Woman arrested for throwing newborn baby daughter’s body into irrigation channel
OSAKA — Feb. 23rd, 2013
A 28-year-old woman in Osaka has been arrested for illegally disposing of the body of her newborn daughter last October, police said Friday.
The woman, who has been named as Tomoko Takiguchi, is accused of disposing of the body of her daughter shortly after birth, NTV reported. According to police, the body of a month-old baby girl was found in an irrigation channel near Takiguchi’s former Kashiwara home last Oct 13. An autopsy revealed that the child had died of suffocation. DNA tests later showed the child to be Takiguchi’s daughter.
According to neighbors, Takiguchi appeared to be pregnant in August of last year, but was not seen in public with the child after giving birth, NTV reported. Takiguchi was arrested on Thursday and questioned by police about the circumstances in which her daughter died.
Police were quoted by local media as saying that Takiguchi denies disposing of her daughter’s body, telling investigators that she nursed her daughter for a week and then the child was kidnapped. Police said no kidnapping was reported.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Couple claims child care allowance for dead daughter over 6 years
FEB. 20, 2013 -OSAKA —
Police said Tuesday that a couple in Osaka has been arrested for fraudulently claiming 6 years’ worth of child allowance payments for their child who died shortly after birth.
The crime was reportedly discovered when a local elementary school, which had records of the girl’s birth, invited her to attend a pre-enrollment physical check and orientation meeting. According to TBS, the girl’s mother told the school that her daughter had died some time before, but the school reported the matter to police.
Police said the couple—a 53-year-old man and his 35-year-old wife—had a daughter in May of 2006. The child was in good health when she left the hospital six days afetr her birth. The parents filed her birth certificate two days later and applied for a child care allowance.
After the couple were arrested earlier this month on a charge of fraudulently receiving child welfare payments, they told police their daughter died within a week, TBS reported. Police quoted the couple as saying that they decided to continue to claim welfare payments. Over the six years, they received 934,000 yen in child care allowance payments, police said.
The couple also told investigators they threw the child’s body into the sea without registering her death and continued to lead authorities to believe she was alive. Media reported that social workers reportedly visited the family eight times, and each time, the girl’s father claimed she was visiting her grandparents with her mother and was in good health.
Police say they are looking into the circumstances surrounding the girl’s death.
Japan Today
Young boy kills self over closure of school
The Yomiuri Shimbun
OSAKA–An 11-year-old primary school student in Daito, Osaka Prefecture, apparently killed himself by jumping in front of a train, leaving behind a note that suggests the act was intended to protest the closure of his school.
At about 4:25 p.m. Thursday, the fifth-year student was hit below a platform of Nozaki Station by a seven-car train heading from Doshishamae Station to Takarazuka Station on the JR Katamachi Line.
Witnesses said he apparently jumped from the platform down to the rails and was struck by the train.
The boy left a note about his school, which is scheduled to be shut down and its students integrated into two other primary schools.
The note read, “In exchange for this little life, please stop the shutdown and integration.”
Shijonawate Police Station is investigating the case as a likely suicide.
According to the police station, the driver of the train saw the boy jump and immediately applied the brake, but it was too late.
The boy’s rucksack, which he left on the platform, contained learning materials for a cram school, and the handwritten note was found nearby, the police said.
The primary school the boy attended has seen its student population decrease, and is scheduled to close at the end of this fiscal year.
Students of the school will be transferred to two other primary schools.
The boy’s family members said he recently complained that he did not want to attend the school that was scheduled to accept him and his schoolmates.
Just before the incident, the boy sent an e-mail to his mother’s cell phone that read: “Thank you for all you have done up to now. I love everyone in my family.”
(Feb. 16, 2013)
Woman held over murder of 5-year-old daughter
DEC. 19, 2012 OSAKA —
Police said Tuesday they have arrested a 40-year-old woman in Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture, for allegedly strangling her 5-year-old daughter to death.
According to police, the woman called the emergency services at 3:30 p.m. on Monday and said that she had killed her daughter, NTV reported. Police arrived at the scene to find the woman and her daughter lying with a handkerchief tied tightly around her neck. Police say the girl was taken to hospital where she was confirmed dead.
The woman was quoted as telling police that her worries about child-raising motivated the murder.
Man arrested for scalding son with boiling water
CRIME SEP. 19, 2012 – OSAKA —
Police said Tuesday they have arrested a man who threw boiling water at his 12-year-old son at their home in Hironoku, Osaka. The boy sustained severe burns which will take about three weeks to heal, police said.
According to police, the attack took place on Monday at about 8:30 p.m. The suspect, Yasunori Saeki, 56, has admitted to the charge, Fuji TV reported. He was quoted as saying that he got mad because he told his son to go and buy some groceries and he didn’t. After throwing a cup of boiling water in his son’s face, he took the boy to a hospital, where staff notified police.
This is the second time that Saeki, who works as a taxi driver, has been implicated in a domestic abuse case. Last December, a child consultation center questioned him about injuring his second son by hitting his head against the wall. Saeki promised never to do it again, the center said.
