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)

 

After the aforementioned parent explanation session, a press conference was held at the nursery. At the beginning, Defendant Masuda bowed and apologized, saying, “I sincerely apologize to the deceased child and the bereaved family.” He expressed intentions to resign as principal. However, during the lengthy 2-hour and 40-minute press conference, Masuda seemed somewhat detached from the matter.

“Due to lack of sleep and dehydration, and considering my age, my voice doesn’t come out easily. My throat is dry. I am human too.”

“To Ms. A, I caused you a lot of suffering. It was pitiful in that heat.”

 

“I was in a rush for the next appointment.”

Despite participating in a press conference to apologize to Ms. A and her family, who were left in the scorching hot car, Masuda shocked many with his statement about his “dry throat.” When asked about his impression of Ms. A, he admitted, “I don’t even know each person’s name,” and at one point, he even mistakenly called someone “B-chan.”

“The temperature on the day of the incident was 30.5℃, with humidity around 70%. The temperature inside the car was likely over 50℃. When Ms. A was found, she was in a truly tragic state. The nearby water bottle was completely empty, not a drop of water left. It seems she couldn’t endure the extreme heat, as she was reportedly found half-naked, having removed her clothes.”

When asked about the cause of the incident, Defendant Masuda offered this explanation.

“I was inexperienced in driving. I was working on recording without looking behind (where Ms. A was). At my age, I tend to forget things after doing the next task.”

“I had an appointment to go to the hospital and was in a rush.”

Defendant Masuda also revealed that there had been several incidents of transportation troubles per year in the past. It seems the tragedy was brought about by a lax checking system and a lack of responsibility at the top.