Neonatal abandonment (shinseiji-iki) refers to the act of abandoning a newborn infant shortly after birth in places such as parks or restrooms. When a mother kills the infant or in cases of stillbirth, this may constitute injury resulting in death, abandonment by a person responsible for protection resulting in death, or corpse abandonment, and is also referred to as "infanticide" in child abuse research. In Japan, infants aged 0 account for a high proportion of child abuse fatalities.
The background includes adolescent pregnancy, unwanted pregnancy and lack of sex education, and difficulty in accessing contraception and abortion, while a structure exists where only the women who abandon their babies are criticized. It has been pointed out that confidential birth, which is available in other countries, is only implemented in Japan at limited facilities through voluntary activities of maternity hospitals. There are issues related to reproductive health and rights. The "International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education" created primarily by UNESCO and WHO has not been incorporated into Japanese education, and in March 2025, the Japan Federation of Bar Associations issued a statement calling for comprehensive sexuality education based on these standards to be included in the Course of Study.
Obstetricians and gynecologists have stated that it is not uncommon for men to refuse contraception even when both parties do not want children. In 2022, in Kanagawa Prefecture alone, four mothers were arrested on suspicion of abandoning infant corpses, highlighting the need to strengthen support systems for women who give birth in isolation. During the 1980s, a number of infant deaths occurred in coin‑operated lockers in Japan, and the children involved came to be referred to as ‘Coin-operated-locker babies.’
Overview In Japan, infants aged 0 account for a high proportion of child abuse fatalities. Over many years, more than half of children who die from abuse have been infants aged 0. According to a report by the Rainbow Center for Children, which conducts analysis of child abuse, for convenience, all killings and abuse deaths of infants aged 0 are broadly referred to as "infanticide", and among these, killings within the first 24 hours after birth are specifically called "neonaticide". Additionally, in legal and police terminology, the killing of infants under one year of age is referred to as "infanticide".
As of October 2025, according to the most recent statistics, it has been reported that 9 babies died on the day of birth in 2023, and over the past 20 years, 185 babies have died on day 0 of life. In fiscal year 2023, excluding murder-suicides, there were 48 abuse deaths nationwide. Of these, 18 were newborns less than one month old, and 15 were abandoned immediately after birth and died. These 15 babies were abandoned immediately after birth and died, and there exists an isolated birth problem where their mothers gave birth in isolated situations due to unexpected pregnancies and were unable to consult with those around them, leading to abandonment. Furthermore, at "Ninshin Sotto SOS Yamanashi" operated by the social welfare corporation Kosodate-chi Hattatsu no Sato in Kai City, 252 people consulted over a five-year period, and there is an adolescent pregnancy problem where those aged 17 and under, including high school and junior high school students, accounted for the largest proportion at 30% of consultants.
Cases
Fatal cases Multiple incidents of abandonment involving birth in toilets have occurred in various locations. Corpse abandonment at garbage collection sites has also occurred. In 2010, an 18-year-old high school senior in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo was arrested, and in May 2024, the body of a male infant was found in Yokohama. There are also cases of home births where bodies are hidden in closets. Cases where multiple infant bodies are discovered have occurred, with cohabiting family members testifying they were unaware.
In July 2025, an unemployed 17-year-old girl in Fukuoka City who gave birth at home, put the body in a garbage bag and abandoned it near the entrance, stated "I wanted someone to find it and hold a memorial service". In December 2024, a 30-year-old restaurant worker in Okinawa City abandoned a newborn's body on her home premises after giving birth. She was arrested after cohabiting family members who were unaware of the pregnancy reported it. In April of the same year, a 25-year-old woman was arrested for killing her child at her home in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture and burying the body in a flower bed at her family home in Hokuto, Hokkaido. During the trial, it was revealed that as a minor, she had an abortion in the third year of junior high school and committed a juvenile neonatal abandonment offense after isolated birth in her first year of high school. She received a prison sentence of 6 years.
Incidents of burying bodies in parks have occurred in Osaka Prefecture by a 23-year-old mother in August 2025, in Tokyo by a 23-year-old mother in November 2019, and in Yokohama by a 20-year-old mother in November 2022. All were employed as part-time workers. One case involved a male and female prefectural high school student conspiring to bury a body in vacant land in Hiratsuka. In 2025, a 17-year-old part-time worker mother in Ishikari City gave birth at home, packed the infant's body in a bag and left it on someone else's property and was arrested. Cohabiting family members were unaware. In October of the same year, a 19-year-old part-time worker was arrested for abandoning the body of a female infant with umbilical cord attached in vacant land in Kakamigahara.
