Japanese schoolgirl pushes boy off building

A Japanese schoolgirl was taken into police custody yesterday for pushing a 5-year-old boy off a building, reportedly to keep him from telling her mother she had taken him to a game arcade.

The boy suffered only minor injuries but the incident comes just weeks after an 11-year-old girl slashed a classmate to death and is likely to spark a fresh search for solutions to rising youth crime in a nation that once prided itself on its safety.

The girl in the latest incident, aged 13, told police she pushed the boy from a landing between the fourth and fifth floors of a Tokyo apartment building after they went to a game arcade together on Tuesday afternoon.

His fall was broken by bushes and he was treated in hospital for cuts and scratches. Police are treating the incident as an attempted murder.

The two reportedly knew each other and often visited the arcade together.