In accordance with the 2001 Law for Prevention of Child Abuse, if you have witnessed or suspect child abuse in Japan, you can call 03-5370-2990 (+81-3-5370-2990 outside Japan) to report it.  Unfortunately, it is unclear what good this will do.  According to a poster in a forum on JapanToday in Dec 2006.

"I've reported a child for suspected abuse here in Japan. I sat down and had a meeting with a case officer. Before I could open my mouth she began apologizing to me that Japan is decades behind the U.S. when it comes to child abuse. I then told her my information, which she wrote down and asked questions when needed. She then told me the process that would take place, which is shocking. She said, the teachers of the children would be notified and if THEY noticed anything out of the ordinary then they would re-contact the case officer. The case officer would then go to the parents and talk with them about the suspected abuse. The case officer would also ask to interview the children and the parents. If the parents DECLINED the interview then the abuse investigation would stop. She then apologized again and said in Japan the children aren't protected from their own families. As the whole procedure is confidential there is no way for me to know what took place in my case."

This was posted on another mailing list, probably sometime in early 2006 or before.

"As an aside, did you know that when a wife call the police because her husband is beating her that when the cops arrive if the husband tells them to get out they must comply. It happened to friend of mine (who has since fled) they said that because he said so they must leave but she could come to the station with them. She asked the police to wait while she got her key and purse and they refused. Wonder what would have happened if the husband had then choked the wife and 2 month old baby she was holding.........nothing probably. Seeing that no one would have known. These police didn't even follow up on her the next day when the ass would have been at work. Seems they need some training above and beyond giving directions."

If anyone can confirm or deny either of these observations, please let us know.

Related Pages

Bullying and Racism in Japan

The Issues

Of course, child abuse is a horrible violation of a child's rights.  Although it is not specifically the type of rights that this website addresses, there are many connections.

1. •Bad family law supports domestic violence by a Japanese spouse against a foreign spouse
   

2. •Child abuse and other psychological factors are ignored in family court decisions
   

3. •The Law for Prevention of Child Abuse promotes parental alienation and physical abuse of fathers.
   

4. •The guarantee letter from a spouse required for a residency visa encourages domestic violence against children and foreign parents
   

5. •The Law for Prevention of Child Abuse supports eliminating one parent from child's life and encourages parental abduction. Article 2 clause 4 defines child abuse as including physical or mental aggression against the other parent only if the abused parent is living living with the child.  So the parent who is living with the child is thus free to disparage, parentally alienate or physically abuse the non-resident parent in full view of the child. This is simply wrong, is de-facto legal support for eliminating one parent from a child's life, and encourages an "abduct first" mentality.
   

6. •When a child is kept away from contact with one natural parent, the remaining parent seems inclined to abuse. The reasons are varied, but the media reports documented here seem to back this up.
   

7. •Some Japanese think that Japan is different from "the gun cultures" of America and Europe which have a "... long history of incest..." and hence "...incidents where children are kidnapped, raped or murdered by the non-residential parent happen frequently."   Thus, individuals, even those serving as mediators and judges, may be prejudiced against non-Japanese in family law cases. See: Hiromi Ikeuchi (池内ひろ美), "Background for the Era of Difficult Visitation After Divorce in Japan (日本における離婚後の面接が困難な時代背景)" in (NPO Wink法人) Terue Shinkawa (新川てるえ), A Survey of the Situation of Visitation in Divorced Families - Daddy, Mommy, Even If You Divorce, I Can Meet You, Right? (離婚家庭の面接交渉実態調査―パパ、ママ離婚しても会えるよね?) Hitsuji Press (ひつじ書房), 2005 p.96-97.
   
   
   

Solutions We Want To See

1. •Amend immigration laws so that a foreign parent of a Japanese child can qualify for a residency visa, either long term or permanent residency, without the letter of guarantee currently required for the granting of such visas.  This should apply towards a spouse visa, a non-custodial parent of a Japanese child visa, or permanent residency for any parent of a Japanese child.
   

2. •Amend immigration laws so that a non-married or non-custodial foreign parent of a Japanese child qualifies for a long-term residency visa permitting employment. In particular, sustaining the non-Japanese parent and living in the same country as his or her Japanese child should be an acceptable reason to grant a long term residency visa, even if that parent is not the custodial parent.
   

3. •Amend immigration laws so that a non-married or non-custodial foreign parent of a Japanese child qualifies for permanent residency under the same accelerated time frame and favorable conditions as the spouse of a Japanese citizen.
   

4. •Barring documented national security concerns, immigration regulations should explicitly permit a non-custodial parent to enter Japan to get a visa to attend court proceedings regarding his or her child.
   

5. •Barring documented national security concerns, immigration regulations should explicitly permit a non-custodial parent to enter Japan to get a visa to visit his or her child several times per year.
   

Documented Cases

1. •Mother and child, abused during pregnancy and after by Japanese father, avoid Japanese family law by leaving Japan.
   

2. •One case in 2005 is known where a mother being severely abused by the Japanese husband and father escaped to the UK in order to avoid losing her residency visa and children.  We have lost contact with her, but have a report that she is doing well.
   

3. •<<Add CJFF cases>>
   

Essays

1. •Summary of various legal ages in Japan.
   

2. •The following information appeared in the Living section of the Asahi Shimbun (morning edition) on May 7, 2004. (Seikatsu column 朝日新聞5月7日朝刊『生活』欄)
   

1. ◦CCW;Consultant for Foreign Nationality Women (Yokohama) : 045-914-7008
   

2. ◦女のスペース・おん (Hokkaido): 011-622-7240
   

3. ◦女性の家　HELP (Tokyo): 03-3368-8855
   

4. ◦カパティラン (Tokyo): 03-3432-3055
   

5. ◦カラカサン (Kawasaki): 044-580-4675
   

6. ◦かけこみ女性センター　あいち(Aichi): 052-853-4479
   

7. ◦アジア女 性センター (Fukuoka): 092-513-7333
   

3. •The United States Country Report on Human Rights for Japan reports the following on child abuse in Japan, based on Japanese Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare statistics, showing that child abuse seems to be getting worse since the Child Abuse Prevention Law was enacted in 2000.
   

1. ◦From 2000, when the Child Abuse Prevention Law was enacted, through June 2003, 127 children died as a result of child abuse. [That's about 32 per year.] In 2004, 51 children died after being abused, according to the NPA.  In 2003 there were 23,738 cases of child abuse, according to the Cabinet Office. In 2004 there were a record 26,569 cases, according to MHLW. Approximately 50 percent of the cases involved violence, and 40 percent were cases of parental neglect. Child welfare centers reported a record 26,573 calls in 2003, an increase of 2,800 calls from the previous year.
   

4. •The United States Country Report on Human Rights for Japan reports the following on spouse abuse in Japan, based on Japanese Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare statistics.  Comparing the information from the 2005 report (2004 data) and the 2004 report (2003 data) shows that since the Law for the Prevention of Spousal Violence and the Protection of Victims was revised in May 2004, cases of alleged spousal abuse rose 13.5 percent.
   

1. ◦2004 report (cached copy). Violence against women, particularly domestic violence, often went unreported due to social and cultural concerns about shaming one's family or endangering the reputation of one's spouse or children. Consequently, NPA statistics on violence against women probably understated the magnitude of the problem. According to NPA statistics, there were 12,568 cases of alleged domestic violence and 1,499 restraining orders issued in 2003. Police took action in 41 cases in which court orders were violated. Between April and September, the 120 prefectural consultation centers received 24,818 cases of domestic violence consultations. Of the total 103,986 consultations since fiscal 2002, 99.6 percent were for women....The revision to the Law for the Prevention of Spousal Violence and the Protection of Victims passed in May expanded the definition of spousal violence to include mental, sexual, and physical abuse and increased the length of restraining orders from 2 weeks to 2 months.
   

2. ◦2005 report (cached copy).  Domestic violence often went unreported due to social and cultural concerns about shaming one's family or endangering the reputation of one's spouse or children. Consequently, NPA statistics on violence against women most likely understated the magnitude of the problem. According to the Cabinet Office, 42 percent of women abused by their spouses did not report it. Spousal violence consultation assistance centers nationwide received 49,329 consultations in 2004, of which 49,107 were from women. According to NPA statistics, there were 14,264 cases of alleged domestic violence in 2004. Police were quick to respond to cases when reported. They taught victims how to protect themselves and educated them on how to file restraining orders. In 2004 courts issued 4,436 restraining orders in a total of 5,505 cases filed.
   

5. •The Lawyer's Law and the Prevention of Child Abuse Law - a useful combination? (TBW)
   

External Resources

Also see the pages on Lawyers and Legal Organizations In Japan, Human Rights Organizations in Japan and Women's and Men's Groups In Japan for further information.

1. •Activists Want Foreign Spouse Abuse Acknowledged; Inter Press Service; October 7, 2004; "While domestic violence is now accepted as a major issue in the country, activists are working hard to draw attention to abused foreign spouses who they say suffer just as much as their Japanese counterparts." (cached copy)
   

2. •Child Abuse: Present Situation and Countermeasures in Japan; Japanese Women Now.  (日本語版) A slightly old but reasonable introduction to the problem in Japan.  Acknowledges that part of the problem is that Japanese do not believe that both parents should take care of a child. (cached copy English) (cached copy日本語版)
   

3. •Parental Child Abduction is Child Abuse by Nancy Faulkner, Ph.D Presented to the United Nations Convention on Child Rights in Special Session, June 9, 1999.
   

4. •Spouse Abuse Counseling Center Overview.  Not much info yet as this government affiliated site is in Japanese.  But there is a list of local Spouse Abuse Counseling centers all over Japan.
   

5. •Child Abuse prevention Network, Aichi (Japanese).  (English) - Non-Profit Organization for preventing Child Abuse Prevention Network Aichi.  They also have a hotline.
   

6. •ChildHelp USA - In 1959, two young Hollywood actresses' casual stroll in Japan became a life-changing decision when they were faced with a group of abandoned children: Let them die on the streets or help them.  They chose to help.  And years later, Sara O'Meara and Yvonne Fedderson would orchestrate the rescue of thousands of children from Vietnam and create Childhelp USA, which now serves 400,000 abused and neglected children annually; The Paradise Valley women, both 70, were recently nominated for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize. Given their connection to Japan, perhaps they would help.
   

Media Coverage of Child Abuse in Japan

These articles are intended to illustrate child abuse occurring in Japan with two purposes in mind.  First, we want to correct the perception that Japan has less child abuse than other countries, or perhaps less severe abuse.  Therefore we are willing to cover any reported incident of child abuse, child murder, etc, by a Japanese parent.  We also hope to illustrate that child abuse is more likely to occur in one of the following situations::

1. •When one natural parent appears to not be part of the abused child's life.
   

2. •When one natural parent appears to have not been having frequent and meaningful contact with the child.
   

3. •When the abuser/murderer is not the natural parent.
   

4. •When a foreign parent is under visa related pressure.
   

(EJ) means the article is available in both English and Japanese. 

2007

1. •Mother and common-law husband arrested for abuse to boy; (J) March 6, 2007; From around 3 in the morning for about an hour the 12-year-old boy was made to take off his pants (underwear?) and stand while he was beaten or thrown down on the tatami. Bruises to the boy's torso, arms and legs will take around 2 weeks to heal.
   

2. •Dad fractures both legs of 1-month-old baby girl; (J) March 2, 2007; At hospital the man reported that the toddler's injuries had come about because his eldest daughter had been rough with the child. Because there were also marks to the baby's face congruent with abuse the hospital reported the incident to the police. According to the investigation, some time in mid-February the man had pushed down hard on the child's lower body causing the fractures, although it wasn't until Feb. 28 that an ambulance was called. The man's wife and mother in-law said they did not see the incident, nor did they notice the baby was suffering even though the 5 of them lived together.
   

3. •Large disparity seen between regions in number of children at junvenile protection facilities; (J) March 2, 2007; With the proliferation in child abuse cases there has been a large increase in children being admitted to welfare facilities.
   

4. •Update: Stepmum gets 2½-year prison term for abuse of 3 daughters; (EJ) February 28, 2007; The woman forced her 9-year-old stepdaughter to eat rubbish off the floor and beat all 3 girls on a daily basis. (Update in Japanese only.)
   

5. •Politicians aiming to revise anti-child abuse law; (J) February 28, 2007; Under consideration is a plan to increase the maximum fine from ¥300,000 yen to ¥500,000 for families who refuse child welfare authorities entry to a house during an investigation.
   

6. •Mother, baby killed by train in Tokyo in murder-suicide; (EJ) February 25, 2007; The Japanese media report that after leaving her house with the child the woman phoned her husband saying she planned to kill herself. The couple had been quarreling some hours before the incident.
   

7. •Woman kills parents, 5-year-old son in arson attack; (EJ) February 25, 2007; The 26-year-old woman was divorced and living with her parents and son.
   

