The successive murders of two first-grade elementary schoolgirls in Hiroshima and Tochigi prefectures who went missing on their way home from school have sent alarm bells ringing across the nation. The brutal killings have raised security concerns particularly among parents with children of similar ages, highlighting an urgent need to protect schoolchildren from danger on their routes to and from school.
It appears that the long-held "safety myth" about Japanese society is collapsing like a house of cards. About a year ago, in November 2004, a first grader who attended an elementary school in Nara Prefecture was also murdered on her way home. The question in everyone's mind is why young innocent schoolgirls have been targeted.
The future of our schools and education, and of our society as a whole, is bleak if the safety of schoolchildren is not guaranteed. Now is the time to consider how to establish effective safety measures for them. Schools and communities must take the lead in working out concrete ways to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents.