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Three siblings lived for up to three years with what is thought to be the skeleton of their mother, police in Japan said Thursday, with a report adding they believed she had not died but become a god.
The three -- two women aged 59 and 52 and their 65 year-old brother -- have denied that they conspired to abandon a body, a crime under Japanese law, because they say their 88-year-old mother is still alive.
"Our mother has become a god. She is not dead but is in the process of being elevated into a higher being," they told officers in Usa, Oita Prefecture, according to Jiji Press.
A police spokesman told AFP they were awaiting final confirmation but believed the skeleton was that of a woman who would be 88 if she were still alive.
"We discovered today from an autopsy that the skeletonised body is that of a female who died two or three years ago, but we have to wait for the results if a DNA test to confirm her identity," the spokesman said.
© (C) 2013. AFP
34 Comments
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kimuzukashiiiii
Oh i see... well that makes it alright then....
hereforever
Another pension collecting scam?
Himajin
Sounds like they were a member of that cult that used to leave people to mummify, can't think of the name. They predicted how soon the person would become a god by the colors the body turned, and the fluids. Ick.
Okinawamike
Well my mom is a Saint, but to keep her body lying around? Creepy!
Sure it wasn't about the government money?
nath
I'm sure that place smelled great.
some14some
they might be right, she was God for them if she was blessing them with her pension money :)
Mirai Hayashi
creepy
timtak
Psycho Ⅲ
SauloJpn
As long as the money is coming in and no one is the wiser... Psycho is strong in the three!!!
timtak
But seriously, to believe that ones' dead relatives are in the process of being elevated into a higher being, in the process of becoming a (Japan style, one of many) God is a bog-standard, traditional Shinto view. But normally one has no need of the body.
ikemen
Not sure which is sadder. Three unmarried siblings believing the staying with their mother's skeleton while she becomes a god, or three unmarried siblings being so hard up for money that they stay with their mother's skeleton to collect pension money.
Put it this way, living with my two unmarried sisters and my mother's skeleton is pretty much my idea of hell.
As much as these three sound completely weird, you have to wonder how they were brought up.
Maybe the mother bad brainwashed them? I love Japan. 90% of the people are completely normal and boring. But the other ten percent are off the planet crazy.
Bogi
I wonder if JT has enough space in their tab bar at the top for a new category, "Disturbing News". There's certainly enough content these days.
Kimokekahuna Hawaii
How did this horror movie come to light.. who found the body. How about some stories about beauty, happiness, unselfish people helping each succeed in Japan.
Ebereson
Yes,that's another pension scam.
Jeff Ogrisseg
I agree with Himajin on the cult thing. Can't recall the name either or get the Japan Times search engine to cooperate this morning. But this is a lot more common than you think. Tokyo is home to hundreds of cults and quasi-religions, some of them quite dangerous.
Disillusioned
This is either a very imaginative way of trying to get out of being charged for claiming her pension or a seriously deranged family.
Ewan Huzarmy
Sound like the family in 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'.
Azusa Suzie
Ikemen, ”I love Japan. 90% of the people are completely normal and boring. But ten percent are off the planet crazy”. Wow,,.
isoducky
@Disillusioned I think it was the latter and also your screen name 'phrasing'
JoshuYaki
I get the insurance scam thing. I just try to imagine if there were actually people (3 of them in one house) who did believe that the festering carcass had become a god.
You would have to considering that's 3 hot Japanese summers with the decomposing body in the room. Phew...
rickyvee
more importantly, what are three 50- and 60-year old siblings doing living together?
Nonubusiness
Mommy was becoming a Mummy!
25psot
If Police come 20 yeas later there could be one alive and three dead.
Goals0
Here's a Japanese TV news item on this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqUR_KK-bXg
From elsewhere it seems the city authorities tried to check up two years ago but never got to meet the mother, who was said to be 'genki'.
Kapuna
They lived with the body of their "dead" mother, how can they be charged with "abandoning" a body?
Zen student
Yes I agree Kapuna, it is a very odd use of the word 'abandon'. Maybe only in the sense of 'abandoning their duty'? - to help get her off the ground and help put her in it. Or maybe cremation is against their religion? :) Who knows.............but what a stench to put up with, geez.
Francis Urquhart
Er...the article doesn't mention pension money. Who is saying it was collected?
I'm more bothered about the rotting corpse. Surely it must have smelled!
Dilbert14
Not everyone can afford the costs of funerals and as long as costs are not backed by government, we will see these kinds of cases.
Pat Fonta
they should have called for a professional italian cleaner to get rid of the body !.
Ramires Bourguignon Ferreira
RIP the "god of pension"!
Hellsvien
How is it a body abandonment when they kept her home...lol they should be jailed for "being crazy".
602miko
crazy creatures