crime

Woman arrested for keeping father’s corpse in house

26 Comments

Police in Aomori city have arrested a 46-year-old unemployed woman on suspicion of corpse abandonment after she kept the body of her deceased 78-year-old father at their home.

Police said Hiromi Shiratori told them her father died last September, Sankei Shimbun reported. His remains were found on Jan 11 after a neighbor contacted police to report that Shiratori’s father had not been seen for several months.

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26 Comments
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Just to collect his pension no doubt.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

No respect for the deceased. Disgusting.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

"suspicion of corpse abandonment"

More like "woman arrested for trying to hide father’s corpse in da house

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Aside from pension, would this also have to do something with the exceptionally high amount one needs to bury someone? Got an ad slip in the mail the other day and was shocked to see the hundred thousand number for the cheapest 'plan'.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Aside from pension, would this also have to do something with the exceptionally high amount one needs to bury someone? Got an ad slip in the mail the other day and was shocked to see the hundred thousand number for the cheapest 'plan'.

"Japan has the most expensive funerals in the world with the average funeral cost at 2.31 million yen. This average is at least five times the average of United States' funeral costs, which has an average of 444,000 yen ($4,183) per funeral."

https://japantoday.com/category/features/lifestyle/three-main-reasons-why-fewer-japanese-people-are-having-funerals

4 ( +5 / -1 )

@joe blow

An often-quoted but misrepresented fact.

Yes, the average may be high, but only if you choose to have all of the pomp and grandeur in order to make a statement of status.

Culturally, there's a bit heavier weighting on the ceremonial aspects of a funeral in Japan than some other cultures... But it's not a requirement. There's plenty of lower budget options. And if you're struggling to make ends meet you can use the services offered by local authorities. Granted they are quite basic but it's a funeral nonetheless. We're talking a few hundred dollars worth of expense.

And for unemployed people on benefits, the local ward will help with the few hundred dollars of costs and arrange a very reasonable payment plan.

So this is an irrelevant point.

You might as well quote the average spend on a car in certain districts of Tokyo in N million yen. Doesn't mean its the cost required for a car.

The same high cost is often quoted of weddings here too... Again this is due to wanting to keep up with the Jones', wanting the fairytale photo shoots, etc. A budget gathering and ward office appearance can be done super cheap, just like is very common in every other country. (and just like many people here choose to do).

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Aside from pension, would this also have to do something with the exceptionally high amount one needs to bury someone? Got an ad slip in the mail the other day and was shocked to see the hundred thousand number for the cheapest 'plan'.

You are letting yourself be dragged into believing something that is not true!

First off, folks here dont get "buried", they are cremated and there are funds available to assist those who can not afford it. People can get the assistance from their local municipal office.

What you are seeing is the costs related to purchasing a grave site for internment of the ashes. There are some that literally cost over $1,000,000.00...not yen, dollars!

Also there are the costs related to the funeral, which can run from zero to millions of yen as well.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

I'm starting to wonder if these people are genuinely frightened that if they report their parent dead in the house, they'll be arrested or something. So many of these cases are reported in Japan - why? I mean logically if someone dies in the house, wouldn't your first instinct be to call for an ambulance? And ambulances are free in Japan! But instead people like this woman chooses not to do anything. I can't imagine living in a house with a corpse. The very thought gives me the heebie-jeebies.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Everyone's situation is different but there is just no way I could see living in my home with a cadaver, familiar or otherwise. Weekend at Bernie's was just a movie but that type of scenario plays out here all the time.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Maybe they need cremation services on wheels. You call them and 2 mid sized trucks arrive.You fill out the agreement forms, legal documents, and arrange fees payments. One truck does the cremation, which puts the ashes in a metallic urn, the other truck is connected by large hoses to handle and filter the exhaust. The cost is economically reduced substantially. Since the pandemic is a high possibility.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Burial fees are too d$%n high! There is also the pension money that people do not want to lose. This single woman may have sacrificed a lot to stay home and take care of her father. The pension may have been the only thing supporting both of them. The economy is not the best, and she may be living in a rural area very few employment options.

With the passing of her father, she loses a parent, loses a source of income, is charged a large fee for burial, and incurs a significant tax for anything she inherited like a house or land.

All of that will cause some to make questionable choices.

People can also dispose of loved ones using a water tank. Aquamation is cleaner for the environment.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

@Numan

Burial fees are too d$%n high! 

If someone is willing to let her father rot away at their home for months then she can also just choose the cheapest burial ever, pension fraud is easier to believe.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

""corpse abandonment""  Japan's new Syndrome.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

I think the government should start thinking about including the cost of funerals in the national health insurance, so people don't have to worry about it and funeral houses can no longer rip people off.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

should start thinking about including the cost of funerals in the national health insurance

That’s probably the very last thing that belongs there. Instead of covering costs of death they should start to cover costs of new life in the social security systems, means for example support for young parents for growing and education of still too few new society members. All those debates about death and those big funerals and such is all so very morbid, it even accelerates the decreasing of economy and life activities in society. It needs a more balanced relation between that quite excessive death cult and necessary future considerations.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Everyone can post and speak their minds but you never know until you have to be in the mind of the same position as the person who did this. Yes she should have buried her dad but perhaps for some people they just lose sight of their world even though life must go on.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

At the age of 80 I am approaching the end of a fun filled life and have no particular choice as to the disposal of my remains after death. I have let my children and grandchildren know that I want the bare minimum spent on ridding the world of my corpse. If you insist on spending money on me bring me a case or two of Grand Cru wines while I can still enjoy it.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Zichi, that was a typo, I know Japanese are cremated

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

How many of these stories have there been over the last year? There was one about a body in a well in Shikoku the other day too.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@Joe Blow

Both my parents-in-law had a funeral cost of 1 million yen each. That included a body washing, the usual gong-ceremonies, a cremation with lunch provided and bone selection. It also included having the bodies removed from hospital within one hour of death. My mother-in-law was even taken to her home for one night to lay in state.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It could have been about the pension payments. But is it that hard to report a death in the family? That authorities aren’t going to charge you upfront and may actually null and void the charge depending on your financial situation.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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