A 13-year-old boy was found dead in the courtyard of a condominium building in Kobe early Friday morning, and police said they suspect he jumped off the building on the day his school resumed after summer vacation.
The boy was last seen by his mother studying at around 1 a.m., and his parents told police the boy seemed anxious because he had not finished his summer homework assignment, police officials said.
The junior high school student was found bleeding from his head by another resident of the building in Suma Ward, where the boy lived with his family, at around 4:50 a.m.
The junior high school the boy went to said it made students submit their homework on Aug. 25 and told those who had not yet finished to turn it in on Friday.
The school principal said: "The student was good-natured and serious. I have not heard that he was bullied. It is sad and painful when I think about his family."
Trio in group suicide
Three women were found dead Friday in a car parked off a road in a forest in western Tokyo in a suspected group suicide, police said.
Three charcoal braziers were found inside the rental car and it is believed the women died from carbon monoxide poisoning, they said. No suicide notes were found.
Police found the three, all believed to be in their 20s, at around 6 a.m. inside the car parked in Okutama.
One of the women is believed to be a company employee from Tokyo's Ota Ward. She sent a friend an e-mail Thursday evening that said, "I took pills. I will become unconscious soon."
The friend called police, who started a search.