71-year-old woman arrested for keeping dead mother’s body in apartment for 18 months

She may have needed the money to live on, but I'm not buying that I couldn't afford a funeral excuse. City Hall would help you with those expenses. it's more truthful that she didn't want to report the death so she could keep collecting the pension

She should be forced to pay it all back. It's ghastly what she did. No one noticed the smell?

I’ll respect that some people have tougher lives than others. She’s 71! She didn’t report the death as she needed the money to survive. It’s an unpleasant feeling to be living with your mother’s dead body anyway.

We don't always know their situations, but pensions are not really a lot. It is extremely hard for a 71 year old to start over. There is not a lot of work out there for her. She was also going to be homeless once the apartment was demolished. If she never had any children, she could truly be alone up in Hokkaido.

This:

she couldn’t afford to pay for a funeral.

Plus this:

she continued to collect her mother’s pension because she needed the money to live on.

Equals: Scumbag!

That was her mother she left to rot in the apartment. What a lovely child!

Makes you wonder how many bodies are laying around while family member continue to parasitically live off them.

Did you know that in Indonesia, it is the norm to live with dead relatives. I'm not suprised that Japan could learn from this. The fact that the dead mother was still in the apartment, and her daughter still living there, indicates that she did not abandon the body. However, she could have reached out for help, and do the right thing, instead of pocketing her dead mother's pension.

I see so many negative comments about what she had done. We can surely say that taking her mother's money was a bad thing. But if we look at the bigger problem, it becomes clearer as to why she did what she did. The cost of funerals are pretty much for the rich because of the astounding cost and not many people have that kind of money lying around. At age 71, she cannot go out and easily find a job as she'd like to support herself. And none of us cannot even begin to imagine her feelings knowing that she couldn't provide a funeral ceremony for the person who took care of her from birth, fed her, raised her and protected her. Though I don't condone what she did, my heart goes out to her.

With the huge amount of unmarried pensioners (a number likely to keep growing) living at home with parents, I suspect this may be far more widespread an issue than people are acknowledging

@Kiera Hohne - The fact that the dead mother was still in the apartment, and her daughter still living there, indicates that she did not abandon the body.

The term 'abandoning the body' is a very poor translation and use of English. It actually means, failing to report a death.

Desperate, 71 living with mum? Getting a fraction of the pension she was duped into believing she would get. I've got no problem with her collecting mums pension, hell Law makers steal more in a day...each. A funeral is expensive but there are ways to limit the costs. Life skills, sadly lacking not a malicious act rather an inability to change course.

It could be that the system does not make it easy for these people in need of help. It could VERY MUCH be...

All these people sticking up for her, she left her mother's body to rot while she collected the pension for a year and a half. Hideous.

I would be shocked if she didn't receive any punishment for this. She should use the money to pay for a proper burial of her mother's remains.

@AgentX - It could be that the system does not make it easy for these people in need of help. It could VERY MUCH be...

No, it's not! The local city hall will arrange a funeral and cremation for less than ¥40,000 - about 1.5 pension checks. As I said in my previous post, she is a scumbag that left her mother to rot in the apartment so she could steal her pension. It's also quite likely she had a hand in her mother's death.