Fathers and mothers starving their infants, grown children hiding the deaths of parents and living off their pensions, the elderly dying of heat stroke alone in their rooms — recently Japan has seen a wave of incidents casting doubt on the strength of family and community ties.

Particularly shocking was the discovery July 30 of the small bodies of a 3-year-old girl and 1-year-old boy abandoned by their mother in an Osaka apartment. Left with no food or drink from late June, the children were also neglected by local officials who, for reasons of bureaucratic procedure, did not enter the apartment in spite of reports from neighbors of crying children.

The case brought renewed attention to child abuse in Japan and the isolation of many young mothers. Readers of subsequent media reports on the life of this young mother, Ms. Sanae Shimomura, could also catch hints of another all-too-common family problem in Japan — that of the absentee father. It turns out that Ms. Shimomura, married at 19 and divorced some three years later, was the daughter of a well-known high school rugby coach who had divorced when she was young and seems to have devoted the majority of his time and attention to his team.