A Tale of Two Care Home Crimes in Japan [Podcast Episode]

By Barrier Free Japan

October 17 2025

JAPAN – In December 2022, a 38-year-old female resident of a support facility for people with disabilities in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, died after suffering severe burns during a bath assisted by staff. On October 15, police referred three employees of the “Hitakami-en” facility—a male supervisor and two female caregivers—to prosecutors on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in death. According to the facility’s accident report, although the surface temperature of the bathwater was measured at 40°C, it had not been stirred, and the actual temperature is believed to have been around 50°C. The woman was in the bath for five minutes before being transported to a hospital, where she died three days later.

Two female residents of an elderly care facility in Tsurugashima in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, were confirmed dead Wednesday morning, hours after they were found bleeding and unconscious there. At around 4:55 a.m., an emergency call from the facility reported the two women lying injured. They were taken to a hospital, where they were pronounced dead. Investigating the case as a possible murder, the Saitama prefectural police department apprehended a former facility employee in his 20s on Wednesday morning.

Episode notes:

‘Three Care Workers Referred to Prosecutors Over Fatal Burn Incident at Miyagi Care Facility’:

Three Care Workers Referred to Prosecutors Over Fatal Burn Incident at Miyagi Care Facility

‘2 Women Found Bleeding at Saitama Elderly Care Facility Die, Former Employee Arrested’:

(Update) 2 Women Found Bleeding at Saitama Elderly Care Facility Die, Former Employee Arrested