Have you seen the Japanese film Nobody Knows (Dare mo shiranai)? I have questio

Question:

Have you seen the Japanese film Nobody Knows (Dare mo shiranai)? I have questions.?

Since this was based on a true story, does anyone out there know what happened to the children and did their mother ever return?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

The film was actually inspired by a true story (not based) and thus was a fictionalized version. It nonetheless is a heartbreaking story and apparently less grim than the actual events.

The real story took place in the late 1980's and came to be known as the affair of the four abandoned children of Sugamo. The children, (including a fifth that died soon after birth) were abandoned by their mother for 6 month or so, and left to fend for themselves. The youngest child ended up being killed by a friend of the eldest child and her body was buried by the friend and the elder child. The children were not registered and did not attend school. Their existence only came to be known when apparently the landlord called the police.

What the police found shocked the nation--severely malnourished children and the body of the fifth infant who died after birth in a closet. After much publicity and news coverage, the mother turned herself in (recognizing that this could be her own children) and only got 3 years in prison and 4 years probation. The eldest child, who was apparently not present when his sibling was killed by his friend, was held responsible for assisting in burying the body and taken to a care facility.

I don't know what became of the children afterwards and where and what they are doing now. But this incident sickens me and it breaks my heart that all the adults that should have been paying attention, failed them. It truly does take a village to raise a child.