Former Kindergarten Director Shockingly Utters Words After Child’s Death in Hot Car

“I will sincerely take the responsibility.”

Through his lawyer, the defendant had issued this comment, and it has now been revealed that he will not appeal.

In September ’22, a three-year-old girl, Miss A, who attended the Kawasaki Kindergarten, a certified children’s garden in Makinohara City, Shizuoka Prefecture, was left in a school bus and died. Masuda Tatsuyoshi, the former director who received a sentence of 1 year and 4 months in prison for negligent manslaughter, does not intend to appeal, as confirmed on July 7th. This was reported by various media outlets including Kyodo News. Thus, the sentence is now final.

‘FRIDAY Digital’ reported extensively on the highly negligent incident that claimed the life of a young girl in an article published on September 9th, ’22. Here, we revisit some of Masuda’s unbelievable actions immediately following the incident (with some content modified).

Parents in Panic

“On the way to kindergarten on the bus, she was looking forward to it. How did it come to this?”

At a parent briefing held on September 7th, ’22, the father of the deceased girl reportedly spoke with anger, his voice trembling. About 110 people attended. At the venue, panicked parents broke down in tears, and 13 people were taken to the hospital due to hyperventilation and other symptoms.

The incident occurred on September 5th. Miss A was left behind and died inside the shuttle bus of Kawasaki Kindergarten. The bus arrived at the kindergarten shortly before 9 AM, but due to negligence in checking by staff, Miss A was left unattended inside the vehicle for over five hours under scorching temperatures exceeding 30°C.

“On that day, the bus driver took a day off. They contacted three substitute drivers but were declined, so the then principal, Defendant Masuda, acted as the driver. A woman in her 70s from a dispatch company was on the bus, but it seems they entered ‘arrival at the nursery’ into the school’s app without checking if Ms. A had gotten off. The homeroom teacher recognized Ms. A’s absence but mistakenly thought she was absent.” (National newspaper social affairs reporter)