The recent fatal abuse of a 5-year-old girl in Tokyo once again highlights the shortcomings in the nation's system to protect children from abuse by their guardians. Laws have been updated so that more cases of child abuse come to the attention of authorities and more victims are placed under protection. Child welfare officials have been given greater powers to intervene in suspected cases of abuse. But some victims still face tragic ends as officials balk at taking action due either to resistance by the victims' guardians or to poor coordination between relevant authorities. The process that allowed the most recent tragedy should be scrutinized in order to identify what is lacking in our efforts to end child abuse.

Yua Funato died March 2 of sepsis caused by pneumonia at her home in Meguro Ward, Tokyo. She had reportedly been subjected to repeated physical abuse by her stepfather and died after being denied sufficient food or medical care — the victim weighed just 12 kg when she was found dead. The girl's 25-year-old mother and 33-year-old stepfather were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of fatal negligence of their duty as her guardians.

The family had just moved from Kagawa Prefecture in December. In Kagawa, the stepfather, Yudai Funato, was twice referred to prosecutors over suspected violence against the girl but was never charged — he had indicated contrition for hitting the girl to "discipline" her. The violence appeared to have been going on since 2016. The police, alerted by the family's neighbors, intervened and the girl was taken into protective custody by the local child welfare center — a process that was repeated a few times.