Photo/Illutration A nursery school pupil and her mother on Aug. 2 offer prayers near the site where a 5-year-old boy died of heatstroke inside a locked school bus in Nakama, Fukuoka Prefecture. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

“Danpu Encho Yattsuketa” (We defeated Mr. Dump, our principal), a beloved classic picture book for children co-authored by Taruhi Furuta and Seiichi Tabata, is set in a small nursery school.

One day, the children are taken to a not-too-distant mountain to play. They ride a trolley pushed by the principal clad in a sleeveless undershirt.

The illustration shows the youngsters sitting squeezed together, some laughing and others looking solemn. Everyone appears to be brimming with excitement for the game they are about to play.

I imagine a similar sense of happy anticipation is felt by many children riding the bus to their nursery school or kindergarten.

I could not at first believe the news that a 5-year-old boy died in a bus that was supposed to have taken him to his nursery school in Nakama, Fukuoka Prefecture.

Toma Kurakake reportedly died of heatstroke after being left alone in the locked bus for nine hours from morning to late afternoon.

The tragedy must have horrified any parent whose child takes a school bus.

Why didn’t school officials make sure there were no children still left on board? And when the boy did not show up at school, why did no one think to contact his parents?

Cuckoos lay eggs in the nests of other species to get the latter to raise their young.

Known as “brood parasitism,” this behavior boils down to duping other species, but this is totally different from humans entrusting the care of their children to others.

The arrangement works only if those people are considered trustworthy, and prove to be fully deserving of the trust.

In the storybook, the youngsters enjoy playing pirates in the mountain. There is an illustration of a trolley load of children snoozing contentedly on their way back to the nursery school.

The image reminded me anew that every young life entrusted to someone’s care is as fragile as an egg.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 2

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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