Sad News; Japanese father kills 12-year-old son over studies

A Japanese father stabbed his 12-year-old son to death after whining the boy was failing to study for a school entrance exam, media said Tuesday.

Kengo Satake, the boy’s 48-year-old father, told police that he “ argued for not examining” before a test to enter a private junior high school, public broadcaster NHK reported.

Competition for entrance to the best schools in Japan is intense. Entrance to a prestigious one is seen as having a decisive impact on a kid’s future prospects.

“The father stabbed his son in the chest with a kitchen knife,” a police spokesman said, declining to provide details of the motivation.

The dad was arrested after authorities got a call he said.

The son was planning to enter one of the top private schools in Aichi prefecture and he had been frequently scolded by his father over his studies, NHK said, citing people who have knowledge of the household.

The son’s mum was at work when the event happened, the Asahi Shimbun reported.