8. •Update: Govt approves 1st baby hatch / Critics fear decision may encourage parents to abandon newborns; (EJ) February 24, 2007; Views are split over the hospital's plan to set up the baby hatch. Some praised the idea, saying the hatch would save lives that would otherwise be lost, while others were critical, saying it might encourage people to abandon newborns.
   

9. •Corpse of toddler left in closet, mum admits 'I let him die'; (J) February 20, 2007; In October last year the woman deserted her 19-month-old son at her house and moved to a different address to live with her boyfriend. In December she returned to her residence to find the corpse of the boy. She placed the body in a cardboard box and transported it to her boyfriend's place where she hid it in a closet. The case came to light this month after a child consultation centre contacted the police. The child's decayed remains showed no sign of external injuries and it appears the boy died of starvation. The suspect was arrested for abandonment of a body although further charges are likely.
   

10. •Manager of family court facility held for molesting teenager; (J) February 20, 2007; The 17-year-old girl was in the temporary care of the Saitama family court when the man allegedly molested her. He was arrested on suspicion of violating the child welfare law.
    

11. •Man arrested for beating live-in girlfriend's daughter; (J) February 20, 2007; The 3-year-old girl suffered heavy bruising after the man struck her in the head and face numerous times. The child is currently in temporary protective custody.
    

12. •Mother, 2 toddlers drown after car plunges into harbour; (J) February 19, 2007; Because of evidence at the scene of the accident it is reported that "forced suicide" is the most likely cause of the crash. The two children were aged 4 and 1.
    

13. •Update: Woman faces charges over death of son in fire at home while she was snowboarding; (EJ) February 19, 2007.
    

14. •Abandoned baby discovered outside hospital in Chiba Prefecture; (J) February 17, 2007.
    

15. •Fatal child abuse cases prompt welfare worker increase; (EJ) February 15, 2007; The move calls for an additional 130 child welfare officials across the country, the largest single staff increase the government has ever made at child consultation centers, and tax grants to local governments will be increased to cover the extra personnel costs.
    

16. •Child abuse set records for cases, victims in '06; (EJ) February 15, 2007; Two-thirds of the cases investigated in 2006, or 199, were for physical abuse, up 28 percent, while 75 cases were for sexual abuse, up 36 percent. The number of cases of child neglect doubled to 23. The NPA identified mothers as the largest group of abusers, at 29 percent, followed by a breakdown of male perpetrators into natural fathers, in second place, stepfathers, in third, and the mother's common-law husband in fourth. Fifty-nine children died of abuse. Of those 59, the number of kids killed outright, and not from neglect, more than doubled to 36 from 16 in the previous year.
    

17. •Summons, forcible entry examined as measures to prevent child abuse; (EJ) February 15, 2007; Child welfare centers conducted on-site inspections in 207 cases in fiscal 2005, according to the welfare ministry. In 20 cases, officials encountered difficulty conducting their inspections.
    

18. •3-year-old girl scalded with hot water, mother's boyfriend arrested; (J) February 15, 2007; The toddler received burns to her face and chest.
    

19. •2-year-old girl in serious condition, mother arrested for assault; (J) February 12, 2007; Suspecting abuse, the hospital reported the child's condition to the police. The girl had head injuries and was covered in bruises.
    

20. •Family poisoned in possible group suicide attempt; (EJ) February 12, 2007; A 47-year-old farmer, his wife and their 3 teenage children became ill after inhaling carbon monoxide fumes emitted by a briquette burner. The man's 78-year-old mother discovered the five.
    

21. •Elderly couple busted for confining, starving daughter to death; (EJ) February 12, 2007; "We confined her because she had repeatedly escaped from home. We feared that she would escape again if she got well," one of them was quoted as telling investigators. Their daughter was 40 years old.
    

22. •Man arrested for violence to 4-year-old son; (J) February 9, 2007; It is expected to take more than a month for the boy to recover from his head and face injuries.
    

23. •Murder-suicide suspected after woman, 5-year-old daughter apparently leap to their deaths; (J) February 8, 2007; A person from a neighbouring building discovered the mother and daughter lying near the base of their apartment block.
    

24. •Mother, 4-month-old boy and grandmother found dead in apparent murder-suicide; (J) February 6, 2007; It is suspected that the 28-year-old woman hanged herself after strangling her mother and stabbing her son. There was no sign of forced entry into the apartment.
    

25. •Update: Man sentenced to 20-year prison term for killing wife, child; (J) February 6, 2007.
    

26. •Update: Man gets suspended sentence for abusing son of female living companion; (EJ) February 5, 2007; Prosecutors pointed out that Matsui had also made the boy sleep on a shelf above a kennel and made him use a toilet at a train station instead of the one in his home.
    

27. •Hiroshima woman kills 2-year-old granddaughter, self in murder-suicide; (J) February 4, 2007; The 22-year-old mother, who was absent at the time of the incident, divorced last year and was living with her mother and daughter.
    

28. •Nagoya: Woman gets 14-month prison term for assault on sons, aged 6 and 3; (J) February 2, 2007; Her boyfriend/accomplice was also convicted but is appealing his 14-month sentence.
    

29. •Murder suspect: I stabbed dolls, not children; (EJ) February 2, 2007; According to police reports, Zheng stabbed each child about 20 times and left them in an area filled with rice paddies. She was arrested about 50 kilometers southwest of the spot where the children were found. In their opening statements, prosecutors said Zheng knew right from wrong, and that she killed the children because she was obsessed with the idea that her daughter was being bullied at the kindergarten. The defense team on Friday pointed out that Zheng started receiving psychiatric treatment in September 2003 and was later diagnosed as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.
    

30. •Man arrested for assault, death of common-law wife's 4-year-old son in 2000; (J) January 31, 2007; Based on the circumstances of the case the police decided to arrest him before the statute of limitations was up.
    

31. •Sapporo: Woman gets 5 years in prison for beating 2-year-old daughter to death; (J) January 30, 2007; The toddler died from head injuries 2 weeks after the attack in August 2006. The mother had repeatedly hit the girl and deprived her of food since December 2005 so that the toddler's weight had dropped to 6 kilos by the time of her death.
    

32. •Ibaraki: Woman sentenced to 5-year prison term for fatal beating of 3-year-old son; (J) January 29, 2007; The child died from head injuries 4 days after the assault on February 7, 2005.
    

33. •Withholding care killed two kids; (E) January 28, 2007; The ministry conducted a survey in June covering around 190 child consultation centers throughout Japan. The two deaths were among around 80 cases of children being denied medical treatment in the "past five years or so" covered by the survey. While courts in the United States have presided over cases of so-called "medical neglect" by deciding whether children should get medical treatment over their parents' say, Japan has lagged with few if any policies in place.
    

34. •10-year-old girl dies after being tied up and locked in shed by father; (EJ) January 27, 2007.
    

35. •Update: Couple jailed over fatally starving 3-year-old boy; (EJ) January 26, 2007; A man and his common-law wife of Nagaokakyo, Kyoto Prefecture, were sentenced Friday to 5-1/2 years and six years in prison, respectively, for fatally starving the man's 3-year-old son, court officials said.
    

36. •Permanent organizations planned to examine fatal child abuse cases; (EJ) January 24, 2007; The new oversight organizations will consist of outside individuals, such as medical and education experts, and will mainly deal with fatal cases. They will also examine serious cases of abuse in which the children survived, suicides in which child consultation center officials did not see any warning signs, and cases in which children are neglected or newborns abandoned.
    

37. •Childcare facilities across Japan complain of overcrowding; (EJ) January 23, 2007; Four children taken into facilities in Tokyo at the end of last year included a junior high school girl who was being abused by her father, who suffered from a mental disorder; and an elementary school boy who was not being given enough food at home. In each of the cases the facilities they were sent to were already running at their designated capacities, but the children were accepted on the basis that refusing them could affect their studies.
    

38. •Newborn baby girl abandoned outside Nara hospital; (J) January 23, 2007; A passerby noticed the baby around 10:50pm on Sunday evening. The child's umbilical cord was still attached and the outside temperature was around 5˚C.
    

39. •3-year-old girl burnt with cigarettes, parents arrested; (J) January 22, 2007
    

40. •Revised guidelines to toughen measures against child abuse; (EJ) January 19, 2007; Following a string of failures to save children from their abusive parents, child consultation centers will confirm a child's safety within 48 hours after they receive reports of suspected abuse, sources said.
    

41. •Man strangles former girlfriend and 3-month-old daughter to death; (EJ) January 18, 2007.
    

42. •Mother arrested for abandoning newborn baby girl outside Kumamoto maternity clinic; (J) January 17, 2007.
    

43. •Mom apparently stabs 2 sons to death before turning knife on herself; (EJ) January 16, 2007; Paramedics found the 5-year-old and 3-year-old sons dead, both bleeding from the stomach. Sasaki was also bleeding from the neck. She was taken to hospital.
    

44. •Woman, 22, confesses to dumping newborn baby at Fukuoka garbage disposal site; (EJ) January 15, 2007.
    

45. •Hokkaido man arrested, burns 8-month-old daughter's face with hot water; (J) January 13, 2007.
    

46. •Care centers treading too carefully in child abuse?; (E) January 10, 2007; "Child welfare centers are not fulfilling their roles, despite the fact they have jurisdiction and authority to conduct house visits and take children into protective custody," Sakai said. "Unless we work in cooperation with schools and hospitals and related facilities, we cannot prevent children dying from abuse and neglect."
    

47. •Man arrested for stabbing 7-year-old daughter; (EJ) January 8, 2007; Kinjo and his wife fled after leaving the injured girl in the care of a junior high school student who was standing near the hospital entrance.
    

48. •Stricter child abuse law eyed; (EJ) January 7, 2007; The revision aims to introduce a new procedure under which prefectural governors can summon parents suspected of abusing children and officials at child consultation centers can forcibly enter houses for inspections if the parents refuse the summons. In fiscal 2005, child consultation centers handled 34,472 cases of child abuse, double that of fiscal 2000. Police intervention in abuse cases in the first half of 2006 numbered 120, a record high for a six-month period.
    

49. •Child abuse: 231 children died as a result of abuse in a 5-year period ending 2005; (J) January 5, 2007; The article reports that parents abandoning their children-rearing responsibilities has become a serious problem and that the government is looking to amend the current anti-child abuse law. Currently it is only in exceptional cases that the police and child welfare authorities will forcibly enter a house where child abuse is suspected if the parents refuse to cooperate in an investigation.
    

50. •Police investigate day-care center after baby chokes to death; (EJ) January 5, 2007; The day-care center, which was located in an apartment in Tokyo's Adachi-ku but has since been shut down, hired no qualified nurses and didn't register itself with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
    

51. •Yokohama: mother arrested for fatally strangling 2-year-old son, later fails in suicide attempt; (J) January 4, 2007.
    

52. •Woman kills self and her month-old twins in murder-suicide; (J) January 4, 2007; According to the investigation the woman burned charcoal in the toilet until the 3 collapsed due to carbon monoxide poisoning.
    

53. •Jobless woman busted for abusing son who died suspiciously; (EJ) January 4, 2007; By the time paramedics arrived, his heart and lungs had stopped functioning even though he had no external injuries. He was drenched and red pepper powder was found in his mouth.
    

54. •Himeji man held for beating 8-year-old son, causing serious injuries; (J) January 3, 2007.
    

55. •Woman slashes baby daughter, arrested for attempted murder; (EJ) January 2, 2007; When officers arrived, the victim's mother screamed, "I killed my child." She was arrested for attempted murder. The woman has a history of mental instability, local police said.
    

56. •Woman gasses herself, 2 daughters to death in Fukushima; (EJ) January 1, 2007; An acquaintance found Kyoko Kondo, 37, and her daughters, 11-year-old Maya and 9-year-old Yuka, dead in a car parked at the Bobata Lakeside Center recreational facility in Ishikawa, local police said.
    

2006

1. •Home alone 2-year-old dies in fire as mother abandons him for a day to go snowboarding; (EJ) December 31, 2006; According to the Japanese media the woman was separated from her husband and lived alone with her son.
   

2. •Gifu firms warned on Brazilian child labor; (E) December 30, 2006; The discovery highlights a serious problem: An increasing number of immigrants in Japan are sending their kids to work, rather than school, due to language problems and economic hardship.
   

3. •Kanagawa: bodies of mother and her 2 children found in burnt-out shed in apparent murder-suicide; (J) December 28, 2006.
   

4. •5-year-old boy dies, older brother survives after being throttled by father; (EJ) December 28, 2006.
   

5. •Ex-child center worker handed 4-year prison term for molesting girls; (EJ) December 26, 2006; Mori fondled the bodies of several girls aged 6 to 10 who were asleep at the facility where he worked between March 2005 and March 2006.
   

