ABDUCTIONS, BEATINGS, DECAPITATIONS

One of my favorite news sites is Japan's Mainichi Daily News, but perusing its headlines on Monday was like opening a super-special door into hell. It was on apocalyptic headline after another.

Woman locked teenage daughter at home for 10 years
Her brother and sister went to school, teachers visited her home to try to get her mom to let her come to class, and yet no one did anything for 10 years until she escaped and wound up living in public parks.

Police believe killer of 7-year-old girl cased abduction scene
The Peruvian guy who says the devil possessed him and caused him to kill a little girl while he was distracted by thoughts of his own daughter back in the old country turns out to have been a little less impromptu than he claimed. In fact, he was seen casing the playground beforehand.

Man attempted to abduct girl from Osaka school by posing as her guardian
He convinced teachers he was legit by using his target's first and last name, but the tot was smart and ran away.

Man collared for faking nose injury to swindle store
He sez a piece of furniture hit him in the nose...but he lied!

Fake doctor arrested for working at 20 hospitals
Killing patients since 1997.

Carpenter busted for making obscene phone calls to girl he found through pen pal ad
She wanted to talk about animated films, but he wanted her to take off her clothes.

Truck driver nabbed for beating young son of live-in girlfriend
"The boy kept food in his mouth for a long time and couldn't swallow it, so I got infuriated," says the defendant. The kid now has permanent brain damage. That'll learn him.

Man nabbed for drugging teen schoolgirls with sleeping medicine
Then he just drove them around in his car.

3 construction firms face investigation for falsifying building strength data
208 properties are under investigation. 23 of them may not even exist.

Hated comic may have last laugh with unlikely career revival
He's barely performed this year, but some producers view the total contempt audiences have for him as a sort of reverse popularity. More offers are suddenly in his future.

Spiteful slave drivers strike subjugated staff
Complaints of workplace violence - delivered from bosses to their staff - have doubled since 2001. And that's not even counting complaints from people like a Fukui man who was beaten and kicked by his boss and a Nagoya man whose boss attacked him when he refused to accompany him for an after-work beer. Why? Because the former is dead and the latter is still in the hospital.

But there is some hope. On the same front page is the following headline:
Survey finds 75 percent of young people unenthusiastic about work
Really? But...but why?

Mainichi Daily News - providing a brand new glimpse of human suffering every day.