Japan Today
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Osaka assistant judge arrested for taking upskirt photos on train
OSAKA — Aug. 30th, 2012
Police said Thursday that an assistant Osaka district court judge has been arrested for allegedly taking photos up a woman’s skirt while on a train.
According to police, the suspect, who has been named as 27-year-old Toshiki Hanai, is alleged to have taken the upskirt photos on a Keihan train at around 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday between Neyagawashi and Kayashima stations. Hanai was reportedly squatting and taking photos with his cell phone when he was spotted by another male passenger who then restrained him until he was handed over to the authorities, Fuji TV reported.
During police questioning, Hanai was quoted as saying that he was interested to know what kind of underwear the woman was wearing. His cell phone had images taken up other women’s skirts, police said.
Japan Today
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Woman under investigation after 1-year-old son found injured
OSAKA —
Police said Saturday they are questioning the mother of a one-year-old boy who suffered a severe head injury that left him unconscious.
Emergency services were called to the 39-year-old woman’s apartment in Hirakata on the evening of April 17. She claimed that her son had fallen down the stairs. Paramedics found the boy unconscious and bleeding from the mouth, Fuji TV reported.
Doctors later became suspicious when they found the boy had sustained a powerful blow to the head which they say was inconsistent with his mother’s story. They also discovered bruises on his body of the type sustained when a child is held down. Police say they suspect there may have been a history of mistreatment and violence in the household, Fuji TV reported.
According to police, the boy’s mother is currently under investigation. Police say the boy and his mother had, until recently, been living with a 22-year-old construction worker, but that he was arrested on April 10 for allegedly kicking the woman in the head.
Japan Today
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Man arrested for assaulting girlfriend’s 4-year-old son
Apr. 04, 2012 – OSAKA
Police in Izumi, Osaka Prefecture, said Tuesday they have arrested a 41-year-old man for allegedly punching his girlfriend’s four-year-old son in the face.
The suspect, identified as Yoshiyuki Suzuki, works as a security guard. He is accused of hitting the boy in the face and head with an open hand and a back scratcher on multiple occasions between Feb 5 and 12, NTV reported. Police say large bruises were visible around the boy’s eyes and that scratches were also found on his posterior. Doctors expect it will take around two weeks for the boy’s injuries to heal.
Police believe the abuse was ongoing. The mistreatment came to light after a neighbor reported hearing the sounds of a child being beaten. The caller told the emergency operator that it was not the first time the sounds had been heard, according to NTV.
During police questioning, the boy’s mother, 26, told investigators that they started living together in September of last year, but the abuse started at the beginning of this year. She also told police that the boy had been stripped naked and locked out on the balcony as punishment, NTV said.
According to police, Suzuki said he was disciplining the boy, who was taken into protective custody last month.
Japan Today
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Woman arrested for stabbing 11-year-old boy in Osaka
Jan. 19, 2012 OSAKA —
Police in Osaka arrested a 35-year-old woman on Wednesday for allegedly stabbing an 11-year-old boy while he was walking home from school.
Police said the attack took place just after 3 p.m. in Yodogawa Ward. A witness said the woman jumped on the boy and started stabbing him, TV Asahi reported.
The suspect, identified as Maharu Nagatsuma, was charged with attempted murder. She was quoted by police as saying that she didn’t know the boy, but gave no motive.
Police said the boy suffered four stab wounds to his chest and arms but they are not life-threatening, TV Asahi reported.
Japan Today
Man accused of scalding baby son with boiling water
Crime Nov. 10, 2011 OSAKA —
A 33-year-old man in Osaka has been arrested for allegedly scalding his one-month-old son with boiling water, police said Wednesday.
According to police, on Nov 6 at around 9:30 p.m., Hisayoshi Genno, a security guard living in Toyonaka, doused his baby son with boiling water in the shower, causing serious burns to his lower back and groin, NTV reported. Afterward, Genno—who lives with his 25-year-old girlfriend, son and daughter—took the baby to a local family doctor, but the child’s injuries were so severe, he was transferred to a hospital where he is currently undergoing treatment in an intensive care unit.
One local resident was quoted by NTV as saying that he often saw Genno walking hand in hand with his daughter and that he seemed to like children. However, other residents in the apartment block in which the family live said that recently the man would often shout at children playing outside and tell them to be quiet.
Japan Today
Parents arrested over death of 3-month-old daughter
Crime Sep. 08, 2011 – 12:05PM JST ( 45 )
OSAKA —Japan Today
A 25-year-old man and his 22-year-old wife have been arrested in Kadoma, Osaka, over the death of their 3-month-old daughter, police said Wednesday. The pair, who have been named as Fumiya Fujiyama and his wife Yui, are being investigated for manslaughter after allegedly causing the death of their baby daughter Ryuna in May. The pair are believed to have hit and violently shaken the newborn.