6. •Drunken dad knocks infant into coma with stomach punches; (EJ) December 25, 2006; "I hit him because I was angry when he wouldn't stop crying," Kubo was quoted as saying. Update: (J) The child died on January 3, 2007.
   

7. •Newborn baby left at Gifu supermarket; (EJ) December 24, 2006; The baby boy, still with its umbilical cord and wrapped in a brown blanket, was on the staircase on the fourth floor of a Jusco supermarket when a shopper found him.
   

8. •Brazilian man put on wanted list after Shizuoka murder of woman, sons; (EJ) December 23, 2006; The suspect once lived with the Brazilian woman and her family at their home. "A man who didn't belong to the family had often come to the room and I heard what sounded like an argument," said one of the woman's neighbors. The woman and her two sons lived together while her Japanese-Brazilian husband lives elsewhere in the prefecture.
   

9. •Abusive mother arrested for cracking 18-month-old daughter's skull; (EJ) December 23, 2006; Ito hit Ayaka's head against a table and a futon mat several times since mid-December. Police are grilling her, suspecting that she also abused her 3-month-old son. Update: The abused baby girl died in a Gunma hospital on Jan, 7, 2007.
   

10. •Wife of convicted killer gets compensation over murder of her parents, son; (EJ) December 21, 2006; The murders occurred on July 31, 2002, at the home of Ujigawa's parents in Yokohama's Tsuzuki-ku, where Ujigawa was hiding from Furusawa because she couldn't stand his violent behavior. Furusawa entered the home through a window and fatally stabbed Ujigawa's 71-year-old father Masayoshi, her mother Fumiko, and her 12-year-old son, who was born to her in a separate marriage.
    

11. •Woman faces murder charges for strangling 2-year-old son; (EJ) December 20, 2006; The 39-year-old woman had been worried that her son's physical development was too slow.
    

12. •Nara: Mum stabs teenage daughter to death then hangs herself in murder-suicide; (J) December 19, 2006.
    

13. •Miyagi woman arrested for dumping newborn baby in storage shed; (EJ) December 19, 2006.
    

14. •Man arrested for assaulting 10-year-old son of live-in girlfriend; (J) December 16, 2006.
    

15. •Court orders pair to pay ¥ 70 million in damages to parents of daughter they fatally abused; (J) December 15, 2006; According to the ruling the 5-year-old's mother entrusted her friends to look after her daughter. But the girl was beaten every day and left on a balcony for more than 2 weeks.
    

16. •Update: Dad gets 10 years for starving tot to death; (EJ) December 15, 2006; Isao Shirahige, 40, and his wife, Wakako, 33, who is being tried separately, neglected to provide meals to their three children, including their son, Hiromu, 3, who died around May 28 from pneumonia triggered by severe malnourishment. In addition to the boy's death, Shirahige's second-oldest son, who is 6, suffered severe developmental problems as a result of malnourishment, while his 8-year-old daughter sustained serious arm injuries after Shirahige assaulted her with a bread knife. UPDATE: December 21; Mom sentenced to 6 years in prison for starving son to death.
    

17. •4-year prison term sought for former grade school teacher on charge of indecently assaulting a student; (J) December 15, 2006; The defendant is also accused of attempting to abduct a minor.
    

18. •Abuse suspected in death of bruised, underdeveloped 3-year-old girl; (EJ) December 15, 2006.
    

19. •Authorities abandon intervention in 20 child abuse cases in 2005; (EJ) December 13, 2006; In some cases, parents locked their doors or refused to respond to visits by welfare officials even when they were accompanied by police officers, the ministry said.
    

20. •Update: Woman gets four years in killing of 3-year-old; (EJ) December 11, 2006; The Mito District Court convicted Akiko Kikuchi of assault resulting in the death of her granddaughter, Kiseki Higuchi, who died Aug. 6 from colon necrosis after Kikuchi wrapped the girl in a blanket and tied her up with an electrical cord.
    

21. •2 boys found dead in Hokkaido; mother hospitalized; (EJ) December 11, 2006.
    

22. •Kobe: parents arrested for abandoning newborn baby; (J) December 6, 2006
    

23. •Head of mentally disabled facility arrested for fondling teenage resident; (E) December 6, 2006.
    

24. •Mother, live-in boyfriend arrested for assault of the woman's 11-year-old daughter; (J) December 5, 2006; The girl suffered serious injuries to her face and head which took a month to heal.
    

25. •Father, 2 daughters found dead in car in apparent suicide; (EJ) December 5, 2006.
    

26. •Man faces murder charges for fatally hurling baby son to floor; (EJ) December 5, 2006; At about 11 p.m. on Monday, Egi threw his son onto the floor of their home in Miyamae-ku, Kawasaki, because he would not stop crying, investigators said. The victim was rushed to hospital after he fell unconscious, and died in the predawn hours of Wednesday.
    

27. •Mie woman held over arson death of her 10-year-old son; (EJ) December 5, 2006; Ito is suspected of pouring kerosene in the second-floor room of her second son Masato, setting fire to it and killing him at around 8 a.m. on Feb 13.
    

28. •Woman arrested for abandoning her baby daughter on a path in Mishima, Shizuoka; (J) December 3, 2006.
    

29. •Update: Clergyman, church ordered to pay damages to 7 female followers over sexual abuse; (EJ) December 2, 2006; Kin was convicted of sexually violating seven girls aged between 12 and 16 in his pastor's office and other locations between March 2001 and September 2004. He faced charges for 22 attacks, including one attempted sexual assault.
    

30. •8-year prison sentence sought for woman who fatally abused her 3-year-old son; (J) November 28, 2006; The boy died from head injuries due to severe beatings.
    

31. •Update: Court case starts for parents of 2-month-old boy who died in car while they played pachinko; (EJ) November 27, 2006; The parents deny they intentionally abandoned their child even though the infant was left alone for 5 hours. Update in Japanese only.
    

32. •Couple arrested for physically abusing and seriously injuring the woman’s 5-year-old daughter; (EJ) November 29, 2006.
    

33. •Update: Woman faces 15 years behind bars for trying to starve son to death; (EJ) November 28, 2006; Prosecutors have demanded a 15-year prison term for a woman accused of abusing her son until he nearly starved to death. Kawaguchi conspired with her common-law husband to abuse her son from around June 2002 when the victim was 15 years old. The victim, now 18 years old, is still suffering from a brain disorder and cannot even stand.
    

34. •Osaka woman gets 5 years for mutilating her baby son's genitals with a razor; (EJ) November 27, 2006.
    

35. •Osaka man busted for beating up live-in girlfriend's daughter; (EJ) November 27, 2006.
    

36. •Mie man held for beating boy, forcing him to sleep on top of dog house; (EJ) November 27, 2006.
    

37. •Newborn baby dies: mother, grandparents arrested for abandonment; (J) November 27, 2006; After giving birth the baby boy was wrapped in a blanket and hidden at their house. Cause of death was determined to be suffocation. The three are also being investigated on suspicion of murder.
    

38. •Akita: 2 children die in separate cases despite authorities being aware of previous abuse; (J) November 27, 2006; The article says the child-welfare authorities knew the mothers lacked the ability to raise their children properly and that they had a history of abusing their kids.
    

39. •Man gets 25-year prison term for stabbing wife and 3-year-old son to death; (J) November 27, 2006; According to the ruling the man killed his wife and child because he was confronted with talk of a divorce. He later planned to commit suicide.
    

40. •Fukuoka man gets 16 years for indecent acts against 14 children; (EJ) November 26, 2006; Kumamoto had earlier been released from prison after serving about 10 years for abducting and killing a 7-year-old boy in Dazaifu, Fukuoka Prefecture in 1990.
    

41. •Couple arrested for abusing 14-year-old boy in Osaka; (EJ) November 25, 2006; Police arrested a 39-year-old woman and her common-law husband on suspicion of abusing her 14-year-old son. The boy told the police that he had been put on a restricted diet, adding that a dog collar was placed around his neck and that he was chained to a post whenever he was caught sneaking food.
    

42. •Two brothers aged 7 and 4 strangled to death, mother arrested; (EJ) November 24, 2006; The woman divorced 6-months ago but was receiving payments for child support.
    

43. •Gynecologist arrested for child prostitution claims he didn't know her age; (EJ) November 24, 2006; Sekiguchi paid 50,000 yen to the 15-year-old, third-year junior high school girl to have sex with him at a hotel in Saitama in August last year.
    

44. •Youths busted for extorting money from doctor over teen prostitution; (EJ) November 24, 2006; Okui is accused of handing the 17-year-old girl 10,000 yen and engaging in indecent acts with her at a hotel in Tokyo's Shinagawa-ku in September 2005.
    

45. •Anti-child abuse law failing to achieve aims; (E) November 23, 2006.
    

46. •Murder of Hiroshima schoolgirl sparks monthly children's safety day; (EJ) November 22, 2006; The Hiroshima Municipal Government has designated the 22nd day of each month a "Children's Safety Day," starting from this month, in response to the brutal murder of a 7-year-old Hiroshima girl one year ago.
    

47. •Three people die, one in serious condition in family murder-suicide; (J) November 22, 2006.
    

48. •Child prostitution: Man arrested for indecent behaviour with 2 high school girls; (J) November 21, 2006.
    

49. •Workers accused of beating children at Osaka welfare facility; (EJ) November 20, 2006.
    

50. •Body of newborn baby found abandoned in company dorm toilet; (EJ) November 20, 2006.
    

51. •Man arrested for abusing daughters aged 8 and 10; (J) November 18, 2006.
    

52. •7 and 8 year prison terms sought for mother, brother-in-law for assaulting, killing 2-year-old girl; (J) November 17, 2006.
    

53. •39-year-old Self Defence Force member held for child prostitution; (J) November 17, 2006; The man paid ¥40,000 to a 16-year-old girl for sexual services.
    

54. •Knife-wielding attacker nabbed for molesting 12-year-old girl; (EJ) November 16, 2006.
    

55. •Nara court official fined and given 6-month work suspension for molesting high school student at pool; (J) November 15, 2006.
    

56. •Baby's corpse discovered in coin locker at Kyoto train station; (J) November 15, 2006.
    

57. •Boy run down, abducted by couple in van; (EJ) November 15, 2006.
    

58. •Man arrested for burning his girlfriend's 6-year-old daughter; (J) November 14, 2006.
    

59. •High school boy threatens, molests 11-year-old girl in Tokyo; (EJ) November 14, 2006; The boy has admitted to his involvement in more than 10 similar cases, police said.
    

60. •Three men arrested on child pornography charges; (J) November 13, 2006; The men photographed and published pornographic images of a junior high school girl on the internet.
    

61. •Woman, boyfriend arrested on suspicion of murdering her 4-year-old son; (EJ) November 13, 2006; At about 4 p.m. on Oct. 23, the two suspects hit Ryosuke in the head and face in a car parked in Daisen, and covered his mouth in a bid to suffocate him, local police said. They abandoned him in an irrigation canal that was 74 centimeters deep at around 5 p.m., causing him to die, according to investigators. He was subsequently found dead in the canal. The woman had sought help from child welfare officials in 2004, saying she was emotionally unstable and feared she might hurt her child.
    

62. •UPDATE: Trial starts for man accused of abducting 2 sisters; (EJ) November 11, 2006; The latest article notes the man who abducted the children was the ex-lover of the girls' mother. The 2 sisters were living with their Japanese father and he had stopped all contact with the their mother, a Filipino. The man who abducted the kids apparently decided to take them so that they could meet their mother. (Update, Japanese only.)
    

63. •Mom, son die as car falls into sea; (EJ) November 11, 2006; Possible murder-suicide; because there were no skid marks at the site, the police said they suspect it was a suicide.
    

64. •Iwate to strengthen support for prevention of child abuse; (J) November 11, 2006; A chart shows nationwide and Iwate prefecture rates for reported numbers of abused children. According to the article child consultation centres dealt with a 25-fold increase in abuse cases between 1996 and 2005.
    

65. •Man who abducted sixth grader in Nagano faces separate charges of molesting 14-year-old girl in Tokushima Prefecture.; (EJ) November 10, 2006; UPDATE on October 24 story.
    

66. •Man busted for having sex with 13-year-old girl; (J) November 10, 2006;
    

67. •Boyfriend arrested for repeated violence to live-in lover's 6-year-old son; (J) November 10, 2006;
    

68. •Salaryman held for selling obscene images of kindergarten and primary school children over the internet; (J) November 10, 2006;
    

69. •Woman drowns 2-year-old daughter, arrested on suspicion of murder; (J) November 10, 2006;
    

70. •Update: Infant with burn injuries taken from hospital, prosecution seeks one year prison term for couple; (J) November 10, 2006; An update from August 2. The 9-month-old child was hospitalized last year because of severe burns from boiling water and other injuries. In March the child's parents and other family members forced their way into the hospital and took their son after failing in repeated requests to have him released.
    

