Mother kills son, 6, with cellphone strap

Lisa Katayama spots a disturbing story out of Fukuoka, Japan, where Kaoru Tomiishi admitted strangling her 6-year old son with his cell phone. The Mainichi Daily News has more details.

Photo: Mainichi

[#1 posted by Marley9 , September 22, 2008 10:04 AM]

Beyond the obvious absurdity(and sadness) of this, WTF do 6yo's have cell phones for?

[#2 posted by Anonymous , September 22, 2008 10:13 AM]

Marley9, as Lisa explains on her blog, young kids in Japan start commuting young and parents use GPS as a safety measure.

A sad, horrible story.

-Mikaela

[#3 posted by caipirina , September 22, 2008 11:20 AM]

horrible story ...

I miss Lisa's posts though ...

[#4 posted by semiotix , September 22, 2008 11:27 AM]

If that isn't Masi Oka (Hiro of Heroes fame) after a four-day bender, then I don't know what to believe about anything anymore.

[#5 posted by Anonymous , September 22, 2008 12:48 PM]

I was about to repeat the opening bitch about wtf does a 6 yr old need with a cell phone; but I retract that when I heard it is to allow children to 'leave the house' all by themselves.

I grew up in a time much like the comic book version of Little Lulu. Kids could walk to a friends house, to a park, to the soda fountain, to school, go trick or treating, and discover the world on their own, without a soccer mom and an SUV carrying them every inch of their existance. They stayed in touch with other kids mostly without telecommunication.

Of course, none of this has anything to do with the childs strangulation. Unless the kid was throwing a tantrum insisting they had to have a cell phone. Not that that justifies throttling the kid.

But, children should not consider the phone a toy. Some adults need to learn some manners about cell phone use as well.

Bring back phone booths.

[#6 posted by frankiez , September 23, 2008 12:44 AM]

Ugly women does ugly things...

A mobile phone sexy campaign girl would have never killed a kid with her mobile strap phone!!!

anyway I full quote "Caipirina": I miss Lisa's posts!

[#7 posted by Downpressor , September 24, 2008 2:47 AM]

Sorry Frankiez but the attractiveness of a Japanese mother has no correlation with her likelihood to kill her own progeny. Its an ancient tradition for Japanese mothers to off their own offspring.