crime

Man arrested for burying his mother in backyard

22 Comments

Police in Bando, Ibaraki Prefecture, have arrested a 59-year-old man on suspicion of abandoning a body after he buried the body of his 95-year-old mother in the backyard of his residence.

According to police, the suspect, Toru Furuya, buried his mother's body in late August, Sankei Shimbun reported. Furuya was quoted by police as saying: "I found my mother's body was cold and I knew she was dead, so I buried her body in the yard."

Police said relatives questioned Furuya because they had not been able to contact his mother this month, and contacted police on Sept 23 after he suggested that she was buried in the yard.

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22 Comments
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Good lord, what's with this random slew of people burying their dead family members in their backyards?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

A man has to do what a man has to do to save some money, ya know?! With a Japanese funeral and related arrangements costing Yen 2~3 million, it isn't inexpensive.

Besides, who is going to complain, his mother?

Of course, I am sure this would not bode well come obon time and the spirits of ancestors and all of that.

This is all tongue-in-cheek, of course. However, as my mom has said to me, when she is dead, she is dead, so don't waste any money on her!

9 ( +10 / -1 )

I am curious about this "abandoning a body" charge. I have seen it many times of course, but I always wonder what the definition is. Must I always stay with a dead body in the event of a tragedy?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Don't forget the crippling inheritance tax carers face after long years of sacrifice.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

@zones, of course the dead won't complain even if you give a very humble kind of burial that would cost you just over 10 man. Lavish funeral ceremonies are I think just for the living to show off e receiving if the dead has a life insurance. @sense not so common, if I might be a bit sarcastic, yes your sense isn't common or aren't you heard about giving your properties to your children while still alive. That way, you'd save a lot on inheritance tax. I'm not familiar with laws here in Japan. I just guess it's also applicable here. And if you have properties and nobody to inherit them, I'm always here.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Its a strange world. For thousands of years, this is what you did with your dead relatives. Now its so inconceivable its criminal. Why? So the government and the funeral industry can get your money?

Providing he did not murder her, I got bigger problems with the state of the law than his actions. Its times like this I feel like peasant in a fiefdom. And one of the worst parts is the peasants all insist this is a modern, free and fair society.

4 ( +5 / -2 )

even if you give a very humble kind of burial that would cost you just over 10 man

For many people, that's a few months disposable income. Easier said than done.

7 ( +7 / -1 )

Terrible story and i really feel badly for the son and family. We had a similar problem with my mom who asked for a simple cremation to reduce costs. We decided to give her a Viking funeral and went to home depot and bought lots of 2 X 4 boards and built a funeral pyre on top of an old skiff we bought. We placed her corpse on it and poured a few cases of Bacardi 150 proof over her (she really loved rum and cokes) and threw in a dozen limes for good measure and towed the skiff out to sea where I fired a flare gun onto it and it burned for hours mostly because of the fact that she was embalmed by a local alcoholic mortician who ran out of funds for formaldehyde and had to substitute cheap grain liquor but it sure did the job. In fact the flames were so intense that several container ships mistook her burning funeral pyre for a lighthouse and ran aground due to a mistaken change in course. I guess the lesson here is to dispose of your loved ones in a socially and legal manner.

6 ( +9 / -3 )

@Peace Out

It IS a strange world, and we ARE all 'peasants in fiefdom'… (the fact we get to vote in the proverbial democratic process and blurt our opinions on the web has got a lot of people fooled)... refreshing to hear you say it nevertheless... (^_-)

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Hawkeye! Hahahahahaha!

The son must have wanted to keep getting her pension, the skunk.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

The son must have wanted to keep getting her pension, the skunk.

Or perhaps he didn't want to become homeless, and claiming her pension was the only way to ensure that.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

"he buried the body of his 95-year-old mother in the backyard of his residence..."

Apologies for cutting and pasting my comment from TWO DAYS AGO... but here we go again... :-(

"Japan is known all over the world for the respect it shows to it's elderly citizens, but maybe we should all tell the truth... that Japan is 'worn out from caring for the elderly residents'"

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Still doesn't justify burying his own mother like a dead pet in the backyard. He could have got off his rear end and applied for welfare if he can't support himself. There have been so many instances of people not reporting deaths to keep getting pensions, it's awful.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

It isn't because he wanted to save on funeral costs. It was probably his way of continuing to collect on her pensions long after she has died. This practice is so common in Japan, you have to really wonder if official figures on the average life span in Japan is really true.

A man has to do what a man has to do to save some money, ya know?! With a Japanese funeral and related arrangements costing Yen 2~3 million, it isn't inexpensive

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

@strangerland, surely you do not know how sympathetic funeral homes are! The 10 man or so can be paid via installment. Surely you'd finish paying up within a year. There's always a decent way to do things if one would just give up on showing off. The key is communication. Just be honest with the funeral parlor and even if it's business most if not all are doing it half with charitable hearts. Ditto for the Japanese!!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

even the dead cannot escape the financial miseries on this land

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Many in Japan are getting poorer and the number of the old just keeps increasing. I'm not surprised if more people resort to this type of illegal 'private' burial down the line. Of course some will do it for pension fraud, but yet others probably do so feeling overwhelmed by the cost. Here's one example of what it costs for a simplest form of 直葬 direct burial. (no funeral ceremony)

coffin ¥55,000 dry ice(for one day) ¥ 7,000 car to carry the body(within 10km)¥15,100 mortician's fee ¥40,000 total payment to the mortician. ¥117,100 (plus tax)A

cremation fee ¥59,000 urn ¥11,865 storage fee(one day) ¥ 3,675 total payment to the crematory ¥74,540(plus tax)B 

grand total (A+B) ¥191,640 (plus tax)

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Actually, you can even bypass most of that - a simple cremation costs 10,000 yen at a public crematorium, plus the cost of the issuance of a death certificate, transport to the crematorium, and the receptacle for the remains - that is to say, there is no funeral, but it allows you to then conduct a private interment if you have a gravesite (and if you want to start talking expensive...). The funeral industry in Japan is a shameless racket that preys on people at the time they are most vulnerable. Alternatives are possible, as gabrial888 points out. There are also "parks" in some places that inter remains and then plant trees over them, a/w/a the "coin locker" variety perpetual storage facilities in the metro areas. But avoid funeral services at all costs - they`re for the living, and you won't be there...

2 ( +2 / -0 )

The funeral industry in Japan is a shameless racket that preys on people at the time they are most vulnerable.

The funeral industry anywhere. Planning ahead is best.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@ Moonraker at Sep. 26, 2015 - 09:21AM JST "I am curious about this "abandoning a body" charge. I have seen it many times of course, but I always wonder what the definition is. Must I always stay with a dead body in the event of a tragedy?"

Maybe it would help to think of it as "improper disposal of a corpse", "failure to report a death to authorities", or such. Depending on the circumstances you might not need to stay with a corpse, but you would be well advised to notify authorities as to its existence and location.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Thanks anotherexpat. I recently buried a father in law. When I saw my name up on the Buddhist alter I said to my spouse, hey look, our names. The response to me was, "That was what the first 20man was about!" ouch

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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