71. •Hospital to set up a "baby box" for unwanted infants; (EJ) November 9, 2006; The statistics also show that as of February 2003, 63 babies placed in the custody of infants homes in Japan had been left abandoned outdoors and in other areas with no clues to the identities of their parents.
    

72. •Former teacher rearrested on suspicion of raping junior high school student in August; (J) November 8, 2006; In what appeared to be personal details of female victims, thousands of names, addresses and photos were found in notebooks at the suspect's house. Okamoto has confessed to carrying out 40 offences in 13 different prefectures. He was first arrested and dismissed from his teaching position in 1998 for molesting a student.
    

73. •Apartment caretaker arrested for molesting elementary school girl; (EJ) November 8, 2006.
    

74. •18-year-old youth busted for abusing his 5-month-old son; (EJ) November 8, 2006; The victim suffered a brain hemorrhage and remains unconscious.
    

75. •Two adults, 3 girls die in suspected murder-suicide; (EJ) November 8, 2006; Police believe the man and woman were in their 30s and the girls were aged 10 years or younger. A charcoal stove was found inside the car, suggesting the five died in a family suicide pact.
    

76. •Woman held for abduction after taking 6-year-old girl in Tokyo; (J) November 8, 2006
    

77. •Recidivism rate of sex crimes against children younger than 13 exceeds 20%; (EJ) November 8, 2006; Of the 1,534 inmates surveyed, 218 committed their crimes on children under 13 years of age, with 34.9 percent of those being repeat offenders. Those who committed sexual offences while still minors was 6.9 percent of the overall inmates surveyed. But the ratio was higher at 13.3 percent among those who committed their crimes on children under 13 years of age.
    

78. •Plasterer nabbed for abusing stepson; (EJ) November 7, 2006; Sugioka abused the stepson for about an hour, kicking the victim and hurling him against the floor, according to investigators.
    

79. •Asahi Shimbun deliveryman arrested for kissing 10-year-old girl; (EJ) November 7, 2006; "I was involved in about 30 similar incidents that have occurred over the past few years," he was quoted as telling investigators. "I wanted to kiss pretty girls."
    

80. •Man charged over attempted murder of girlfriend's 8-month-old baby; (J) November 7, 2006; The child suffered serious injuries after the man beat the toddler's head against the floor. The mother has also been indicted.
    

81. •Man arrested after kicking 6-year-old son, rupturing his liver; (J) November 7, 2006; The man kicked his son several times to discipline the child when he spilt his lunch.
    

82. •Sapporo court sentences man to 12 years in prison for repeated rape of daughter; (J) November 7, 2006; The man's sexual assaults against his daughter started when she was 9-years-old. Unable to bear the violence anymore the girl ran away from home in March and reported her father to the police.
    

83. •Woman in Hiroshima Prefecture strangles her two sons to death; (J) November 6, 2006; The children were 5 and 3 years of age.
    

84. •Man arrested on charges of indecent assault after invading homes to molest young girls; (J) November 6, 2006; Posing as a gas inspection man and using a knife to threaten the victims the suspect carried out the attacks over a one year period from summer 2005. In his deposition he admitted to targeting and carrying out 20 attacks on girls of primary school age.
    

85. •Ex-cop's 20-year sentence upheld for abducting, molesting 5 school girls; (EJ) November 6, 2006; Tomita abducted five girls aged 7 to 10 in Fukuoka and Saga prefectures between May 2001 and February 2004, and molested them in his car before fleeing.
    

86. •Dad arrested for abuse of his 5-month-old son; (J) November 4, 2006; The father, a 22-year-old university student, flung his son against a futon dozens of times. The boy survived but suffered internal injuries that took 3 months to heal.
    

87. •Almost 30 percent of children admitted to homes have history of child abuse; (EJ) November 4, 2006; In fiscal 2005, 3,209 infants aged up to 3 years were admitted to these homes. Of them, 926, or 28.9 percent, were admitted to the facilities because they were subjected to child abuse at their homes, compared with 27.5 percent the previous year.
    

88. •Criminal charges likely in pool death; (EJ) November 4, 2006; Police plan to seek criminal charges against six or so individuals in connection with the death in July of a 7-year-old girl who was sucked into a water intake pipe at a swimming pool.
    

89. •High school teacher arrested for groping teen on bus; (J) November 3, 2006.
    

90. •Mum arrested after fatally strangling her 4-month-old daughter; (J) November 2, 2006; Emergency services were alerted after she called to say she'd killed her child. The mother also required treatment for self-inflicted wounds.
    

91. •4-year prison term sought for man who abducted and indecently assaulted two 7-year-old girls; (J) November 2, 2006;
    

92. •98 reported cases of abuse in Tokushima for the first half of 2006; (J) November 2, 2006; The main abusers were biological mothers in 70 cases, biological fathers in 19 cases and non-biological fathers in 5 cases.
    

93. •Man handed life sentence for attacking ex-girlfriend, fatally stabbing her 4-year-old daughter; (EJ) November 2, 2006.
    

94. •Student busted for molesting 14-year-old girl after blackmailing her over nude photo; (EJ) November 1, 2006.
    

95. •Man arrested for choking disabled daughter; (EJ) November 1, 2006.
    

96. •Man fails in attempt to abduct teen after trying to force her into his car outside school; (J) November 1, 2006.
    

97. •Man held on suspicion of abducting 13-year-old girl; (J) October 31, 2006; The 41-year-old man took the girl from Okinawa to Osaka and kept her for a week after getting to know her through an internet dating site.
    

98. •Man gets 15-year prison term for fatally abusing girlfriend's 2 children in 1999; (J) October 31, 2006; The mother with whom he was living got a 12-year sentence for complicity in the murders of her 6-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter.
    

99. •Record number of child-abuse reports, consultations in fiscal 2005; (EJ) October 31, 2006; Local governments received reports about suspected child abuse and requests for consultations with guardians 38,183 times in fiscal 2005. But officials in about 80 percent of the municipal and other local governments cited inadequacies in providing professional consultations to prevent the abuse of children, the government survey showed.
    

100. •Man arrested for beating 7-year-old son, 5-year-old daughter;　(EJ) October 30, 2006; The children were living with their father who was divorced although the children's mother was still involved in her their lives. She alerted the police after calling her ex-husband and hearing the children crying in the background. (Note: The non-custodial parent having post-divorce contact probably saved the children from further abuse.)
     

101. •Loose laws leave adoption trade vulnerable to sexual predators;　(E) October 30, 2006; Unwanted Japanese babies are being sold for huge prices to rich foreigners and, thanks to a lack of laws, possibly even paedophiles, according to Josei Jishin (11/7-14)
     

102. •Man beats and seriously injures 3-year-old son of wife's friend;　(J) October 29, 2006; The Japanese report says that because of family court mediation the mother and her son were living together with a friend and her husband.
     

103. •Woman arrested for attempted murder of her 1-year-old son;　(J) October 28, 2006; The woman called the police to report she'd killed her child. When the police arrived they found the child floating in a bathtub but still alive. The mother and son were living with her parents. UPDATE: October 31; the child died at hospital on Oct. 30th.
     

104. •Man arrested for beating his 8-year-old son around face and head;　(J) October 28, 2006; Because he was thin and unhealthy the boy's elementary school had previously contacted the childcare authorities in June after it was suspected the child was being neglected.
     

105. •Man rams his car into a group of primary school children and attacked passers-by with a hatchet;　(EJ) October 27, 2006; Two of the children were injured, one seriously. An office worker also suffered a cut to his head as he attempted to overpower the man.
     

106. •NPA investigation: report on internet child pornography and other cyber-crime nationwide;　(J) October 27, 2006.
     

107. •Youth who killed step-mom, siblings in arson attack sent to reformatory;　(EJ) October 26, 2006; Update on June 22nd case: A youth with a development disorder who set fire to his family home, killing his mother, brother and sister, was ordered into the custody of a juvenile reformatory in a ruling at the Nara Family Court. The court's decision said the teen had been subjected to severe violence from his father from a young age. In earlier stories the Japanese media reported that his parents divorced when he was young and he was forcefully separated from his real mother and sister at the family court. His mother didn't give up and sometimes met the boy in secret meetings, although she had to stop when her ex-husband found out. Blame for this tragedy should also be placed on the Japanese family court and the sole custody laws.
     

108. •Japan cited as child porn host in British report;　(E) October 25, 2006.
     

109. •Reported cases of child abuse up in Hiroshima and Chiba prefectures;　(J) October 24, 2006.
     

110. •Girl, 12, found safe after missing for 4 days; man arrested on charges of abducting a minor;　(EJ) October 24, 2006.
     

111. •Two children aged 5 and 6 severely beaten, father and grandmother arrested on assault charges;　(J) October 23, 2006.
     

112. •Woman disappears after giving birth to baby boy at Sapporo hospital;　(EJ) October 23, 2006; Local police are searching for the woman, believed to be in her 20s, on suspicion of abandoning her child.
     

113. •Former editor arrested for violating the child pornography law;　(J) October 23, 2006; The magazine took images from a DVD with indecent recordings of elementary and junior high school girls and reprinted them in it's November issue last year.
     

114. •Parents overruled by court on surgery for baby;　(EJ) October 22, 2006; A family court ordered an operation on a newborn baby with a brain illness despite the parents' objection after a hospital filed a child neglect report against them.
     

115. •Couple arrested over starvation death of 3-year-old son;　(EJ) October 22, 2006; The father and his common-law wife 'disciplined' the boy, Takumu, by feeding him a bowl of cornflakes only once every 4 or 5 days. The woman was quoted by police as saying, "I did it to discipline him because he was still in diapers even though he was 3 years old." She also admitted to having hit the boy since mid-September. Some residents near the house said they'd sometimes heard the boy crying for food since last year. Takumu's 6-year-old sister was taken into protective custody in March after it was confirmed that the couple had abused and neglected her too. She had bruises on her body and was found by a neighbour roaming outside their home after midnight.
     

116. •Fukushima city official fired after it was found he had sex with teenage girl;　(J) October 21, 2006.
     

117. •No punishment given to teen accused of trying to abduct 6-year-old girl;　(EJ) October 20, 2006.
     

118. •Common-law wife and her teenage son murder husband, dump his body in a vacant lot;　(J) October 19, 2006.
     

119. •63-year-old man arrested for abduction of a minor; (J) October 19, 2006; The man took the 6-year-old girl and kept her at his house overnight.
     

120. •A series of attempted kidnappings of young girls in Tokyo lead police to issue warnings; (EJ) October 19, 2006.
     

121. •Worker at children's home busted for molesting high school girl; (EJ) October 18, 2006.
     

122. •Woman arrested for making 9-year-old stepdaughter eat rubbish off floor; (EJ) October 17, 2006; Noriko Takemura, 36, allegedly beat the girl and her two other step daughters on a daily basis while her husband, the biological father of the three, was out.
     

123. •Mie Prefecture: Increase of 54% in child abuse cases reported between 2000 and 2005; (J) October 17, 2006.
     

124. •Mother strangles her 2 children to death, then commits suicide; (J) October 16, 2006.
     

125. •Eight month-old baby in serious condition after assault by mother's boyfriend; (J) October 16, 2006.
     

126. •Aichi man sentenced to life in prison for killing 6 relatives; (EJ) October 16, 2006; Two of the victims were children aged 11 and 9.
     

127. •Dramatic rise in number of children murdering or attempting to murder their parents; (EJ) October 14, 2006; The article reports that the number of cases shot up sharply last year (17 cases) from the average 3 ~ 10 cases in any given year before 2005. This year shows signs of equalling or topping last year's troubling figures.
     

128. •Girl sues for 5.6 million yen after stop by aggressive cop causes PTSD; (EJ) October 14, 2006.
     

129. •Court trial starts for couple accused of fatally abusing their 2-year-old daughter; (EJ) October 13; The child's mother and stepfather repeatedly abused Yuna from mid-June to July 5 by scalding her with hot water and beating her. (Update in Japanese only.)
     

130. •Mother given 12-year prison term for starving 19-year-old son to death; (EJ) October 12, 2006.
     

131. •Teenage girl forced to have sex with 300 men within 8-month period; (EJ) October 12, 2006.
     

132. •Dad arrested for assault after beating 9-year-old daughter; (J) October 12, 2006.
     

133. •Ex-reporter, accomplice convicted of gang raping 17-year-old girl; (EJ) October 11, 2006.
     

134. •Man commits suicide after killing his two children; (EJ) October 10, 2006.
     

135. •Daughter, husband, mom-in-law found stabbed to death at home with nails in heads; (EJ) October 6, 2006; An apparent suicide note was also found at the home. It was signed by the husband's 45-year-old wife, who had been treated for a mental illness. She was later found dead in a river not far from the family's house.
     

136. •Parents get suspended sentence over fatal abuse of 6-year-old daughter in December, 2003; (J) October 6, 2006.
     

