Kumamoto: Catholic hospital against TV series that discriminates against "abandoned children"
Tokyo (AsiaNews) - In order to stop discrimination against abandoned children, the Jikei Catholic Hospital in the city of Kumamoto, southern Japan, has called on national broadcaster Nippon Television Network (NTN) to stop a weekly drama series that focuses on children abandoned at such health care facilities.
"What we are concerned about now is not just children among families in general but caring for the wounded hearts of children who were abused at their homes before they joined children's care facilities," the hospital said in a statement.
Titled Mama Ashita Ga Inai (Mamma won't be here tomorrow), the drama series deals with violated childhood. "Among those who were abused are cases of those who cannot escape from the impacts of trauma."
In the series, children are called "post" and "locker" for the places where they left by their mothers.
Another word is "donki", or "blunt instrument" in Japanese, because in one episode a mother hits her boyfriend with such a tool and was arrested before her daughter was brought to live in a care facility.
However, such words "stick into the hearts of the abused children like blades and can cause flashbacks", the hospital said.
The protection of life and the defence of abandoned children are strongly felt in Japan, a country with the lowest birth rate in the world.
In November 2006, the Jikei Catholic Hospital installed a 'baby box' to save babies from abortion and abuse, and this despite government opposition.
The 'box', which includes a baby hatch, allows mothers in difficulty to leave their children in safety.
Although the modern "foundling wheel" has proved successful, it has not cut the number of abortions or abandoned minors.
When the 'baby box' was first installed, Shinzo Abe was prime minister in a previous administration.
Last year, after Abe came back to power, his government called on Japanese people to do more to boost the birth rate since the country's "nests" are increasingly empty, threatening its economic well-being as well as workers' pension plans.
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01/02/2019 17:07
