Abe expresses shock at murder of Kawasaki boy

All the media insists on explaining what happened, but no one dares to asks why these terrible things happen.

WILL dispatch a team. Let's get moving on this sort of thing or are children not high enough on the agenda?

They wanted to behead the poor boy. My 13 year old showed me an unmasked photo of one of the Japanese who were beheaded this month. I was horrified. But then I do not let him out after dark and monitor his social media chat.

The victims teacher made repeated attempts to contact him and visit the home. The boy had a black eye. Basically, quit school. He sent a message warning of the danger his life was in. His mother could've speculated some kind of trouble. Yet he was killed.

The reality is that the police, welfare centers, parents, teachers, & local education boards are too warped and inept to work together.

So for how many months will the school deny they knew until a student survey proves they are lying?

no one dares to asks why these terrible things happen.

What makes you think that? The 'why' will come out in the trial.

The reality is that the police, welfare centers, parents, teachers, & local education boards are too warped and inept to work together.

Not necessarily. Kids are pretty good at keeping things to themselves when they want to.

I don't think Abe would've been so shocked if he was more in touch with the realities of everyday people here and the toothlessness of social services.

Maybe he should quit being shocked and actually push to pass legislation to CHANGE things. He is the PM for christsakes.

Abe should spend less time on the dramatics and more time working on policies to support single mothers who must work night shifts and leave young children unattended at home.

Great input Speed-

Messages of law enforcement from the Japanese government and the politicians have been weak. I don't remember any strong message about the importance law enforcement from the Japanese prime ministers in the past.

This poor boy died a direct result of the DARK SIDE of Japanese group culture, when the ijime was tossed in they couldn't stop, with very tragic result!

All People Of All Walks were shocked by this, including Abe.

However after watching Abe's little speech in the Diet, you'd have to at least half - believe that the situation was being milked by his PR. The timing was impeccable. Diverting attention from the Slimy Money Scandals that have kept the Diet discussions all bottled up and the media preoccupied with images of squirming LDP ministers, to Keeping Japan Safe.

Horrific tragedies go un(under)reported every day with not a hint of recognition by the establishment. Call me cynical.

I don't understand the shock? A few years ago a very young boy decapitated a friend and left his head at the entrance to a girls HS. He told police he wanted to know what it felt like to kill some one. So I'm not sure you can blame it on a ISIS video.

I don't understand the shock?

Um, maybe because a 13 year old boy was murdered?

A few years ago a very young boy decapitated a friend and left his head at the entrance to a girls HS. He told police he wanted to know what it felt like to kill some one.

And so because it's happened before, people shouldn't be shocked by this killing?

Dear browny1@,

You are absolutely spot-on when you said, "... The timing was impeccable. Diverting attention from the Slimy Money Scandals that have kept the Diet discussions all bottled up and the media preoccupied with images of squirming LDP ministers, to Keeping Japan Safe."

Maybe he can use his pull to finally get some of these murdering minors charged as adults.

Sakakibara's motives were more complex than that, ka_chan. He said-

"It's only when I kill that I am liberated from the constant hatred that I suffer and that I am able to attain peace. It is only when I give pain to people that I can ease my own pain."

He had an agenda, and railed against both public education and the police.

@browny1

Absolutely spot-on.

What a load of garbage this Abe, using the horrible death of this boy in order to distract away from the corruption scandals that are spreading all over his government. He doesn't care a fraction of a second about the death of this boy, not a fraction.

There are violent murders every single week in Japan (we learned today that a another boy killed his mother), he has never dared to bring to the Diet a discussion about this king of problem within the Japanese population (speaking about the violence in Japanese society is one of those many taboos that Japannese politicians refuse to talk about in order to protect the false image of a society in harmony more civilized than the rest of the world) and he just did it for distraction because he damn needs some distraction right now.

Yo, Abe. Next time you're standing on top of that white van, looking down on people and yelling at them with a megaphone to drown out their noise, why don't you look at them eye to eye and listen to what they're trying to say, the problems they have, the issues happening with real people.

Nice and I support Mr. Abe on this comment " it is the responsibility of adults to protect children" because too many parents think that it is the school teacher and school system's responsibility. Now the teachers should report any visible or suspicious behavior to their administrators who then contact the parents. Unfortunately though, the reality is the blame can be placed on parents and government school system. For example if the parent a single mom, wanted to move the school system makes it hard for her to send her child to relatives because of the registrations system across the board. Then the schools system at each prefecture would have to accept the child based on testing or other reasons, not to mention the mountain of paperwork, time of from work etc. So how can a single parent protect their child if they same system prevents them from moving. The teachers do their best when they can but again the system is so quickly set up to keep such things silent with understanding and cooperation for quite some time. I wish JT would do a real investigative reporting to see how things can improve to help parents and single moms be allowed to transition between schools in Japan easily.

Of course, news like this goes against his rightist "Japan is perfect and has always been" narrative.

Abe said he can’t understand how such a thing can happen and said it is the responsibility of adults to protect children, NTV reported.

Well, well, well Mr. Abe! Life is very different outside your office. Do you have any idea how disgustingly poor the family support system is in Japan? Do you have any idea that most families are struggling even though both parents are working full time? Are you aware of the large number of young children that spend many hours every day at home alone and have to fend for themselves? Do you have any idea how many children suffer abuse from their over-stressed parents due to laxed labor laws and over work?

You are shocked about this murder Mr. Abe? Really? I'm shocked you don't find this inevitable in a society where the family unit is second place to work! All hale Japan Inc!

Excellent point Disillusioned. Family. Japan Inc. carries a substantial burden for neglecting & depriving their families. The 13 yr. old victim's mother was a nurse & prob worked 12-15 hr shifts 5-6 days per week.

So allow me to rescind my above comment and say that the victim's mother could NOT have speculated her son might be in some kind of trouble. PM Abe has a lot on his plate these days.

This poor boy died a direct result of the DARK SIDE of Japanese group culture, when the ijime was tossed in they couldn't stop, with very tragic result!

This is not ijime, this is murder. I could see the 'couldn't stop' or 'took it too far' in cases where bullying led to a suicide etc., but this is just a planned, cold-blooded murder. The killers should be treated as murderers, not bullies.

When JT first posted the initial article on this case, I was the first to say "Bully!" & got the thumbs down . . . . But now, all I read is - "they're bullies. Bullies murdered him, bully this, bully that-" The 10% of u JT readers kudos. The rest (90%) wake-up already.