<figure id="attachment_370297" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-370297" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="19c4408a"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/04/d4499f013e339081c42d5c558d8739f5.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-370297" class="wp-caption-text">Flowers were laid near the park&#8217;s bus shortly after the incident.</figcaption></figure>
<p> The trial of a tragic case has begun.</p>
<p> On April 23, the Shizuoka District Court held the first trial in the case of a 3-year-old girl who was left to die under the blazing sun at a certified kindergarten in Makinohara, the same prefecture. Tatsuyoshi Masuda, 74, former director of Kawasaki Kindergarten, and two others are charged with manslaughter.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> According to the indictment, in September 2010, Masuda was driving a bus that was supposed to drop off all the children safely, but he failed to check and locked the doors with the windows closed. 3-year-old girl A was left in the bus and died of heat stroke. The three-year-old girl, A, was left in the car and died of heat stroke.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The former homeroom teacher, who is also charged with manslaughter, said she failed to contact the parents because she thought the child was tardy or absent. Masuda and the other defendants have admitted to the charges against them.</span></p>
<p> FRIDAY Digital&#8221; reported in detail on the extremely careless incident in which a young girl became a victim in an article distributed on September 9, 2010. We would like to recount the unbelievable words and actions of defendant Masuda immediately after the incident (some parts have been corrected).</p>
<h2> Parents in a Panic</h2>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I was looking forward to going to kindergarten on the bus. How could this have happened? &#8230;&#8230;&#8221;</span></p>
<p> The father of the deceased girl expressed his anger at the parents&#8217; meeting held on September 7, 2010. A total of 114 people attended the meeting. The panicked parents at the meeting broke down in tears, and 13 were taken to the hospital for hyperventilation and other injuries.</p>
<p> The incident occurred on September 5. A (3 at the time) was left on a bus at Kawasaki Kindergarten (Makinohara City, Shizuoka Prefecture), a certified childcare center, and died. The bus arrived at the kindergarten before 9:00 a.m., but the staff failed to check the bus, and the child was left in the bus for five hours under the scorching sun at temperatures of over 30 degrees Celsius.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The bus driver was on vacation that day.&#8221; We contacted three temporary drivers, but they refused, so the then-preschool director, defendant Masuda, took over. There was a female dispatched employee in her 70s on the bus, but she entered &#8216;Arrive at school&#8217; into the preschool&#8217;s app without checking that Ms. A had gotten off. The homeroom teacher was aware of Ms. A&#8217;s absence, but assumed she was absent,&#8221; said a reporter from the society section of a national newspaper.</span></p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" The principal said he was &quot;sleep-deprived&quot; and &quot;felt sorry for her.&quot;"></div>
<div>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
</div>
<div></div>
<p>After the aforementioned parent briefing, a press conference was held at the preschool. At the beginning of the press conference, Masuda bowed his head and apologized, saying, &#8220;I would like to express my sincere apologies to the bereaved families of the children who died. He also expressed his intention to resign as director of the preschool. However, during the press conference, which lasted for two hours and 40 minutes, Masuda seemed to be taking it easy on everyone else. In response to a reporter&#8217;s request that he speak clearly, he responded, &#8220;I was sleeping and not drinking enough water.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I&#8217;m having trouble speaking due to lack of sleep and water, as well as my age. &#8230;&#8230; My throat is parched. I am human too.&#8221;</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I&#8217;m sorry you had to suffer so much. I felt sorry for her in that hot weather.</span></p>
<h2> I don&#8217;t even know his name.</h2>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p> When asked about his impression of Ms. A, he replied, &#8220;I don&#8217;t know the names of each of them,&#8221; and even misspelled her name as &#8220;B-chan.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> On the day of the incident, the temperature was 30.5°C and the humidity was 70%. The temperature inside the car was probably over 50°C. I heard that Mr. A looked really sad when he was found. &#8230;&#8230; The water bottle nearby was empty, without a drop of water. Perhaps he couldn&#8217;t stand the extreme heat, but he had taken off his clothes and was naked.</span></p>
<p> When asked about the cause of the incident, Masuda explained, &#8220;I was not used to driving.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> When asked about the cause of the incident, Masuda explained, &#8220;I was unfamiliar with driving. （I did not look behind me (with Mr. A in the car) and did the work on the driving record. Because of my age, I would forget the next thing I did.&#8221;</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I was in a hurry because I had another errand to run (to the hospital).&#8221;</span></p>
<p> Masuda also revealed that there had been &#8220;several times in a year&#8221; of pickup and drop-off problems in the past. It seems that the tragedy was caused by a careless checking system and a lack of a sense of responsibility at the top.</p>
<figure id="attachment_370298" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-370298" style="width: 5904px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="bf69d827"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/04/9e522b0bb6a37d6f61b3d6d20b9eb09f.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-370298" class="wp-caption-text"> Immediately after the incident, many flowers and juice were offered at the park.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_370301" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-370301" style="width: 6000px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="f7e858bb"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/04/d40aeaa85c1863e22fb833e0db18389e.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-370301" class="wp-caption-text"> The sheer number of offerings showed the seriousness of the incident. &#8230;&#8230;</figcaption></figure>


 Kyodo News, Jiji Press

 The trial for the death of a 3-year-old girl left on a bus at a kindergarten in Shizuoka Prefecture has begun. The child was left for about five hours under the blazing sun. The head of the kindergarten, who held a press conference, seemed to be somewhat concerned with other people's affairs. The following is a detailed report of the gushing press conference and the sad state of the girl when she was found.

The principal gave a press conference as if he were someone else, saying, &#8220;I&#8217;m only human.&#8221;&#8230; Girl left on a bus in the blazing sun, &#8220;too sad to see her when she was found.&#8221;

The principal gave a press conference as if he were someone else, saying, “I’m only human.”… Girl left on a bus in the blazing sun, “too sad to see her when she was found.”

Access Ranking