OSAKA — The mother of a child who attends an Osaka elementary school where eight children were massacred earlier this month has said in a letter to Kyodo News that her child has yet to recover from the shock of witnessing the murders.
The woman, who requested anonymity, expressed anxiety in the letter over her child's future and said she is still struggling to explain the incident.
On June 8, Mamoru Takuma, 37, stormed the Ikeda Elementary School in Osaka. According to police, he stabbed eight children to death and wounded 13 others, along with two teachers.
Following Takuma's on-the-spot arrest, investigators said he confessed to the crime.
According to the letter, the woman's child, who witnessed some of the murders, has had trouble sleeping and refuses to go to school, calling it "scary."
The woman said she has followed the advice of counselors and has heaped physical affection on her child.
She is herself struggling to come to terms with the incident, however, and feels nauseous every time Takuma's face appears on television.
"Right now, I am thinking of being a little optimistic. . . . If not, my child will not be able to move forward," the letter says.
"(We) are in the middle of desperately mustering the strength to endure such absurdity.
"I have told my child, 'If you treat someone with compassion, that person will surely respond with the same kind of compassion,' but these words no longer seem credible to my child, after seeing the actions of the perpetrator." She said her child is most probably "shocked at the big gap between what I teach and reality."
The woman said she wrote the letter in order to have her sentiments — as well as those of the parents of the other schoolchildren and the schoolteachers — accurately conveyed to the public.