How the children of Japan's single mothers have become an underclass

While Japan's overall population is declining, the number of single-mother households in the country rose by about 50 per cent

The beating of a 4-year-old boy on Christmas Eve went on through the night. Covered with bruises and having suffered catastrophic internal bleeding, he was pronounced dead at a hospital. Soon after, his mother and her two boyfriends were arrested.

While the news of the child’s death sparked outrage and horror in Japan’s media, Orie Ikeda, a single mother of two, says she can understand how such a brutal assault occurred in Minoh, the affluent dormitory town near where she lives.

“It could have been me,” she said quietly. “I didn’t abuse my children only because I was lucky.”

Ikeda managed to get