Though the case broke nearly four months ago, Yamada's motives are no clearer. She has confessed to the crime and apologized to the victim's family. The unresolved picture hasn't inhibited the pundits. Yamada's story depicts exactly the situation of non-working mothers these days, says Higuchi Keiko, a popular commentator on women's issues and director of the newly opened Center for the Advancement of Working Women. It is not surprising, she adds, that Yamada had not talked to her husband about the problem she faced with other mothers or the school.
Many Japanese men are absentee parents.
There is a class element to the education issue. That takes a big chunk out of the average household budget. Even more infuriating to people like her, poorer students sometimes pass the entrance exams while scions of wealthy families fail to make the grade. The system has produced an increasing number of clients for psychiatrist Machizawa. One of his patients, a young mother, came close to having a nervous breakdown because of the snobbery and bullying she encountered from mothers of other preschoolers.