Why is no one intervening? String of brutal crimes against Japanese children triggers fears that home is no longer safe
Babies are being killed and discarded and toddlers abused, but support services are still afraid to get involved in family affairs, says rights campaigner
Japan’s youth are now less safe at home than they are out in public, a veteran campaigner for children’s rights has said, challenging the country’s reputation as a protective and nurturing environment of youngsters.
Fujiko Yamada, who set up the Child Maltreatment Prevention Centre 20 years ago, said an almost constant stream of horrific headlines suggested an alarming shift in Japanese society, that crimes against the most vulnerable are becoming increasingly commonplace and, therefore, less shocking.
“Outside the home, children today are arguably more safe than when they are with their families, which is very different to how things were in the past,” she said.
“In the past, the father was the undisputed head of the household; he made all the decisions and dealt with any problems that cropped up within the family,” she said. “Traditionally, that meant the police, the courts and so on had very little say on what went on within the family unit.
“Families have changed a lot in a short space of time and they are virtually unrecognisable to how they used to be, but authorities are still reluctant to get involved when families have problems,” she said. “There is an old-fashioned mindset about intervening.
And that is when it becomes more dangerous for children.”