Gifted Originals

We can all think of times when something we cherish has been misplaced or even worse, thrown out, and the feeling of despair that then follows. For children, it’s a devastating discovery, but sooner or later they get over it (well, you hope).

So spare a thought for one Japanese mummy who threw away her son’s favourite toys. Rather than being angry for a few days or weeks, Yoshifumi Takabe, aged 30, burnt down the family home, claiming his mum’s actions had left him feeling “suicidal”. The blaze on August 9 last year completely destroyed their two-storey wooden house in Kasai, Hyogo prefecture, but no one was injured.

The toys, robots from the ‘Gundam’ animation series to be precise, were said to be enough to fill 300 boxes stacked to the ceiling. “The Gundam figures are like the partners I spend my life with,” he reportedly said after pleading guilty at western Kobe’s District Court.

“I wanted to die with them in a fire if they were to be thrown out.”

Now, Gifted Originals loves toys, but would we want to die with them in a fire? No, is the short and simple answer. Come on Takabe, yes we know toys are great fun but surely you can see that it’s time to step away from the robots and realise you have irrational attachment issues.