137. •Takamatsu City plans countermeasures to prevent recurrence of abuse cases like that of a 3-year-old who was starved to death in February this year; (J) October 5, 2006; It's noted that last year Kagawa prefectural child-abuse centres dealt with 400 cases (compared to 22 cases in 1995). Of these the main abusers were found to be: mothers in 272 cases, fathers in 84 cases, and stepfathers in 26 cases. Between April and June of this year 148 cases were reported. This number exceeded by one third the number of cases reported during the same period last year.
     

138. •Buddhist priest busted for child prostitution; (EJ) October 5, 2006.
     

139. •Gynaecologist in court; accused of committing indecent acts on teenage girls during visits to clinic; (J) October 4, 2006.
     

140. •197 reported cases of child abuse in Yamaguchi Prefecture last year; continual rise in cases each year; (J) October 4, 2006.
     

141. •Mum fatally abuses 10-month-old daughter; (J) September 30, 2006; The mother was irritated at her daughter's crying and relationship with her husband.
     

142. •Girl, 9, stabbed on way home from cram school; (EJ) September 29, 2006.
     

143. •Teen mom arrested for vicious attack on 19-day-old baby son; (EJ) September 28, 2006; In November last year authorities suspected the eldest son had been abused and placed him in a home, where he remains.
     

144. •Ex-Self Defence Force section chief arrested; pays 13-year-old girl for sex; (J) September 28, 2006.
     

145. •Man arrested for kicking his son in the face; (J) September 28, 2006; The boy required an operation for injuries sustained in the assault.
     

146. •Teen held after mother slashed in girlfriend row; (EJ) September 27, 2006.
     

147. •Couple in common-law marriage use knife to slash newborn-baby's throat, then bury him in garden; (J) September 27, 2006.
     

148. •Hokkaido man held over murder of wife, 8-year-old son; (EJ) September 27, 2006.
     

149. •Cosmetic surgeon busted for paying high school girl for sex; (EJ) September 26, 2006.
     

150. •Man arrested for strangling his wife and 8-year-old son to death; (J) September 26, 2006; According to the investigation the man had also planned to commit suicide. He apparently had a pressing debt problem.
     

151. •Police urged to check child abuse cases more actively; (EJ) September 24, 2006.
     

152. •Man arrested for fatally abusing girlfriend's 2 young daughters, mother also held for abandonment of the bodies; (EJ) September 24, 2006; After beating Seina chan (4) unconscious the couple left her while they took their dog to the vet. By this stage Hina chan (3) was already dead.
     

153. •5-year-old daughter seriously injured after abuse, mother and her live-in boyfriend arrested; (EJ) September 24, 2006.
     

154. •In Mie Prefecture a child abuse help-line set up for children aged 18 and under receives 5,740 calls in it's first year of operation; (J) September 23, 2006.
     

155. •Teenage boy handed 5~7 year prison term for attempted murder of 8-year-old girl; (EJ) September 22, 2006.
     

156. •Woman wanting divorce frames husband with drugs so she can get child custody; (EJ) September 20, 2006.
     

157. •Woman's live-in boyfriend arrested on suspicion of attempted murder of her 6 year-old-son; (J) September 20, 2006; The child sustained severe injuries in the attack and bore multiple burn marks and bruises from previous beatings.
     

158. •Local government official in Kanagawa Prefecture pays 14-year-old schoolgirl ¥ 20,000 for sex; (J) September 20, 2006; He was arrested for violating the child prostitution and pornography law.
     

159. •Man slashes 13-year-old girl with knife; (EJ) September 19, 2006; In the same area another 14-year-old junior high school girl and a 10-year-old boy were separately slashed by men earlier this year.
     

160. •Father kills teenage son then himself in murder-suicide; (J) September 18, 2006
     

161. •Child abuse deaths vary greatly by region; (E) September 17, 2006; The offenders were mothers in 177 cases and fathers in 173 cases, including cases in which both parents were charged. A remarkable number of cases perpetrated by mothers occurred when they were alone with their child. Many of the victims were infants and toddlers, suggesting the cases often were caused by mothers' stress from parenting. Among the cases caused by fathers, 45 percent were committed by common-law husbands. Many offenders cited hatred for the children as they did not feel a strong parental connection. The study found that during the 11 years, the incident rate of child abuse deaths tripled.
     

162. •Man arrested for abducting 2 young girls; (J) September 16, 2006.
     

163. •Economist convicted of being 'peeping Tom' arrested in groping case; (EJ) September 14, 2006.
     

164. •Teacher faces charges after being accused of fondling all the girls in his primary school class;(E) September 13, 2006.
     

165. •Update on Oct. 2004 story about 2 young sisters who were abducted and brutally murdered; (J) September 13, 2006. The girls' parents had divorced and they were apparently living with their mother until February 2004. At this time the father regained custody by taking the girls from a nursery school. For a while the sisters, aged 3 and 4, lived together with their father and his friend. At some point the friend began abusing the girls as bruises were noticed on the girls bodies. Although child welfare authorities were involved in the case the man managed to take the girls during a home visit and threw them to their deaths from a bridge in Tochigi prefecture. (MAIN 2004 STORY NEEDS TO BE PUT IN RIGHT PLACE. CURRENTLY UNDER 2004 TITLE.)
     

166. •Elementary school teacher busted for child prostitution; (EJ) September 13, 2006.
     

167. •Record number of violent acts reported at Japanese primary schools; (EJ) September 13, 2006; The number of reported cases of violence at primary school has been increasing for each of the last three years. The ministry said there were 464 cases of violence against teachers by schoolchildren, up 38 percent from the year before.
     

168. •Chiba cop arrested for molesting schoolgirl in public toilet; (E) September 13, 2006.
     

169. •Boy burns down home - angry with parents for picking his career path; (EJ) September 13, 2006.
     

170. •Tokyo woman held over 4-year-old son's death from malnutrition; (EJ) September 13, 2006.
     

171. •Mother strangles 14-year-old daughter following 'bullying' at school; (EJ) September 10, 2006; "My daughter had been worried about educational problems, and I wanted to put her out of her misery," law enforcers quoted her as saying. The woman had been in and out of hospital over the past five years to be treated for serious depression.
     

172. •Father in common-law marriage arrested for abduction of 4-month-old daughter ; (J) September 10, 2006. The man and the infant's mother had been living together for a year but separated at the end of August. 
     

173. •17 cases of children being left in vehicles at Pachinko parlour car parks within 5 month period; (J) September 9, 2006; To prevent heatstroke and other harm coming to children pachinko shop staff doing the rounds of car parks took action to help 27 children out of trouble between April and August this year. In 2 separate cases a 9-month-old infant in Nagano and a 2-month-old baby in Aichi succumbed to heatstroke inside cars while their parents were playing pachinko. In another case 3 children aged between 4 and 6 years old were left in a vehicle while the engine was running. One of the youngsters was found in the drivers seat playing with the steering wheel. 
     

174. •Woman attempts to kill her 2-year-old son by shoving him into a kitchen door; (EJ) September 9, 2006.
     

175. •Woman arrested for abuse of her 8-year-old daughter; (EJ) September 8, 2006.
     

176. •Three family members found dead in murder-suicide; (EJ) September 8, 2006.
     

177. •Child abduction: Grandparents claim their innocence in appeal to Supreme Court (J) September 7, 2006; Following a divorce the couple's daughter and her 2 children moved back in with them. However, in late 2001 the daughter left her parent's house along with the 2 children and went to live in Sapporo with a man who'd promised to marry her. Her parents were against this second marriage and visited her new residence. A quarrel ensued and it was at this time they took their 3-year-old granddaughter. Even after being indicted the grandparents failed to return the girl. In defence they claimed their daughter didn't carry out her parental duties and as 'acting guardians' decided to take the girl back. There is no mention in the article of the children's father.
     

178. •Woman gets 13-year prison sentence for drowning 3-year-old son in bathtub; (J) September 7, 2006; The judge pointed out that the mother selfishly thought she could live together with her boyfriend if her son were not around. She'd also twice attempted to kill the child by throwing him down a stairwell in her apartment complex.
     

179. •Parents sentenced to 4 years in prison for strangling daughter to death with electric cord; (J) September 7, 2006.
     

180. •Nurse arrested for abducting infant; (EJ) September 6, 2006; The girl was found on a park bench with serious injuries to the back of her head.
     

181. •15-year-old boy arrested for stabbing mother; (EJ) September 6, 2006.
     

182. •Boy, 13, attempts to kill his mother with baseball bat; (J) September 4, 2006.
     

183. •Boyfriend arrested for fatally abusing 10-month-old infant; (J) September 2, 2006; The infant's mother had recently met the man through a telephone dating service.
     

184. •Man arrested for abducting lover's estranged children; (EJ) September 2, 2006. The article says the parents were separated, not divorced, and does not mention whether the children's mother had anything to do with the abduction. However, from the investigation the Japanese press report that the man "thought if he abducted the girls they would be able to meet their mother."
     

185. •Prosecutors seek 15-year prison sentence for teenager who killed parents; (J) August 30, 2006.
     

186. •Trial starts for parents accused of abusing and drowning 9-month-old daughter; (EJ) August 30, 2006.  Update on July 5th story.
     

187. •Parents abuse 13-year-old daughter through beatings and cigarettes burns; (J) August 30, 2006.
     

188. •Parents in court for abandoning newborn; (J) August 30, 2006.
     

189. •Child care worker arrested on charges of molestation of young girls at nursery school; (EJ) August 29, 2006.
     

190. •Teen, 16,  offered friend ¥ 300,000 to stab his mother to death; (EJ) August 28, 2006;  The police said the case occurred in an environment in which the two teenagers lived a life largely unsupervised by adults. The 16-year-old was unhappy that his parents had divorced 4 years ago and he harboured a grudge at being forced to move from Kanagawa to his mother's home town in Hokkaido. The boy wrote in a junior high school graduation paper that he had aspirations of entering the marine self defence force just as his father had. He even ran away from home in an attempt to meet him. The parents of his 15-year-old friend divorced in April last year and his father committed suicide in February this year. The boy's mother rented a municipally owned apartment for her son and allowed him to live there alone from early August.
     

191. •Woman arrested for strangling her 4-year-old son and 4-month-old daughter to death; (EJ) August 28, 2006.
     

192. •**Daughter witnesses father's intervention before he is stabbed to death; (EJ) August 27, 2006; In a bid to prevent his wife from committing suicide the husband intervened and was killed. The Japanese media says the woman had a history of mental illness.
     

193. •13-year-old torches house, kills his stepbrother; (EJ) August 25, 2006; Similar to the June 22nd Nara story. In this case the boy set fire to the house because, "My father had been strict with me, and my (step) mother had been cold." 
     

194. •Father loses appeal after being sentenced to 10 year prison sentence for fatal assault of 1-month-old daughter; (J) August 24, 2006; Update on March 30 story.
     

195. •Mother strangles her 2-month-old daughter to death; (EJ) August 24, 2006; The woman was reportedly undergoing psychiatric treatment for neurosis.
     

196. •16-year-old boy arrested for stabbing and seriously wounding his mother; (J) August 23, 2006.
     

197. •Baby dies of heat exhaustion in car while parents play pachinko; (EJ) August 23, 2006.
     

198. •Mother fatally abuses 2-year-old daughter; (J) August 23, 2006.
     

199. •Children's home warned over nurse's sexual relationship with boy; (EJ) August 21, 2006; This was the second of two sexual misconduct cases at the foster home.
     

200. •'House of Horrors' trial begins; (EJ) August 21, 2006; Update on May 3 case.
     

201. •Newborn abandoned outside clinic - Sendai; (J) August 21, 2006.
     

202. •Newborn abandoned outside clinic - Aichi; (J) August 18, 2006.
     

203. •Baby suffocates at home. Mother living alone abandons her 4 month-old infant for 5 hours of entertainment; (J) August 17, 2006.
     

204. •Boy named 'Devil' rises up from hell after parents abandon him; (E) August 15, 2006.
     

205. •Husband and wife arrested for stabbing 'violent' daughter to death; (EJ) August 14, 2006.
     

206. •Members of child porn ring arrested; (EJ) August 13, 2006.
     

207. •Boyfriend arrested for lethal abuse of 19-month-old infant; (EJ) August 11, 2006; Update of June 2 story. 
     

208. •Teen accused of leaving newborn daughter to die in toilet; (EJ) August 10, 2006.
     

209. •Mother held after 2-year-old daughter beaten unconscious"; (EJ) August 9, 2006.
     

210. •Man gets 7 years prison for fatal abuse of girlfriend's 10-year-old son; (J) August 9, 2006; According to the court, the live-in boyfriend 'disciplined' the child on behalf of his pregnant girlfriend from around the beginning of January this year. The child endured regular beatings and was repeatedly made to take cold water showers while also being deprived of food.
     

