[Without listening to my wishes] ……..First Daughter’s Letter Draws Criticism “Shinnosuke Abe’s Assault Trouble” Serious Reality of the Child Guidance Center

On the evening of May 25, news spread quickly that Shinnosuke Abe, 47, manager of the Yomiuri Giants (now resigned), had assaulted his eldest daughter (18) at his home and “was arrested by the police after a report from the child guidance center.

Amid the public uproar, Mr. Abe held a press conference the next day, where he tearfully admitted the assault and apologized. In addition to announcing his resignation, a letter “written by his eldest daughter” was read out by a lawyer present at the meeting.

I consulted with ChatGPT, and they recommended that I report the incident to the Child Guidance Center.

[Joon’s father was arrested in front of me, and my father was arrested in front of me, and my father was arrested in front of me.

My father was arrested right in front of me, and I broke down in tears.

The contents of the article sparked bashing, with comments such as, “The Child Guidance Center has changed Director Abe’s life,” and “I can’t believe they would call the police over a quarrel between father and son. Some celebrities and commentators also voiced criticism , saying that it was too much.

Baseball fans, shocked by Abe’s sudden resignation, may be tempted to say with some sarcasm, ” The Child Guidance Center went out of its way. It is understandable that parents with adolescent children might think, “If the police are called for this, I won’t be able to discipline my child. But did the Child Guidance Center really “go too far”?

My excessive explanation of the situation.

As a long-time reporter of abuse cases, I think the biggest reason the Child Guidance Center was singled out for criticism was the fact that it “reported the case to the police.

The Child Guidance Center is an administrative agency that provides support to “children” between the ages of 0 and 18, and Abe’s eldest daughter, who is 18 years old, or an “adult,” is not a target of the center in principle. Even so, if a child reports that he or she has been assaulted by the father, the child cannot be left unattended. Based on our experience in the past, we would at least ask her what kind of assault she was subjected to and whether her father was still around.

In her letter, the eldest daughter wrote, “My excessive explanation of the situation has caused the content of the news report to differ from the facts. If the letter is correct, the “excessive explanation” was probably given at the time of the report to the Child Guidance Center.

If the father, who is usually a gentle man, became agitated and pushed the child down while he was drunk, he would not have been able to keep his cool. It is possible for anyone to give an “excessive explanation of the situation” without being able to sort out their feelings, and the eldest daughter was not at fault in any way.

However, from the child guidance center’s perspective, it is difficult to judge whether the explanation is excessive or not just from the exchange of conversation. If they feel some urgency in the eldest daughter’s words, their first priority is the safety of the victim. This is the most basic of basics.

Some people say that the Child Guidance Center staff should have rushed to the home instead of the police, but the report was made after 7:00 p.m., which is after hours, and there are only a limited number of staff available to respond. The Child Guidance Center does not have emergency vehicles such as police cars, and considering the possibility that it would be “too late,” it was a natural decision to cooperate with the police.

The child never told me the truth.”

In response to the letter from the eldest daughter , “You didn’t listen to my wishes,” some criticize , “Why did you disregard her feelings? Of course, it is important to listen carefully to what the person concerned has to say and confirm his or her intentions, but there are limits to what can be done in the “initial response” stage.

As mentioned above, the first priority must be placed on urgency. In addition, there are many cases of child abuse in which the child does not tell the truth. Even if a child has been beaten by a parent and has bruises all over his or her body, the child may say, “I fell and hit myself. Even though they are neglected and starved, they say, “I love my father and mother. I want to live with them forever.”……

Child Guidance Centers routinely deal with children who are afraid of being harmed and make up stories that are not true. Even if the eldest daughter communicates her “intention,” if she does not have the concern that her parents may be forcing her to say it, she will not be able to save a child who is truly in a critical situation.

On the other hand, behind the public bashing may be a deep-seated distrust of child guidance centers. It is inevitable that some people have harshly criticized the Child Guidance Centers, saying that they are over-sensitive in dealing with quarrels between parents and children, but overlook serious cases of abuse.

In fact, there have been many cases in which children could not be saved due to the ineptitude of child guidance centers: In 2019, a fourth-grade girl died in Noda City, Chiba Prefecture, after being routinely assaulted by her father. The girl, who was taken into the temporary shelter of the Child Guidance Center after her school reported the abuse, complained to the staff about the physical and sexual abuse , saying that she thought her father was going to kill her and that he pulled down her pants.

However, the Child Guidance Center returned the girl to her home three months after her temporary custody without holding a judgment meeting as required by the national guidelines. The child welfare center also neglected to cooperate with the city government and the school, and did not even make a home visit when the girl was absent from school for a long period of time after that.

In 2025, a male employee of a temporary shelter in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, committed indecent acts against a teenage boy, including removing his clothes and taking voyeuristic pictures of his buttocks. Earlier this year, a male employee in his 20s at a child guidance center in Koshigaya City, Saitama Prefecture, was arrested for engaging in multiple acts of nonconsensual sexual intercourse with a teenage girl in a temporary shelter.

The Child Guidance Center has been attracting attention in the wake of Abe’s domestic troubles. We will continue to look into the realities and true feelings of the staff and the children who have been in their custody.

In Part 2, we will introduce the harsh reality of abuse through the testimonies of Child Guidance Center staff and children who have been victims of such abuse.

Part 2: Child Guidance Center Staff and Victims Testify that “Father’s ‘Hobby’ is Domestic Violence,” Harsh Abuse Scenes