Tributes pour in for Japanese mother who leapt to death with husband, dead son

Friday 05th June, 06:56 AM JST

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beavis at 12:42 AM JST - 6th June

@pathat

Very considerate post against the rest.
Luddite at 01:17 AM JST - 6th June

I cried when I saw this story on the news. Samuel seemed like a very happy and very loved boy. Unbearable.
ninjohitokiri at 01:48 AM JST - 6th June

we can only imagine the harrowing grief they went through. but alas they chose poorly.
8iamhappy8 at 04:14 AM JST - 6th June

Suicide = trying to drown your pain = running away from your problems/fears/anxieties/worries = same as abusing alcohol/drugs to suppress your pain/trying solving your problem = COWARDISM. Face your pain like a man/woman!
Ah_so at 05:27 AM JST - 6th June

Face your pain like a man/woman!

Why? Who says you have to? What gives you the right to dictate how people choose to deal with their life? If they felt that life was not worth living without Sam, then that is the decision they made. It is not yours and I am not sure what you think gives you the right to pass judgement (or in all probability, pass on the judgement of the society in which you happened to be raised).

I see this as an awful tragedy. A tragedy for a poor boy who's childhood and life was ended by a thoughtless driver; a tragedy for his parents who, bursting with love, who did everything in their power to make his life happy; a tragedy for the parents who saw their child's life snuffed out and who felt they had to take their own; and a tragedy for their friends and family who lost loved ones.

It is in this context that I take a morally relativist view of their suicide and not a cold-hearted, condemning one.
Pukey2 at 08:19 AM JST - 6th June

It seems that whenever there's an incident that involves a Japanese citizen or someone who has a Japanese ancestor on the other side of the world, it appears as 'national' news. Had this taken place in Japan itself, it wouldn't have got such a response. Sorry, but I wonder if the husband would have committed suicide had the wife not been Japanese.
BurakuminDes at 09:31 AM JST - 6th June

As I said before, all you devout Christians on here attacking the poor couple, put aside your religion just for a moment and imagine yourself in their shoes.
LostinNagoya at 04:04 PM JST - 6th June

All of you making romantic, beautiful comments on their double pacrt: what if your beloved son or daughter were the central characters on this sort of news, what if your child just jumped from this cliff. Would it still be beautiful? No one has made a single comment about the surviving parents, friends, co-workers...
knews at 06:55 PM JST - 7th June

Life is full of choices. Every day. Sometimes we make the right choice and sometimes the wrong choice but the choice gets made. Criticizing people for killing themselves is as stupid as trying to criticize those who don't kill themselves. Who's really right? Or is it just easier to criticize because we feel uncomfortable about it due to the fact that not all of us could actually do it? We all have different lives and we all have different reasons for the choices we make.
GJDailleult at 09:29 AM JST - 8th June

When I first heard about this couple, it didn't occur to me that people would see it a story about suicide. To me, it was about two people who went through incredible misfortune in a short period of time, and in the end made an unfortunate but not surprising or unpredictable choice. I expected people to show some sympathy for what happened to them, whether they chose to carry on with life or not. The suicides were what brought their story to media attention, but they were not the story.

So I was pretty surprised to see the direction these threads went in, discussing suicide, and in many cases frankly bashing these people and others who commit suicide. I guess I didn't realize how naive people can be about what life may have coming down the road, and how over-confident people are about their ability to deal with it. Hope you can all walk the walk if you ever need to. Suicide is not just something that happens to other, "weak" people, and lack of awareness of that is part of the whole problem.
OhioDonna at 12:48 AM JST - 10th June

Who says we Christians have not walked in their shoes. Sucicide is not the answer even when the circumstances are so tragic. My Aunt and Uncle lost 5 of their 9 children and never once considered suicide even when their one year old daughter died. I am sorry for the family of this couple. I know its hard but one must look beyond the grief.
vultor at 10:02 AM JST - 10th June

I respect their decision totally: putting aside christian religious ethics for a moment, (which is where most of the critics are coming from, the couple's suicide hasn't attracted the same criticism among Japanese)

How could it possibly attract criticism among the Japanese when suicide is the national pastime? Any judgment made about their decision has obvious moral and religious bearings which, begging your pardon, are relevant to the character of most Christians. Whatever your spiritual doctrine, or lack thereof, you ought to recognize that 'tis a sour day for mankind when suicide earns anybody's respect.
jonnyboy at 12:32 PM JST - 11th June

it seems to me that the only argument being presented by those who condone their actions is that "they were upset" therefore it was ok. i'm sorry, but this is no justification whatsover. would you condone the actions of a man who murdered a women and them himself because he was "upset" that his son died? no, of course not. but the result is the same; 1 dead unfortunately, 2 dead unnecessarily.

furthermore, the implication that they could not go on with their lives is either an inability to cope with grief in the short-term or some weird implication that the dead party would somehow resent the survivors for continuing to live. it's beyond me how anyone could think this in a situation which is nothing other than a set of tragic circumstances
jonnyboy at 12:33 PM JST - 11th June

and i'd like to add that i believe there are no circumstances under which a person should have to apologise for their own existence
JoiceRojo at 04:01 AM JST - 12th June

I didn't like this article. Anyway to romanticize suicide is just morbid. One cannot phantom the loss of a son, specially a very loved one if you are not a parent, but i've met people that have passed for such tragedies and they still go on, even after years, they still cry, but, they are also sure that their child would not have wanted for the parents to kill themselves. Think the other way around, if you are a teenager and your parents suddenly caught a very quick illness that takes them away from you, would they want for you to kill yourself if they die? Of course not, but not only because a youth has much to live for it is because they CARE, your family, your parents, your friends care for you, this couple was raising awareness in the community due to Spinal cord research, raising funds, they got people to care for them and their son, and since your son has died, you die too, it is very sad, but I cannot find commendable the actions of killing yourself.