Japanese Urban Legends

Coin Locker

Also known as "Coin Locker Baby", this legend is of a tale that has to do with a mother abandoning her newborn child.

Coin lockers are public lockers in train stations that are opened either by coins or cards. Primarily in Japan and China, infants would be abandoned inside of these lockers. Some of them would be left in a locker alive, while others were killed by the parents before being locked inside. Some parents assumed that attendants would check the lockers and eventually discover their child, taking it away to an orphanage. However, there have been many instances where that isn't the case. The noisy atmosphere of a train station can easily drown out the weak cries of a child and the lockers can end up being airtight and unchecked. This has caused many children to die before they are discovered. These infants have been dubbed "coin-operated-locker babies".

Sadly, although many laws and measures have decreased these incidents, they still tend to happen. This year (2018), there was a case where a Japanese woman named Mao Togawa strangled her newborn daughter and hid the body in a suitcase. Then, she put it in a coin locker and continuously rented the locker on a daily basis, preventing anyone from using it. Eventually, they discovered the dead child because of the foul smell that came from the locker. To put it bluntly, this legend isn't about something of the past.

The popular story with this legend has a few different variations, but the details that are changed in each version are very insignificant so I won't bother mentioning every single one. Without further ado, here is the one variation that I decided to share:

There was once a young woman that fell in love with a handsome man. She thought that everything was going perfectly in their relationship and that nothing could go wrong. But one day, that dreamy fantasy came to an abrupt end when she discovered that she was pregnant. She knew they were too young to deal with a child, but the woman had hope that they could start a loving family anyways. When she told her boyfriend, he became furious. In a fit of rage, he broke up with her instantly and ditched her, leaving her to deal with the pregnancy alone.

She was afraid of the disappointment and anger her parents would have if she told them. She couldn't bear society judging her for having a baby at such a young age (single mothers in Japan typically face discrimination, and it is considered a humiliation to have a baby without being married). She felt as if nobody was there for her. Even though her friends kept on asking her what was wrong, she knew deep down that the secret would eventually get out if she told someone about her pregnancy. In the end, she decided to keep it a secret and wore baggy clothing to hide her swollen belly as the months progressed.

When the day came, she gave birth to the baby in her house, not daring to go to the hospital. She looked into her child's beautiful eyes as they fluttered open to the world around them. But no matter how hard she held her child, she became painfully aware of the reality that was clawing into her back. The dream she's always wanted- the hopes of having a happy family- were never going to come if she tried to raise the baby. Nobody would ever love her again, and she would be stuck in the labor force, slaving away each day to raise it. The only way she could have a bright future was to get rid of the problem.

As the baby raised out its hand for love, she knew what had to be done.

The next morning, she quietly put the baby in a bag and brought it down to the train station nearby. Nobody was around her when she eyed the dull row of coin lockers stacked against a wall. After a few minutes of silently staring, she opened up one of the lockers and set her baby inside of it. The baby began to squirm, uncomfortable from the cold metal it was set on.

"I'm sorry..." She muttered as she shut the door. She then left, leaving her child behind. On some days, she would convince herself that they probably found the baby by now. On darker days, she knew for certain that the baby died and was still alone in that locker.

For the first few months, she felt the overwhelming guilt of abandoning her own baby. However, with time, the guilt subsided. She began dating a man a few years later, and eventually married him. Of course, she would think about what had happened from time to time, but she felt as if it was the only thing she could've done- there was no turning back, after all. Her husband even started talking to her about possibly having a baby one day. She began to truly enjoy life again.

One day, the woman was passing through a train station. Through the crowd, she spotted a young boy who was crying in front of the coin lockers. He was alone, and everyone walked past him as he wailed, seemingly ignoring his cries. Concerned, she walked up to him and bent over, looking into his teary face.

"What are you doing here alone? Are you lost?" She asked.

The boy continued to cry, not answering her. She looked around again and saw nobody that seemed to be his parents.

"Where is your mother?"

The boy suddenly stopped crying and glared at her, his eyes burning with anger. He finally replied, hate tainting every word.

"It's you."

A few years later, the skeletal remains of a young woman and a baby were discovered in a coin locker.

This tale can be interpreted in a few different ways. Perhaps it exists to show how unforgivable the action is. Perhaps it was written to put a darker twist on the phenomenon. There's not really a true answer. If anyone has any unique views on this legend, please mention your thoughts and ideas in the comments. I'm also going to include a song known as "Coin Locker Baby" that has to do with the subject of coin locker babies, and so if you want to take a closer look at the topic, you can view the video below.