211. •Man's past captives include mother and her 2-year-old child; (EJ) August 8, 2006.
     

212. •Grandmother suffocates 3-year-old granddaughter with blanket and electric cord; (EJ) August 6, 2006; On the Japanese page it is noted that the parents divorced earlier this year although the child, her father and Kiseki's maternal grandmother continued living together.
     

213. •Mother jumps from condominium holding her 2 young children in suspected murder-suicide; (EJ) August 6, 2006; On Friday, the woman was briefly placed in the custody of the police after attempting suicide in a different Prefecture.
     

214. •Stepmother arrested for assault to husband's son; (J) August 4, 2006; When the boy failed to complete the assigned homework she attempted to strangle him.
     

215. •Record number of child abuse victims reported in first half of 2006; (EJ) August 3, 2006.
     

216. •Parents arrested for abuse and abduction of a minor; (EJ) August 2, 2006; The infant was hospitalized last year because of severe burns from boiling water and other injuries. In March the parents along with other family members forced their way into the hospital and took their son after failing in repeated requests to have him released.
     

217. •City told to pay for teacher's bullying; July 29, 2006; The Asahi Shinbun;  A 49-year old Fukuoka elementary school teacher abuses a student whose great grandfather was American.  (Read carefully, this is not "bullying" it is abuse.)  Teacher himself is not fined, suspended for 6 months, and he is now back on the job, teaching young minds.  (cached copy)
     

218. •Parents arrested after their 3-year-old son dies of malnutrition; (EJ) July 29, 2006; Two other children were abused daily - often with a hammer - and were so famished they sometimes ate dog food. The parents had previously lost custody of a 2-year-old son child through abuse and a fifth child died 3 months after birth. A complete failure by the authorities to protect the children despite the father's history of child abuse.
     

219. •Mother gets 3 years in prison for starving her 7-month-old daughter to death; (J) July 28, 2006.
     

220. •Father inflicts serious injuries on 10-year-old son; (J) July 27, 2006; The father hit his son with a metal bar and used a thumb tack to prick the boy's feet. Injuries caused to the child took 2 months to heal.
     

221. •Couple given 6 and 7 year prison terms for fatal abuse of 3-year-old son; (EJ) July 27, 2006;
     

222. •2-year-old toddler in serious condition after being beaten by mother; (J) July 25, 2006.
     

223. •6-month-old baby boy dies after abuse; (J) July 22, 2006; The child was killed through a blow to the head and his body was covered in bruises. A man living with the infant's mother was arrested.
     

224. •Mother kills her 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old neighbour; (EJ) July 17, 2006; The divorced mother found child-raising troubling and often neglected her daughter. In a magazine interview the left behind father says that he thought about his daughter every day since the divorce and wishes his ex-wife had given him custody.
     

225. •Mother arrested for throwing daughter to her death from overpass; (EJ) July 16, 2006.
     

226. •Father murders 2-year-old son, then kills himself; (EJ) July 14, 2006.
     

227. •Man kills wife in front of children; (E) July 13, 2006; The couple were divorced but living together.
     

228. •Mother and daughter found dead in suspected murder-suicide; (E) July 12, 2006.
     

229. •Father arrested after 3-year old son's intestine ruptured; (J) July 06, 2006; The father stuck his son several times on the pretext of disciplining the child for making a noise while eating dinner. The child's condition is serious.
     

230. •Couple held over fatally abusing 2-year-old daughter; (EJ) July 06, 2006; The divorced mother and stepfather poured boiling water on the child's head and beat her up. The family counseling centre knew there was a problem but failed to protect the toddler.
     

231. •Parents drown 9-month-old daughter in bathtub; (E) July 05, 2006; Authorities made "terrible blunder" in returning infant to abusive parents.
     

232. •Woman strangles daughters, leaps to death in murder-suicide; (EJ) July 04, 2006.
     

233. •Mother sentenced to 7 years in prison for fatal abuse of son; (EJ) June 30, 2006;
     

234. •Japan hit by huge rise in child abuse; (EJ) June 27, 2006. International attention on child abuse in Japan. One of the measures in the govt. white paper calls for more "parenting supporters" with experience in parenting skills. Reasons cited for the worsening situation include the rising cost of bringing up children and the increase in single-parent families.
     

235. •Boy kills stepmother and 2 siblings in arson case; (EJ) June 22, 2006; To pressure his 16-year-old son into becoming a doctor the father forced the boy to study and ill-treated him over a 10 year period. The boy's parents divorced when he was young so he was suddenly separated from his mother and sister. According to reports in the Japanese media, he embraced his sister at family court mediation and wouldn't let go. Under the terms of the divorce his mother got custody of his sister while he went with his father. Visitation between mother and son was not permitted. His mother moved to an adjoining prefecture although she did occasionally return to meet with her son in secret meetings. Eventually his father found out about these meetings and in a rage, beat his son. Had Japanese divorce laws been adequate the boy might have had a better childhood and the tragic events of this case would probably not have occurred.
     

236. •Body of newborn baby found on garbage-collection ship; (EJ) June 20, 2006.
     

237. •Newborn baby abandoned in front of house; (E) June 19, 2006.
     

238. •Woman sentenced to 2 years prison for abusing stepdaughter; (J) June 16, 2006; The defendant showered the 5-year-old girl with boiling water causing scolding injuries to 1/3 of her body. According to the prosecution, regular food deprivation, beatings and strangulation were also used to abuse the youngster. The birth of the defendant's own child was the trigger for the abuse.
     

239. •Mother gets 4-year prison term for fatal abuse of her daughter; (J) June 15, 2006.
     

240. •Mother with history of psychiatric problems strangles 11-year-old son with belt; (EJ) June 13, 2006; It states in the Yomuri Shimbun article that the mother suffered from depression. This case is significant because the Japanese courts barely acknowledge mental illness as a factor in disputes over custody. In fact, in cases where a parent has been diagnosed with mental illness court officials have been known to ignore the rights and safety of children while opting to cling to biased and outdated ideals instead. 
     

241. •Common-law husband abuses 8-year-old boy; (EJ) June 12, 2006;
     

242. •Mom questioned on suspicion of abuse leading to 19-month-old son's death; (E) June 2, 2006.
     

243. •-Mie Dentists plan to detect neglected and abused children through tooth decay; (J) June 2, 2006.
     

244. •Aichi: 2-month-old boy dies in car while parents played pachinko for 5 hours; (EJ) May 29, 2006; Rio Takeuchi died at a hospital of heat stroke and dehydration after being left in the car in the parking lot of a pachinko game parlor from around 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday while his father Masato, 24, and mother Rie, 23, were playing pachinko, the police said.
     

245. •Mother slashes 3-year-old daughter's hands with scissors; (EJ) May 23, 2006; The parents of the woman's ex-husband discovered that the little girl had been abused after talking with the victim. Police suspect she was abused regularly.
     

246. •Man finds dead baby in bag he discarded from daughter's bedroom; (EJ) May 11, 2006.
     

247. •Woman held over bizarre house of horrors case; (EJ) May 3, 2006; Chizuko Okamoto, 54, is arrested for murdering her 19-year-old daughter. The corpses of 2 babies, a child and a man were also discovered at the apartment. One of the bodies was that of Okamoto's son, on whom she filed a missing person's report 22 years ago.
     

248. •Woman and her son die in murder-suicide; (EJ) May 2, 2006; Investigators said that the woman had been worried about childcare.
     

249. •Boy survives after mom leaps with him to her death from high-rise building; (EJ) April 3, 2006.  Mom attempts murder suicides, son survives.
     

250. •58 children died from abuse in 2004 in Japan, govt reports; March 31, 2006; This page raises a suspicion that some cases go un-reported.
     

251. •Man handed 10 year prison sentence for fatally abusing 1-month-old daughter; (J) March 30, 2006; The father repeatedly submerged his daughter's head under bathwater and regularly hit her. She died of brain injuries on September 23 last year after he beat her head against a refrigerator door.  
     

252. •Woman burns down home in murder-suicide attempt; (EJ) March 6, 2006.
     

253. •Man who finds fatherless homes through registry jailed for molesting 7 girls; Friday, March 3, 2006.
     

254. •Man, woman and young boy die in an alleged murder-suicide; (EJ) March 3, 2006;  Note that the Japanese version says that the man was her husband and the boy was her oldest son.  It also says that in November of last year, due to things like her becoming violent at home, she was involuntarily admitted to a mental hospital.
     

255. •Nara man gets 20 years for killing wife, 2 children with dumbbell; February 25, 2006.
     

256. •Kanagawa woman gets 4 years for strangling 7-year-old son; February 25, 2006.
     

257. •Mother strangles 7-year-old son for skipping cram school; Mainichi Shinbun; April 6, 2004.
     

258. •53-year-old woman arrested over death of grandson in Iwate; February 24, 2006.
     

259. •Woman stabs son, self in failed murder-suicide bid;  (EJ) February 18, 2006.
     

260. •Mom, foster dad arrested for pricking her daughter with needle for horses; (EJ) February 17, 2006
     

261. •母親「育児煩わしく」３歳男児放置死; 2006年2月10日; Mother finds caring for baby troublesome and abandons it to die.
     

262. •Parents held in beating death of 3-year-old son; (EJ) February 10, 2006
     

263. •Mie woman held on suspicion of strangling children, aged 1 and 3; (EJ) February 10, 2006;  This is not the woman in the February 10, 2006 or the November 11, 2005 article.
     

264. •Woman who fatally stabbed her 2 children ordered to spend 8 years behind bars; (EJ) February 10, 2006.   [FYI This is a different woman who stabbed her two year old son to death than the woman who stabbed her two year old son to death on November 11, 2005.]
     

265. •Kagawa Mom arrested for starving her 3 year old son to death; (EJ) February 8, 2006; Ai Yamashita, 25, living with her two sons and her mother admits to police, "I loved my elder son more than the younger one."
     

266. •Woman fatally clubs son, bungles own suicide; (EJ) January 31, 2006.
     

267. •Daughter dies after mom sets apartment on fire to attract dad's attention; (EJ) January 27, 2006.
     

268. •Man arrested for pinching face of girlfriend's daughter ; (EJ) January 14, 2006.  While single mother is out, boyfriend abuses the daughter.  It took two weeks for her face to heal.
     

269. •In-laws open dark closet to find mysterious mom's baby corpses; January 10, 2006.
     

270. •Man held over beating of 8-month-old boy; January 8, 2006. Drunken boyfriend punches and kicks girlfriend's son in the face causing injuries that will take 3 months to heal.
     

Child Prostitution/Pornography

2007

1. •Man arrested on suspicion of child pornography, makes obscene video with teenage girl; (J) March 7, 2007; The man met the 13-year-old girl on a mobile phone dating site and lured her with the promise of a modelling job.
   

2. •16-year-old boy held for making threats, forcing jnr. high school girl to send him nude images of herself; (J) March 7, 2007.
   

3. •Man gets suspended prison term over child pornography; (E) March 6, 2007; Kobe: A 28-year-old man was sentenced Tuesday to three years in prison, suspended for four years, for having sex with a 15-year-old Cambodian girl in Phnom Penh in 2003, taking pictures of her naked and posting them on his website.
   

4. •Branch manager of transport company busted for child prostitution; (J) March 6, 2007
   

5. •Pedophile doctor let off with reprimand despite child prostitution conviction; (EJ) March 3, 2007; A national hospital here failed to punish a doctor fined for child prostitution two years ago until Friday, because bosses feared that if he quit, it would adversely affect its medical service.
   

6. •Cyber crimes soar: Growing number of children fall victim to prostitution, pornography; (EJ) February 22, 2007; There were 463 cases where suspects were involved in prostitution with children they got acquainted with on the Internet, an increase of 44.7 percent.
   

7. •Man faces charges for producing obscene DVDs featuring school girl; (EJ) February 21, 2007; He is standing trial for paying about 80,000 yen to the high school girl, who was then 17, to have sex with him at a Sendai hotel on two occasions in 2005. Investigators suspect that he sold tens of thousands of obscene DVDs, netting more than 10 million yen.
   

8. •TV station employee held for violating child prostitution law; (J) February 19, 2007; The man is suspected of molesting a teenage girl at a Tokyo hotel.
   

9. •Alleged offenses tied to online dating hit record 1,915 in 2006; (EJ) February 15, 2007; According to one of the Japanese online articles there were 856 child victims of online dating sites in 2006, an increase of 29 children from the previous year. Child prostitution was up 18.5% (775 cases), while there was a 96.2% increase in child pornography (104 cases).
   

10. •Teenage girls among 6 reported to prosecutors for posting their naked images on Net; (EJ) February 9, 2007; The manager of the website has been arrested for assisting the six in their crime.
    

