On the 24th of August, a 17-year-old Japanese high school student was arrested in Soka City, Saitama on suspicion of abandoning a baby’s body in her home.
Reports state that the baby was born on the 23rd of August, a day prior, and was soon after reported to the police by the student’s mother, who said, ‘The child that my daughter gave birth to has died.’
The baby was a boy, and the body was void of external injuries, however stillbirth could not be ruled out as the cause of death remains unknown.
‘I couldn’t tell anyone that the baby had been born, so I hid it in a bag and case,’ the 17-year-old revealed.
Ongoing Investigation
As the investigation proceeds, officials are working hard to put together the complete narrative and determine the appropriate next measures depending on what they discover.
The Problem of Child Abandonment in Japan
Child abandonment, and its various ways, remains a prevalent problem in Japan linking to financial instability, unwillingness or inability to take care of a child, and even being mentally unwell.
Fukuoka police in 2010 found a dead baby boy wrapped in a plastic bag at a supermarket with no signs of the mother.
In 2018, a Japanese mother was arrested for killing her newborn baby at a Tokyo café. The 25-year-old had abandoned the dead baby in a locker afterwards, which was later found by police after unpleasant smells were reported at the area.
A Tokyo woman was arrested in 2020 for abandoning her 3-year-old daughter at home for more than a week, causing the child to starve to death. Police said the woman admitted to the allegations, adding that frequent neglect and abuse was apparent.
The taboo surrounding sex, unwanted pregnancies and abortions in Japan remains another contributor to the issue of child abandonment in the nation.
On the other hand, to counter the problem, Japan’s ‘baby hatch’ hospital, Jikei Hospital, offers mothers a last resort by allowing a child to be safely and anonymously abandoned.
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