Western countries,as any teenage pregnancy destroys lives.
Triple888 at 10:03 PM JST - 30th July

I thought there was sex education was in the Japanese school curriculum.
mnemosyne23 at 10:36 PM JST - 30th July

So sad. The poor child. I'd like to know how old the "young woman" being questioned by police is (provided she is the mother in question). Is she a teenager? A twenty-something? Age would go a long way to explaining this young lady's mindset at the time that would lead her to leave her newborn child in the toilet. Again, we're faced with the question: was it fear? Or was it selfishness? I can't pass judgment until I know. Whatever the reasons, a baby is dead, and that justifies mourning. RIP, little one.

Did I miss the part were it said the baby was born alive, after a full 9 month pregnancy? Because I've looked and I can't actually see that anywhere.

I don't think it's such a huge conclusion to jump to, though it wasn't explicity stated. Clearly the baby was gestated long enough to have been identifiable as a baby boy, which would lead me to believe it had at least reached the second trimester. This isn't to say the child was born alive and it may well have been too premature, especially if the mother was unaware she was pregnant and/or hadn't chosen to alter any habits that may be risky to an unborn child. But even if the child had NOT been born alive, there's still the matter of abandoning the baby's body in a toilet bowl. I think that is what gnaws at people, even more than the tragedy of abandonment alone. I can understand a young mother being terrified of this alien THING that she's suddenly given birth to and doesn't know what to do about, but leaving it behind in such a fashion is unforgivable to many people. Even if a coroner determines that the child was not born alive and therefore this isn't a case of fear-driven manslaughter, the mother could still be charged with abandoning a corpse. It's a crime either way, and a terrible end to one -- or two -- young lives.
tuneintokyo at 10:37 PM JST - 30th July

I think I'm going to throw up now.
Heda_Madness at 11:19 PM JST - 30th July

I can understand a young mother being terrified of this alien THING that she's suddenly given birth to and doesn't know what to do about, but leaving it behind in such a fashion is unforgivable to many people

So there's no such thing as post traumatic stress then? At least not in the eyes of the JT posters. We have very little information, yet the vast majority think this woman is evil scum. She may be. But there are also a number of other different answers.

And to think that the vast majority of people on JT are worried about the jury system in Japan. This girl is guilty as hell based on six or seven lines of news.
hakujinsensei at 11:25 PM JST - 30th July

A tragedy, pure and simple... R.I.P. baby doe...

So many posts full of venom and misinformation.

Japan has national health care but it does not cover prenatal care so the odds are this gal had no idea what to do nor any medical care at all. Baby hatches and orphanages are of limited help when a girl is just struggling to get thru the month as it is... a hundred and a half for a visit to a doctor is a lot when you make 750 yen an hour part time. Not to mention the 3 to 4 thousand bucks to deliver the tyke... All in all I would say that society at large is quite criminally negligent in many of these and other similar cases.

Does it really matter how the girl got pregnant? What is with all the blame for the pregnancy in the first place? I had a condom bust wide open last month and it is far from the first time that has happened to me. Shxt happens. What was it that Jesus said? Something about "He who has not sinned.."

Once a baby exists it is all of our responsibility to assure its well being. Does it matter if it is born or not? That is what separates us from the animal kingdom, or at least it should. Viability is at about 21 weeks now with modern technology and yes at 20 weeks it looks just like a full term baby only smaller. Yet literally hundreds of these babies are ripped from their mothers wombs each week here in Japan. Where is the outcry? What hypocrisy.

Certainly a crime against humanity was committed here but the simple knee jerk reactions here do little to address the depth of complexity that led to this tragedy. I would not want that this tragedy is compounded by making this mom a scapegoat and denying her the medical and mental help she is desperately in need of now.
zoechan at 11:41 PM JST - 30th July

Heda_Madness - I totally agree with you. There is no proof that the baby was born alive, no proof that she killed it - some posters are alluding to drowning in the toilet - no proof that she knew she was pregnant and planned for nine months to abandon her newborn.

poor girl. she will never get over this, or the condemnation from some anonymous posters.
Icewind007 at 02:57 AM JST - 31st July

I can answer Noboritos questions. Here people are taught that if it has nothing to do with you just ignore, pretend you did not hear the cries or noise.

How unfortunate that that is true. Taught to be selfish and you become liable for whatever goes wrong (or sometimes in trouble if it was right) if you attempt to help. Sickening deviation from humanity.

This young girl was all by herself, the guy who got her pregnant is not there to help, no family to help. I agree with AK619, it is the breakdown of the family unit.

This is the breakdown of this family unit indeed. However, this is certainly not the norm nor the breakup of the family unit of Japan. However, since we don't know the whole story, it is possible her boyfriend/sex friend/whatever didn't even know about the pregnancy. She may have been trying to keep this secret. Of course, the guy might have left her, leaving her to deal with the situation on her own.

In any case, it is sad that the victim in this situation is always the child. No chance at all.
amerijap at 06:14 AM JST - 31st July

It's getting so disturbing to hear/see the news about failing young adults who can't take responsibilities for raising kids due to their bad choices in (pre-)marital relationship.
Himajin at 10:49 AM JST - 31st July

If a woman has an addiction to alcohol, drugs, food (really fat, 99% sure this isn't this case)............. they may end up giving birth very easily.

Huh?
flatearther at 11:01 AM JST - 31st July

Who said this kind of thing was Japan exclusive? In my home country we have the same problem, the only difference is that American women leave their babies in dumpsters, not toilets. I feel sorry for the person who found this baby, all they wanted was to use the toilet.
netrek at 01:07 PM JST - 31st July

honey abortion is murder.
BobbieWickham at 07:56 PM JST - 1st August

1,600,000,000. That's a lot of murders. One every second. If she'd had an abortion there'd be no problem, would there?