Police in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, on Friday arrested an unemployed 41-year-old man for illegally disposing of his 73-year-old mother's body by burying her in the garden of his home.
A relative of Kazuko Funata contacted police in late July to say she hadn't seen her since September 2014, Sankei Shimbun reported. Police then questioned Kazuko's son, Takahiro Funata, who told them his mother had passed away sometime between September and November in 2014.
Funata told police he had buried his mother's body in the garden of the home they had been sharing at the time of her death.
Police said Funata has continued to receive his late mother's pension.
© Japan Today
21 Comments
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kurisupisu
I've got 3 dead hamsters in my garden - should I be worried?
sensei258
And the beat goes on...
Disillusioned
Another 40-something NEET living with his mum. I have to wonder though, did his mother die or was she killed?
Dan Lewis
Is it really a crime to bury a relative on your own property? Isn't the real crime fraudulently receiving his mother's pension?
HaraldBloodaxe
I'm wondering how an unemployed person would be able to afford any other course of action. Have you seen the cost of a funeral here? It's extortionate. Does anyone know what the procedure is if you're bereaved but without millions of yen to throw at a bell-ringing monotone chanter and a new name for the deceased?
bootht
What was the cause of her death.I know many 70 to 80 people here in Japan and when you meet then they apear to be in tHeir 50s and 6os! Just asking???
serendipitous
It's quite possible he killed her and he certainly created that suspicion by burying her without telling anyone and continuing to claim her pension. But innocent until proven guilty.....
Kobe White Bar Owner
@ Dan Lewis Totally agree but remember rules are rules and logic is logic who are we to think and express opinions based or logic and reason ;o)
100 CPM
Ah the sweet rose garden personal plot routine again....an ongoing locality crescendo.
fuzzylogic
@100CPM "the sweet rose garden personal plot routine"
better for neighbors than the old closet routine.
CGB Spender
Considering the high cost of funerals I can almost understand the man. It should not be punished for "burying your relative by yourself" as long as it was in a respectful way. Enforcing somebody who has no money to have to pay for an expensive funeral is wrong.
trinklets2
@harald,@cg, surely if one would opt for pompous funerals, one would spend millions of yen. But a very simple one would just cost below 20 man.
nath
That's a lot of money for a lot of people.
jasmoran66
He sounds like a real go-getter. There's got to be a job somewhere out there for him.
Disillusioned
Yep! He could start with 'grave digger'. He has experience!
kawashita
This hidden murder case remind me about recent similar case happened in Takaoka, Toyama. About daughter buried the father in garden of home.
misunderstood
What an idiot true meaning of from the cradle to the grave. He continued to sponge off his deceased mom. Totally insane.
turbotsat
Dan Lewis: Is it really a crime to bury a relative on your own property?
It's not a crime? Where is it not? At least in first world, and second?
kurisupisu
The crime is the pension and not conforming to to beaureaucratiic diktat- imagine if we all buried our relatives up on the mountain somewhere? No death taxes .....
Dan Lewis
"Backyard Burials Are Legal in Connecticut, But They're Not Easy" (source: http://www.ctnow.com/nm-ht44ncburial-20131029-story.html
Wow, right!?? That could be applied to a LOT of things about Japan!
Kobe White Bar Owner
@ Dan
Agreed ;o(
im leaving this orwellian nightmare in October WOOOO HOO!