I have posted a picture of Mount Fuji with all the cherry blossoms ripening in April of each year. Isn’t the sight just so perfect, beautiful and breathtaking? Japan is a country I would like to call my second home. It is very close to my heart since I started learning the Japanese language at the age of 13 and all the way through university. I even graduated from a University in Japan. After coming back to Singapore upon graduation, I started working with huge Japanese conglomerates and my career primarily focused on Japanese companies, customers and the region itself. As such, when I read about or hear about anything bad that happens to Japan or in Japanese, I will feel alarmed and worried.

Recently, I read an extremely cruel and atrocious Yahoo article which has the makings of the the worst kind of negligence of our time.

A 19-month Japanese toddler by the name of Neo, was found dead by his mother. Do you know why he died? Because his mother was chatting in various forums in the Internet and left him uncared for even though he was running a high temperature. The mother by the name of  one Yumiko Takahashi knew that her son was running a high fever when she checked on him on 24 June 2012. However, after checking on him, she returned to chat on the Internet and left him untended.

A postmortem examination found that the boy had died at 2pm on 26 Jun. His mother only realized that he had died the very next morning. My goodness, what was she doing between 24th and 26th June to have caused the death of an innocent child. I believe she had neglected Neo or she was clueless about taking care of children. She gave birth to 3 sons.  Her first son died a few days after birth and the second son died after falling from the balcony of the apartment. And Neo died from a high fever whilst she was happily and delightfully chatting in forums on the Internet.

Yumiko’s impermissible excuse was that she had been depressed for the past 3 years after her second son died and she had to seek support and solace from chatting in Internet forums. Another question that was bugging me was the question of the father figure who had been unnamed in the article. As he was unnamed, there are more  questions left unanswered. Is Yumiko a single mom? Is she divorced from her children’s father? Are they still living together when the incidents took place?

I guess if they are still married and living together as a couple, then the father might be a white collar “Salary Man”. Her husband must have been busy at work and never paid much attention or noticed that his wife was acting strangely or could have been suffering from severe depression. I presume the father leaves the house in a suit at 7am to take the “chikatetsu” or train to his office. In the evenings, he would go for drinks with colleagues or even girlfriends or stay late in the office.

By the time the father gets home, he would be too tired to even take a look at his wife, lest care about her condition or the children. I don’t blame the father because the corporate culture in Japan is very different from other parts of the world. They all belong to groups and move together in herds, so it would be difficult to say “No” to any requests from superiors or colleagues. That’s why you always hear “Hai, hai and hai.”

Yumiko gave birth to 3 sons and they all died because she had neglected them on purpose or because she was suffering from Post-Partum Depression (PPD). I am of the opinion that she is suffering from PPD and it is left untreated. When PPD is left untreated, the illness could immensely affect the Yumiko’s well-being  and functionality, and it could render her unfit to care for her children. Yumiko even told the press that “child raising was too much of a hassle.” This statement would not come from the mouth of a normal mother. To me, she sounded as if she needed serious psychological counseling and therapies.

I only pity the 3 children who have died from the most heinous form of neglect. Children are the purest and most innocent form of human beings and to treat a child so poorly is the most abominable crime. The father should also be taken into custody and questioned on why he had allowed his 3 sons to die in the most unacceptable and repugnant ways. He should have made sure that everything was alright with his wife before leaving her alone time and again to care for each son.

I just hope the Japanese authorities will sentence both the father and the mother of the 3 innocent children to jail for life. What they have committed are unforgivable crimes which should never have happened if either husband or wife have more regard and care for each other. The least of all, they should  provide a normal environment not for just 1 but 3 children to flourish in. They have made the same mistakes repeatedly with every son. It is suffering enough to a mother for losing one son but to lose 3 is absolutely questionable. Yumiko directly murdered her 3 own sons with gross negligence. The father had abetted and facilitated the commitment of the crime by being so distant and uncaring. I have only 4 words to describe this couple ” Monstrous and heartless creatures!!!”