According to Fuji TV, Ryuna was taken to hospital by her parents on May 13, but doctors say she was already dead on arrival. Hospital staff then found dozens of bruises on the infant’s body and head that indicated she had been hit or punched. When questioned, the girl’s parents said she had fallen off of a chair and gave other explanations that failed to explain her injuries. The hospital contacted the police, who initiated an investigation, Fuji reported. Police believe the child had been mistreated regularly since her birth.
So far, both parents have denied punching and shaking their baby, and said she got the bruises from her older sister. Police investigations are ongoing.
Couple suspected of fatally beating 7-year-old in ‘wrestling game’
OSAKA — A man and woman accused of unleashing a deadly beating on the woman’s 7-year-old son have been arrested, law enforcers said.
Arrested were Masatomo Morita, 44, and his wife Ryoko, 29. Morita has reportedly admitted to the accusations and told police he and his wife were “wrestling” with 7-year-old Tsubasa Fujinaga before the boy’s death.
“I threw him in a wrestling game at home. My wife then pushed him over,” Morita is quoted as telling police. Morita’s wife, however, has denied the allegations against her.
Tsubasa, the son of Ryoko from a previous relationship, was thin and there were bruises on his body, as well as what appeared to be cigarette burns. Neighbors said that they had sometimes heard the Moritas yelling angrily, and police suspect that the boy may have been abused on a daily basis.
The couple is accused of inflicting injuries on Tsubasa at their home in Osaka’s Nishiyodogawa Ward on the afternoon of Aug. 25, resulting in his death in the predawn hours of the following morning.
Police said that Tsubasa’s mother phoned emergency services on the evening of Aug. 25, saying, “We were playing with our son, doing wrestling moves on him, when something happened to him.”
At the time rescuers arrived, Tsubasa was unconscious in critical condition. A doctor concluded that he appeared to have suffered a brain hemorrhage.
The couple had lived with Tsubasa and another 2-year-old son. Previously Tsubasa had been living at a childcare facility, but he moved in with his mother and stepfather in April this year. Another younger brother of Tsubasa, aged 4, is living at a childcare institution.
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(Mainichi Japan) August 26, 2011
Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center (HURIGHTS OSAKA)
Japan
Overview
Jinken, the Japanese word for human rights, appeared in the late 19th century. Yukichi Fukuzawa, a famous Japanese intellectual, coined the term at a time when Japan was opening up to European and American ideas and technology. Despite a late 19th century law that banned discrimination against a group of Japanese called Burakumin, the discrimination continued. This led to the formation of a levelers movement, called the National Levelers’ Association (Zenkoku Suiheisha), in the 1920s. The movement adopted the so-called Suiheisha Sengen (Suiheisha Declaration) in 1922, which the movement presently regards as an early Japanese human rights declaration. (See the Human Rights Declarations section in this website for the text of this document). It was the 1946 Constitution of Japan (Nihon Koku Kenpo) that formally adopted human rights, with a provision on “fundamental human rights” in Article 11. The 1946 Constitution also provides for women suffrage and the separation of state powers as a principle of democratic Japanese government.
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Couple arrested for assaulting children with vacuum cleaner
Jul. 03, 2011 – 07:00AM JST ( 13 ) OSAKA —
A mother and her boyfriend in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, have been arrested on suspicion of assaulting the woman’s two children after day nursery workers became concerned about bruises on the daughter’s body, police said Saturday. The 29-year-old unemployed woman and her 28-year-old boyfriend, an administrator at a chiropractic clinic, were questioned by police after nursery school employees contacted the child consultation center to discuss bruises sustained by the couple’s 6-year-old daughter in May. During police questioning, the couple admitted to punching, kicking and throwing the girl and her 3-year-old brother. They also confessed to applying a vacuum cleaner to the children’s faces. They were quoted by police as saying that “it was done to teach them discipline.”
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Porsche SUV with 3-year-old behind wheel slams into supermarket
OSAKA — A Porsche SUV that apparently had a 3-year-old girl behind the wheel rammed into a supermarket here and left a woman injured after suddenly moving in reverse, police said.
According to police, the SUV was parked in a lot next to a supermarket in Osaka’s Nishinari Ward when it abruptly began moving in reverse at around 3:45 p.m. on June 17, knocking down the fence of the parking lot and ramming into the wall of the supermarket. When police officers rushed to the scene, the girl reportedly was with her 35-year-old mother and seemed bewildered.
A 68-year-old female employee of the supermarket who was standing by the fence fell and sustained light injuries to her head and other parts of her body.
The 3-year-old girl was found alone inside the vehicle, and investigators suspect that she caused the car to move. She was not injured.
According to the Nishinari Police Station, the girl was brought to the supermarket by her mother. The mother is quoted as telling investigators that when she arrived at the supermarket, she left her daughter inside the vehicle because she was acting peevish. She told police that she had locked the car with the engine running, with the shift lever in the parking gear. She said she did not remember if she had applied the parking brake. The vehicle had automatic transmission.
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