2-Year-Old Girl Trapped in Car on Hot Day, Crying... Japanese Dad Filming YouTube

Apology Video on YouTube After Controversy
"I Will Take a Break from YouTube for a While" Expresses Intention to Reflect

A Japanese YouTuber is facing public outrage for filming a video instead of immediately rescuing their young child who was trapped and crying inside a car on a hot day.

On the 4th (local time), Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that a video titled "My daughter trapped in a car under the burning sun" was uploaded on the YouTube channel 'raunano_family,' run by a Japanese couple. The channel has over 58,000 subscribers and mainly posts family videos featuring their children.

A video posted by a couple running the YouTube channel ‘raunano_family’ shows their 2-year-old daughter crying trapped inside a car.
[Photo by X Capture]

In the video, the husband, Mr. A, explains that they were on their way to pick up their son from kindergarten with their two daughters. After placing their 2-year-old eldest daughter Nanoka in the back seat and closing the door, an unexpected situation occurred while trying to seat the youngest daughter on the opposite side of the back seat. Nanoka, who had the car keys, locked the door from inside and became trapped in the car.

Mr. A shouted, "This is an emergency. Nanoka is trapped in the car. The car is locked, and she can't get out," but instead of immediately seeking help, he began filming his daughter's reactions. In the video, the daughter is seen crying continuously with a flushed face and soaked in sweat. Despite this, Mr. A continued filming and tried to teach his daughter how to open the car door rather than calling for rescue.

Later, Mr. A did not call the police but instead called a locksmith to open the car door. It was reported that the daughter was trapped inside the car for over 30 minutes.

Japanese netizens who saw the video expressed anger. Comments included, "The parents are crazy. It's shocking they could calmly record with a phone like that," "Is it good to make money risking your daughter's life?" and "Isn't this child abuse?"

As the controversy grew, the couple posted an apology video saying, "We are sorry for uploading such a video." Mr. A said, "I want to take a break from YouTube to think about how to take care of my child," adding, "I don't know how long it will take." The controversial video has been deleted from the couple's YouTube channel, and no new videos have been uploaded since the apology video on June 3rd.