Murder
Isolated birth, willful negligence and abandonment In September 2025, the trial of a 25-year-old man was held at Maebashi District Court in Gunma Prefecture for allegedly proposing to place the child in a facility after a cohabiting woman gave birth at home in 2022, then killing the infant in the bathroom and abandoning the body at the apartment's garbage collection site. He admitted to the charges.
In 2016 in Tochigi Prefecture, a 16-year-old high school girl was arrested on suspicion of murder for giving birth in a station toilet and abandoning the infant in a parking lot. She stated she did not want anyone to know about the pregnancy or birth.
In 2022, Aichi Prefectural Police arrested an unemployed 21-year-old man and 20-year-old woman on suspicion of corpse abandonment for leaving an infant's body at a hotel in a busy district of Nagoya. Both acknowledged being the child's parents and said they were troubled because they had no money. In April 2025 in Ueda, Nagano Prefecture, a 16-year-old high school girl was arrested for abandoning a baby's body at home. She was later re-arrested on suspicion of murder for recognizing the possibility of death.
Isolated birth, murder Although not abandonment, multiple infanticide cases by high school students after isolated birth have occurred. In 2021, a 17-year-old high school girl was arrested on suspicion of killing her child with scissors after giving birth in a toilet at a commercial facility in Tochigi Prefecture.
In August 2025, an 18-year-old part-time worker woman and a 19-year-old construction worker man were arrested on suspicion of killing a newborn baby girl weighing approximately 4,200 grams by putting her in a garbage bag, tying it shut and suffocating her. In September 2025 in Toshima Ward, Tokyo, a 22-year-old female employee was arrested on suspicion of strangling her child to death after giving birth in the toilet of the girls bar where she worked.
Isolated birth, murder, abandonment In April 2022, the body of a bagged infant was found at a garbage disposal area in an apartment building in Kawasaki. A 24-year-old woman with parents from Thailand and borderline intellectual functioning was unable to consult with her cohabiting 24-year-old male partner about her pregnancy and drowned the baby after isolated birth in the bathroom. The man testified that he also bore responsibility. The woman received a suspended sentence and later married him.
Survival cases In August 2013, a baby with umbilical cord attached was found wrapped in a towel and left at a garbage disposal site, and a third-year junior high school girl was arrested on suspicion of abandonment by a person responsible for protection.
In June 2024, a 22-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of attempting to kill a baby she gave birth to at the residence of a cohabiting man in Nerima Ward, Tokyo, by abandoning it in a nearby residential garbage bin. The child was discovered by chance and protected, and it was revealed at trial that the woman had searched for information about prison sentences for neonatal abandonment. In August 2025 in Naha, a 33-year-old mother was arrested on suspicion of abandonment by a person responsible for protection after an infant was left in shrubbery.
History Such incidents have continued to occur in the 2020s. Meanwhile, in modern times, infants may be placed in a surviving state at "Kōnotori no Yurikago" (Stork's Cradle), also known as a baby hatch, which opened in 2007, or at infant protection facilities. Saitama Medical University's Yoshimura Koichi and colleagues conducted forensic analysis of 729 cases of "sudden infant death" discovered in Tokyo's 23 wards over 13 years from 1964, and observed a declining trend in infanticide.
Multiple international studies and reports from Japan indicate that unwanted or unplanned pregnancies can be a risk factor for suicidal ideation and suicidal behavior during pregnancy and postpartum. International systematic reviews point out that the risk of suicide during the perinatal period is relatively higher in young women and those with a history of mental illness.Cite journal |last=Reid |first=S. |title=Maternal Suicide Ideation and Behaviour During Pregnancy and the Postnatal Period: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis |journal=Archives of Women's Mental Health |year=2022 |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=749–764 |doi=10.1007/s00737-022-01245-8 |pmc=8987004 |access-date=2025-09-20
In Japan, a survey of Tokyo's 23 wards confirmed 63 suicides by women during pregnancy and within one year after childbirth between 2005 and 2014, positioning suicide as one of the main causes of maternal mortality. Domestically, between 2022 and 2024, there were 162 pregnant and postpartum women who died by suicide during pregnancy or within one year after childbirth. It is analyzed that unwanted pregnancies and relationships with partners psychologically affected them as main factors.
Background
Environment surrounding pregnant women and their characteristics It has been pointed out that many cases involve pregnant women who face problems such as indifference from cohabiting family members, inability to consult with cohabiting family members, lack of knowledge about pregnancy and childbirth, absence of someone to consult with, and ignorance of where to seek consultation.
Dr. Hasuda, director of Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto, which operates Kōnotori no Yurikago, states that women who use "confidential birth" or who kill or abandon their newborns share a common trait of stubbornly hiding their pregnancy and birth, often have poor parent-child relationships due to abuse, and have a high degree of isolation. In the current situation, the child's right to know their birth origins is subordinated to the priority of preserving life.