11. •Tiny tattooed terror defends delinquent daughter's 'honor' with the cruelest cut of all; (E) February 2, 2007; The allegedly attacked man immediately contacted the police, even though he knew that by doing so he risked being arrested for paying the underage prostitute daughter for sex.
    

12. •Yokohama man arrested for child prostitution; (J) January 30, 2007; The man met the junior high school student through a telephone dating site.
    

13. •Chiba man arrested on suspicion of fixing up clients with child prostitutes through the internet; (J) January 24, 2007.
    

14. •Police to promote cell-phone filtering to stop students accessing 'harmful' sites; (EJ) January 20, 2007; Police said that 134 of those involved in child prostitution last year "fell victim," as they put it, through mobile dating sites, including 41 junior high school students and 55 high school students.
    

15. •Former director of cosmetic surgery department arrested a second time for child prostitution; (J) January 18, 2007.
    

16. •Pianist busted for child prostitution; (EJ) January 17, 2007.
    

17. •Jobless man busted for paying high school hooker with drugs; (EJ) January 11, 2007; He molested her at the hotel and gave her an injection of stimulant drugs as payment for her sexual services, police said.
    

2006

1. •Update: Teacher's home raided over distribution of child porn; (EJ) December 30, 2006.
   

2. •NPA: 30% of porn comics feature sex with kids; (E) December 28, 2006; The agency took 100 samples from about 9,000 pornographic comics last month, and found 30 that included sexual acts with children. Five involved children of primary school age or younger.
   

3. •Tokyo medical school student arrested for molesting 13-year-old girl; (J) December 19, 2006.
   

4. •Porn boss arrested over solicitation of minors; (EJ) December 15, 2006.
   

5. •Update: Teacher rearrested on child prostitution charge; (EJ) November 28, 2006; The junior high school teacher was arrested in early November for threatening to distribute naked photos of a 14-year-old female student. He is also facing charges of having had sex with a 17-year-old girl. Update in Japanese only.
   

6. •Gov't official pays 14-year-old girl for sex, arrested for child prostitution; (J) November 28, 2006.
   

Child Abduction and Other Family Related Crime

2007

1. •Man arrested for abducting son in Nara; (J) March 6, 2007; The man met his ex-wife in front of an acquaintance's house to pay her money for expenses. When she went to the toilet he put their 6-month old son in his car and left. The couple divorced in November last year.
   

2. •Woman's father sets house on fire while children, parents inside; (J) February 27, 2007; The 65-year-old man set the house alight as his daughter, son-in-law and the 2 children were going to bed. All managed to escape unharmed although the suspect received light injuries. He was arrested on suspicion of arson.
   

3. •"Garbage house" owner busted for molesting junior high school girl; (EJ) January 26, 2007; She had frequently stayed at Ito's home overnight since last September because she had trouble with her family. About 20 elementary, junior high and high school girls frequently visited his home, according to investigators.
   

4. •2 boys get 4-yr detention for murder of mother; (EJ) January 25, 2007; Explaining the reason why he chose not to request criminal punishment, Kasai said: "There were reasons for his actions, such as his parents getting divorced without taking his feelings into account. This increased his frustration, and he seriously suffered from feelings of loneliness." The son used to live in Kanagawa Prefecture, but moved to Wakkanai, his mother's hometown, when he was in middle school after his parents divorced. The friend, whose parents were also divorced, lived with his father until the father committed suicide.
   

5. •Man previously arrested for taking son forces his way into house and beats ex-wife; (J) January 18, 2007; After striking his former wife and threatening her with a cutter-knife the man then turned the knife on himself and cut his wrists. In October last year he was arrested after abducting his 3-year-old son as the child was on his way home. The man was later released after the abduction charge was suspended but continued to be seen near his former wife's apartment until the latest incident.
   

6. •Cases of obscene acts against children in Hokkaido up 129 cases from previous year to 440 in 2006, kids of primary school age and younger targeted; (J) January 16, 2007.
   

7. •Chiba woman arrested over attempt to kill husband with bowling ball; (EJ) January 16, 2007; The incident was reported to the local fire department's emergency call number by their sixth-grader son. The couple also live with a kindergarten-aged daughter.
   

8. •Elder brother arrested for dismembering body of junior college student; (EJ) January 4, 2007; At about 9 p.m. on Wednesday, three plastic bags containing the mutilated body of the victim, a junior college student, were found by her mother in the suspect's room at their home in the Hatagaya district of Shibuya-ku, investigators said.
   

2006

1. •14-year-old girl arrested for attempted murder after stabbing father; (EJ) December 26, 2006; She had expressed her dissatisfaction with being unable to meet her divorced mother. "I want to see my mother, but can't," she reportedly complained to school officials.
   

2. •Murderer of stepson's wife and child sentenced to death; (EJ) December 15, 2006; Takemitsu Mori, 49, strangled Mayumi Mori, 28, and caused her infant son to drown in the bathtub in their apartment before setting it ablaze in April 2002, according to the ruling at the Osaka High Court.
   

3. •Junior high school boy busted for stabbing father after row over school grades; (EJ) December 6, 2006
   

4. •Teenager gets 14 years for murdering parents; (EJ) December 1, 2006;
   

5. •Teenager beats and kicks father, the man dies 12-hours later; (J) November 25, 2006.
   

6. •15-year-old boy who stabbed and wounded his older brother is arrested on suspicion of attempted murder; (J) November 4, 2006; In apparent revenge for beatings he'd received the boy used a kitchen knife to stab his 17-year-old brother. A point to note is that the father, a company employee, was absent due to a long-term work posting elsewhere so only one parent was there to raise the boys.
   

7. •Teacher arrested for strangling his former wife's mother; (EJ) July 17, 2006; The man's wife took custody of their children after they divorced in May. An argument over the children of the divorced couple led to murder.
   

2005

1. •Mom confesses to fatally dropping her 2 children into dam; Mainichi Daily News; December 22, 2005. (cached copy)
   

1. ◦子ども２人殺害：主婦を逮捕「ダムに落とした」徳島; 毎日新聞　2005年12月22日; (cached copy)
   

2. •Mother locks teenage daughter in home for over 10 years.  An 18-year-old girl who was locked in her home for over 11 years without attending school because "she had trouble fitting in" as an infant.  School authorities knew she was missing, but a child consultation center couldn't prove abuse, so decided not to search for her.  The mother was initially arrested, but was released.
   

1. ◦Abused girl a captive almost in plain sight; Japan Times; December 20, 2005.  (cached copy)
   

2. ◦Bizarre case of 18-year-old girl confined at home; CrissCross News Japan; December 14, 2005. (cached copy)
   

3. ◦Case of girl locked in home for over a decade raises social questions;  Mainichi Daily News; December 7, 2005 (cached copy)
   

1. ■福岡少女軟禁：子供の障害案じる親の複雑な感情; 毎日新聞; 2005年12月7日 (cached copy)ss
   

4. ◦Girl kept in house by mother for 18 years; The Yomiuri Shimbun; Dec. 7, 2005 (cached copy)
   

5. ◦Woman locked teenage daughter at home for 10 years; Mainichi Shinbun; December 6, 2005; (cached copy)
   

1. ■未就学：１８歳女性を１１年以上、自宅に閉じ込め…; 毎日新聞 ; 2005年12月6日(cached copy)
   

3. •Yuki Yoshimura, a 26-year-old housewife, arrested on suspicion of fatally abusing adopted son, Ryuya.  The Japanese article clearly says that her husband took the child away from his ex-wife.  The son died from loss of blood and injuries all over his body.  A child consultation center knew about the abuse 6 months earlier, but did not feel it urgent enough to deal with.  Ryuya is survived by a 3 month old brother.
   

1. ◦幼 児の腹けり死なす、２６歳母親に懲役７年の判決; 2006年6月30日
   

2. ◦５歳男児死亡、虐待か　愛知; 2005年12月08日
   

3. ◦ Aichi woman arrested on suspicion of fatally abusing adopted son; Japan Today; December 9, 2005.
   

4. •母親が２歳の息子を刺殺、自殺図る　大阪・高槻; 2005年11月11日; 朝日新聞. Japanese; Mother stabs to death 2 yr old son (cached copy)
   

5. •18-year-old mother busted for abusing baby daughter; November 12, 2005; Mainichi Daily News (cached copy)
   

6. •Kyoto Woman Arrested for Stabbing 4 Year Old Son; Japan Today; November 1, 2005.  (cached copy)
   

7. •死体遺棄容疑で２１歳の母親逮捕、ミナミの乳児放置事件; 朝日新聞; October 12, 2005.  (cached copy)
   

8. •Mother gets 7 year prison sentence for death of 3 year old daughter by abuse. (japanese only) Asahi Shinbun; September 13, 2005.  (cached copy)
   

9. •12-year-old boy suspected of beating mother to death in Osaka; Japan Today, October 20, 2005.  Actually this one would be parent abuse, but its hard to believe that a child would do this without some long term provocation resembling abuse in the first place.  Parents were divorced, boy living with mother, father off working in Tokyo.  (cached copy)
   

1. ◦＜母親暴行死＞中１男子　学校と家庭の暴力、同じ時期に激化; 毎日新聞; 2005年10月20日. (cached copy)
   

2. ◦＜大阪＞母親暴行死　中１生徒を児童相談所に通告; 朝日放送; 2005年10月20日. (cached copy)
   

10. •Child Abuse Deaths -  Care centers aware of abuse in most cases of child deaths; Mainichi Shimbun, Japan April 29, 2005; A government research panel investigating cases of child abuse resulting in death has revealed that in most cases local child consultation offices and public heath centers were aware of the abuse but failed to stop it. (cached copy)
    

2004

1. •長女暴行の母親、執行猶予３年－－地裁判決／岡山; 毎日新聞; 2004年10月22日; (cached copy)
   

2. •Stepson abuse gets man 22 months; Japan Times; October 22, 2004. Man kicks stepson, then swings around and bangs head causing child to go into a coma.  He then gets a shorter sentence, because according to the judge, his wife did not care about her family.  Huh? (cached copy)
   

3. •Mom arrested for starving 16-y.o. daughter to death; Mainichi Shimbun; Oct. 20, 2004; Divorced woman living alone starves 16 year old daughter over a period of nearly a year. Why wasn't her father around? The daughter had not attended school for several years and it took the police two years to do an autopsy plus three more to get her convicted. (cached copy)
   

4. •Jobless man gets 13 years for fatal abuse of stepson; Mainichi Shinbun; Japan, Oct. 18, 2004. Live-in boyfriend abuses girlfriend's son.  Mother also gets 11 years in jail.  But where was the natural father in June 2004 when it happened? (cached copy)
   

1. ◦同居の男に懲役１３年　村山男児虐待死 山形地裁判決; 2004年10月18日月曜日;( cached copy日本語版).
   

2. ◦山形・５歳児虐待死： 板垣直樹被告に懲役１３年－－地裁判決; 毎日新聞; 2004年10月18日; ( cached copy日本語版).
   

3. ◦村山の長男虐待死　板垣被告に懲役１３年－－検察官が祖母の手紙朗読　／山形; 毎日新聞　2004年10月19日; (cached copy日本語版).
   

5. •Hokkaido mom abandons naked daughter in field at night; Mainichi Shimbun; Oct. 15, 2004; Mother, living alone with daughter, abandons daughter in field for complaining after a bath.  (cached copy)
   

6. •Killer stepfather kneed boy in stomach after losing temper; Mainichi Shinbun; October 9, 2004. Stepfather', Kota Ueda's initial defense was that even though he had beaten his wife's child in the past, he didn't do it the day of his death.  Where was the natural father after all the other beatings?  (cached copy)
   

1. ◦Killer stepfather initially blamed boy's death on inhaled altar ashes; Mainichi Shinbun; October 9, 2004.  (cached copy)
   

2. ◦Osaka man arrested for kicking 2-year-old son to death; Japan Today; October 9, 2004. (cached copy)
   

3. ◦大阪・高石の幼児死亡：「線香の灰吸った」－－父、警察にうそ毎日新聞; 2004年10月10日; (cached copy日本語版)
   

4. ◦死亡２歳児に多数の打撲跡、父親の新聞店員を逮捕へ; 読売新聞; 2004年10月8日;( cached copy日本語版)
   

7. •Mom arrested for strangling young daughter; Mainichi Shimbun; Sept. 11, 2004; Mother Momoe Kano, living with mother, strangles daughter, Rina.  Reason unknown.  (cached copy)
   

1. ◦Infant girl strangled suspiciously in sleep; Mainichi Shimbun; Sept. 10, 2004; (cached copy)
   

8. •Baby killer handed 8-year jail term over fatal abuse; Mainichi Shimbun; Sept. 9, 2004; Masahiko Shibata and girlfriend Kotomi Manda abused her 1 year old son and 3 year old daughter for weeks until the son died. An involved father might have stopped this. (cached copy)
   

1. ◦'Exorcist' abuse couple more interested in love life; Mainichi Shimbun; March 19, 2004; (cached copy)
   

2. ◦126 cigarette burns found on sister of slain baby; Mainichi Shimbun; March 17, 2004; (cached copy)
   

3. ◦Couple fatally batters baby to 'exorcise evil spirits'; Mainichi Shimbun; March 16, 2004; (cached copy)
   

9. •Man gets 8 years for fatal assault of girlfriend's baby; Japan Today; August 18, 2004.  Boyfriend of mother living with 2 infant children convicted of deadly assault on 8 month old daughter. ( cached copy English)
   

1. ◦乳児虐待の男に懲役８年の判決; August 17, 2004; Asahi News.  ( cached copy 日本語版)
   

10. •Stressed mom drowns 2-y.o. son in bath; Mainichi Shinbun; August 13, 2004; (日本語版). Divorced mother, living alone gets stressed and drowns 2 year old son. (cached copy English) (cached copy 日本語版)
    

1. ◦Woman held over death of son, 2, by drowning; Yomiuri Shinbun; August 14, 2004;  (日本語版)  (cached copy English) (cached copy 日本語版)
   

11. •Japan rocked by soaring child abuse; (E) August 8, 2004. 23,738 cases of child abuse in 2003, up almost 2% from 2002. Quotes from Japanese experts, like "Japan will have to brace itself for more horror stories until it ditches its traditional reluctance to interfere in others' 'private' lives." and "We just do not know what the real figure is" of number of abuse cases per year.
    

