‘There was no village’: Japan’s troubling pattern of family murder-suicides - The Japan Times‘There was no village’: Japan’s troubling pattern of family murder-suicides

Akiko Hashiguchi is one of the few people in Japan to publicly share her personal experience with
muri shinjū under her own name. She has since been involved in parents’ support work and advocacy around developmental disorders. | COURTESY OF Akiko Hashiguchi
By
Mai YoshikawaStaff writer
May 18, 2026
For years, Akiko Hashiguchi was told she was failing as a mother.
Teachers criticized her parenting. Other parents distanced themselves. Relatives and strangers alike blamed her for her son’s behavior, which was only later understood to be linked to ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder).
She found herself constantly apologizing.
By her account, the criticism did not create a single rupture but steadily accumulated as small judgments that, over time, fostered a sense of total isolation in a society where asking for help is often difficult. By 2001, the pressure had become unbearable.
Hashiguchi, then 29, drove into the mountains of Shizuoka Prefecture with her 6-year-old son, intending to end both of their lives. In Japanese reporting, such incidents are often described as muri shinjū, a term used for situations involving people in close relationships in which one person kills another before taking their own lives.
“I placed my hands around my son’s neck,” Hashiguchi said, having resolved to kill him and then drive the car off a cliff. “But when he said, ‘I’m sorry for making you suffer, Mom,’ I suddenly came to my senses and let go.”

Hashiguchi and her son in 1995. She felt small judgments about her parenting from teachers, other parents and relatives steadily accumulated and fostered a sense of total isolation over time. | COURTESY OF Akiko Hashiguchi
A troubling pattern
Domestic murder-suicides are a recurring headline in Japan.
Muri shinjū is not a legal term, but a journalistic shorthand used in early reporting when circumstances are still unclear. It has become embedded in crime coverage, often involving families, couples and caregiver-dependent relationships.
The phrase combines shinjū (心中), originally used for love suicides (when partners choose to die by suicide together), and muri (無理), meaning forced — referring to deaths within intimate relationships in which the intent is not shared.
Japan’s Children and Families Agency classifies parent-child muri shinjū — including cases in which the parent survives — as deaths linked to child abuse, framing them as an extreme form of maltreatment.
Beyond official classification, they are often discussed in terms of how family distress is handled within the home in Japan. Financial hardship, caregiving exhaustion and mental health problems are frequently dealt with privately, with limited outside intervention until situations become severe.
In parent-child incidents, social expectations around resiliency, responsibility and self-restraint can intensify feelings of shame among those already under strain, particularly for mothers, with signs of withdrawal or exhaustion often only recognized in hindsight.
Keiko Ishii, a professor of cultural psychology at the University of Tokyo who studies help-seeking behavior, said studies suggest people in Japan may be more likely to worry about disrupting relationships, being criticized by others, or making situations worse by speaking openly about personal or family problems.
She added that social ties are shaped by expectations of reciprocity and harmony, along with anxiety about being excluded or damaging existing relationships.
“These concerns can make it harder for people to seek comfort or advice when they are struggling,” she said.
Ishii said her research suggests that people in Japan tend to interpret hardship as a deviation from social expectations or responsibilities — a view that can deepen shame, reduce empathy, and make both seeking and offering help less likely.
“Difficulties are often interpreted as personal responsibility or failure,” she said.
In response, new support efforts are beginning to emerge in Japan. One Tokyo-based program, “
Ikuji 119,” offers 24-hour assistance for parents in distress, dispatching trained childcare professionals to their homes within an hour of a phone call for a fee.
Social pressure
Still, cases like Hashiguchi’s close call continue to emerge across Japan, often recognized publicly only after tragedy has unfolded.
Earlier this month, police were investigating the deaths of a mother and her two children, ages 10 and 13, found inside a residence in the village of Achi in Nagano Prefecture. The mother reportedly died from drowning and the two children died from suffocation, in what is believed to be a possible murder-suicide.
In February in Hiroshima Prefecture, a 74-year-old woman was found dead in bed at home, while her 50-year-old daughter was found hanged at the same property. The case is being treated as a possible caregiving-related murder-suicide.
While the details differ, these cases often follow a familiar pattern when it comes to the public response: shock, brief attention, then a fade from headlines.
But the numbers show this is an ongoing reality.
A Children and Families Agency expert panel report shows that 549 children died in such incidents between 2007 and fiscal 2023, with children over the age of 6 accounting for the largest share. In the 12 months to March 2024, 65 children under 18 were suspected to have died from abuse, including 17 cases of filicide followed by suicide.
Parent-child murder-suicides occur in many countries, though studies suggest they are more often discussed as a distinct pattern in East Asia.
Research comparing cases across regions suggests that in East Asian contexts, these incidents are more often understood through ideas of family obligation, social pressure and familial unity, while in Western contexts similar cases are more commonly associated with mental illness, interpersonal conflict or domestic violence.
Finding support
One of the few people in Japan to publicly share her personal experience with muri shinjū under her own name, Hashiguchi has since been involved in parents’ support work and advocacy around developmental disorders.
She says her planned murder-suicide was an impulsive act that was shaped by social isolation and a lack of support outside her family, as well as a culture quick to judge mothers while reducing deeply personal struggles to textbook solutions.
“There was no village to raise a child in,” she said. “I just needed one person outside my family who would be there for me. If I had that, things might have been different. I think we can all be that for someone else.”

Akiko Hashiguchi and her son in September 2001 taken a month after his ADHD diagnosis. Her son now supports her decision to share her story, hoping it may help prevent another tragedy. | COURTESY OF Akiko Hashiguchi
Ishii said that preventing people from reaching a breaking point begins with addressing severe isolation. In Japan, she said, social ties have traditionally carried strong expectations of mutual obligation, sometimes enabling quiet, informal support such as checking in or simply being present. But she noted that rapid social change has made that kind of support harder, while formal systems do not always reach those most in need.
“Preventing severe isolation requires creating spaces where people can seek help without feeling they are imposing on others,” the professor said, adding that this can include environments where people from different backgrounds can mix and share everyday experiences.
Nearly a decade after the incident, Hashiguchi recalls breaking down as she spoke to her son about what happened — trying to leave him in the mountains, him chasing after the car and her attempt to strangle him — before she begged for forgiveness. He now supports her decision to share her story, hoping it may help prevent another tragedy.
“I know I will carry the guilt with me for the rest of my life,” Hashiguchi said. “But if my experience can stop even one parent from feeling completely alone, then I believe it has meaning.”
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If you or someone you know is in crisis and needs help, resources are available. In case of an emergency in Japan, please call 119 for immediate assistance. The
TELL Lifeline is available for those who need free and anonymous counseling at 0800-300-8355. For those in other countries, visit
International Suicide Hotlines for a detailed list of resources and assistance.