12. •Mom suspected of abuse in death of baby; Yomiuri Shinbun; June 1, 2004.  (日本語版) Divorced mother  suspected of abusing 10 month old baby to death. English version says she divorced a year ago and has 3 other children. (cached copy English) (cached copy 日本語版)
    

13. •Mom, friend plead not guilty to starving boy to death; Mainichi Daily News; April 16, 2004.  Mother who allegedly starved 12 year old son to death goes on trial. Why wasn't the father allowed to see his son for 18 months? (cached copy)
    

14. •129 serious child abuse cases found at 65 medical facilities Japan; Yomiuri Online; April 7, 2004. 129 deaths and 1452 injuries reported over 5 years in a survey of Japanese hospitals by the Japan Pediatric Society.  Only half of the hospitals responded.  (cached copy)
    

15. •Dealing with child abuse; (E) April 6, 2004; Kwansei Gakuin University Professor, Masaaki Noda, author of "The Utter Poverty of Child Welfare," says that "Japan has historically had a tendency to condone violence against children as something ingrained in human nature even as it sheds tears over the cruel treatment, and this tendency has not disappeared."
    

16. •Mom held for slicing 4-month-old son's genitals with razor; Japan Times; April 6, 2004. A 24-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of cutting off part of her 4-month-old son's genitals. The mother, who has one other child, was living alone or with a boyfriend. (cached copy)
    

17. •Mother strangles 7-year-old son for skipping cram school; Mainichi Shinbun; April 6, 2004.  (cached copy)
    

1. ◦Kanagawa woman gets 4 years for strangling 7-year-old son; February 25, 2006.
   

18. •Women neglected to give bath, haircut to malnourished child; Mainichi Shimbun; March 7, 2004.  More details on neglect of the 12 year old child. (cached copy)
    

19. •Two women charged with starving boy to death in '02; The Japan Times; March 6, 2004.  Mother living separately from father confines 6th grade son in home for a year and a half after deciding he had mental problems because he spoke too slowly.  School officials were repeatedly denied visiting him, yet reported nothing. (Can we confirm that the father was also denied visitation?) (cached copy)
    

20. •Horrific child abuse case highlights wider problem in Japan; ABC News; February 8, 2004; Abuse rising fast in Japan.  In 1990, 1,000 reported abuse cases in Japan. In 2002, 24,000.  In 2004, 35,000 and probably many more.  Story of a 15year old boy locked in a closet for two years by his Japanese parents.  He was only fed every third day, regularly kicked, hit and burned with cigarettes by his father and stepmother. Teachers were turned away from visiting and contacted a local child guidance centre who had the power to enter the boy's home -- but decided not to.  Other horrible stories and many good quotes. (cached copy)
    

21. •Child abuse victim fights for life; Mainbichi Shimbun; February 8, 2004.  Mother's boyfriend abuses 3 year old girl.  (cached copy)
    

22. •Mom drops girl from 5th floor, botches suicide attempt; Mainichi Shinbun; January 25, 2004.  Mother, Hitomi Tamura, living alone, allegedly attempts to kill 3 year old girl by dropping her out a fifth floor window. The mother was living alone with her daughter.  (cached copy)
    

23. •Osaka Kishiwada Case (from Jan 25, 2004 to May 11, 2004)
    

1. ◦Osaka couple denies intent to starve boy death; Japan Today; May 11, 2004. Trial coverage. (cached copy)
   

2. ◦Legislators demand public to expose child abusers; Mainichi Shimbun; February 02, 2004.  Details of how the public and Family Law failed to prevent this.  Proposals for changes by politicians.  (cached copy)
   

3. ◦Saving Abused Children; Asahi Shimbun; January 28, 2004. Another summary in this editorial.  (cached copy)
   

4. ◦Child abuse breeds excuses, finger-pointing; The Japan Times; Jan 28, 2004. A good summary of this case, indicting neighbors and school officials who ignored the problem as well as Japan's Family law which kept the mother away from her child. (cached copy)
   

5. ◦Sinister stepmother led brutal abuse of boy; Mainichi Shinbun; January 26, 2004.  Article claims the stepmother led the abuse.  I can only assume that the natural mother was not allowed visitation rights.  (Anyone know?)   (cached copy)
   

6. ◦Skeletal teen starved, bashed by parents; Mainichi Shimbun; January 25, 2004.  A horrible case of child abuse by a father in Osaka, when the mother was obviously not visiting the children. (cached copy)
   

24. 2003 and earlier
    

Man claims God inspired slaying of sons, grandmother; Mainichi Shimbun; Dec. 7, 2003; A man staying at his family home claimed God had ordered him to fatally stab his two infant sons and grandmother.  Had the mother been allowed to see her sons recently? (cached copy)

Woman throws boiling water over 23-month-old daughter; Japan Today; September 4, 2003.  (cached copy) 

More moms going down,to ensure grades go up!; Mainichi Daily News; January 6, 2002 (cached copy) 

Media Coverage of Spouse Abuse

1. •Spousal abuse victims to get protection; Yomiuri Shinbun; May 27, 2004.  (Japanese) Changes to the spousal abuse law and associated restraining orders.  (English cached copy)  (cached copy 日本語版)
   

Other Media Coverage

1. •Precipitated by a case of 4 teenage school girls being detained in Shibuya by a suicidal man who had solicited them for sex, the government has introduced harsher new penalties for adults buying sex from children under 18, and those engaged in child pornography. The new rules ban child porn by web or email, taking pornographic photos of minors, and soliciting or engaging in sexual acts with minors. The really excellent part of the new legislation is that it applies to Japanese nationals overseas as well. This will put a severe dent in sex tours to Thailand. Penalties will range up to imprisonment for up to seven years and/or fines of up to JPY10m. (Source: TT commentary Jun 11, 2004)  
   

2. •Critics: Child-abuse bill lacking; Asahi Shimbun; March 13, 2004.  Authorities must now report suspected abuse, but the police aren't allowed to enter a home to investigate.  Lawmakers will review again in three years.  (cached copy)
   

3. •Spate of abuse cases prompts gov't crackdown on parental rights; Mainichi Shinbun; January 26, 2004.  Slight change to regulations about removing parental rights from abusive parents.  (cached copy)
   

Personal Stories

Just as we document denial of access to children, we will document personal experiences of child and spouse abuse.  Actually I would like NOT to [have to] do this, but it appears necessary in order to show that the problem is much bigger than Japanese authorities let on and than the Japanese press reports. I expect most if not all of these would be anonymous. If anyone has any information or stories or other info they would like to contribute, please contact the webmaster of this site.

1. •TBD
   

Other Information

From the interpol version of the child abuse law referenced above comes these other laws:

III.Other forms of child sex abuse

he Child Abuse Prevention Law and the Anti-Stalker Law were enacted. In 2001

'Indecency through compulsion', Art. 176 Penal Code

'A person who, through violence or intimidation, commits an indecent act upon a male or female person of not less than thirteen (13) years of age shall be punished with imprisonment at forced labour for not less than six months nor more than seven years. The same shall apply to a person who commits an indecent act upon a male or female person under thirteen (13) years of age.'

Common articles to rape and indecency

'Constructive compulsory indecency and rape', Art. 178 Penal Code

'A person who commits an indecent act upon or has sexual intercourse with another by taking advantage of loss of consciousness or inability to resist, or by causing a loss of consciousness or inability to resist, shall be punished in the same way as provided for in the preceding two Articles.'

'Attempts', Art. 179 Penal Code

'Attempts of the crimes provided in the preceding three Articles shall be punished.'

'Complaint', Art. 180 Penal Code

'(1) The crimes provided in the preceding four Articles shall be prosecuted only on complaint.
(2)The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall not apply when the crimes mentioned in the preceding four Articles are committed jointly by two or more persons who are on the scene of the action.'

Article 12 of the Yamanashi Prefecture Ordinance concerning cleanup of neighborhood moral environment for the protection and caring of minors 'Any person shall not have indecent sexual activities or obscene conduct with minors.

'A person should not give instructions in or show activities given above to minors.'

Article 13 of the Yamanashi Prefecture Ordinance

'Any person shall not offer or make arrangements for a place knowing that assaults, indecent sexual activities, obscene acts or gambling targeting involving minors will take place in the place,…'

Article 34 of the Child Welfare Law

'Any person shall not do any of the following acts:

1) Making a public show of deformed or crippled children;

2) Forcing children to beg or to utilise a child while begging;

3) Forcing or inducing child under 15 years of age to perform acrobatic feats and circus riding for public entertainment;

4) Inducing children under 15 years of age to sign, play or perform from house to house, on the streets, or in similar places as business;

4)- 2 Inducing children to engage in selling, distributing, exhibiting or collecting any article, or to provide services from house to house, on the streets, or in similar places as business during the hours from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m.;

4)-3 Inducing children under 15 years of age to engage in selling distributing, exhibiting or collecting any articles, or to provide any services from house to house, on the streets or in similar places, or to enter, for the purpose of conducting such business, any establishments where such business as listed in Article 1 of the Control Law for Business Related to the Public Morals are practiced.

5) Inducing children under 15 years of age to engage in occupation which require them to wait at banquets or dinners where liquor is served;

6) Inducing children to practice obscene acts;

7) Acts transferring custody of a child to a person who is liable to practice any of the acts described in the preceding items, or who is liable to violate any of the penal laws and regulations concerning children, knowing such fact, or acts transferring custody of such a child to any other person, knowing that the child will be handed over to others for such purposes;

8) Offering services for the upbringing of children for the purpose of profit to be gained of such action by persons other than legally authorised employment agencies for both adult and children;

9) Keeping a child under one's control for purposes harmful to the child both in mind and body, except in cases where the child is within the relative in the fourth degree, or in cases where the control over a child is based on legal employment relations or has been authorized by a family court, the governor of prefecture or the superintendent of a Child Guidance Center.

2. Children placed in home for dependant, neglected and abused children, a home fro mentally retarded children, a mentally retarded chidren's day- care center, a home for blind, deaf and dumb children, a home for physically weak children, a hospital home for crippled children and a home for training and education of juvenile delinquents shall not be exploited contrary to the stipulations of Articles 41 to 44.'

To Lookup - please send me other recommended article with different viewpoints and I will reference them here.

Gender Difference in Mentally Ill Offenders: A Nationwide Japanese Study

Liya Xie

Department of Psychiatry, University of Calgary, 3500 26th Ave., NE, Calgary, Alberta, T1Y 6J4, Canada

International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, Vol. 44, No. 6, 714-724 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/0306624X00446007

The entire population of 2,094 mentally ill offenders who were adjudicated as partially or fully not criminally responsible on account of mental disorders during the years of 1980 and 1994 throughout Japan were studied. Men were predominant. More than 60% of the participants had previously received psychiatric treatment. Schizophrenia and other psychoses were the most common diagnoses among both males and females. Females were more likely to be charged with violent crimes, and half of them committed homicide. Females attacked family members more often, and they were diagnosed with depression more often than were males. In contrast, males were more often charged with nonviolent crimes and had a greater number of criminal records. Despite the fact that persons diagnosed solely with personality disorders were largely excluded from the study, male mentally ill offenders still shared more negative demographic factors with male criminals in general, such as being unmarried, having a lower educational level, a poorer employment history, chaotic lives, and substance abuse problems.

How much of the child murder in Japan is caused by mentally disordered mothers?
L Xie, A Yamagami - International Medical Journal, 1995