Woman arrested for keeping mother's corpse in toilet at home

Oh dear,what can the matter be?

"official also found it strange that flies were buzzing around inside the house near the toilet and reported the incident to the police."

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whew...nasty & nutty

For some ESL readers abroad, “toilet” may refer to the small, closet-size room, and not just the water tank and receptacle bowl.

-“Setsuko Suzuki, 49, put the body of her deceased mother, Oyama, 79, in the toilet sometime in mid-Apr.” -

Desperate times, desperate people, … sometimes deplorable choices.

A thorough, mental evaluation of the daughter is surely needed but then again, perhaps there were not any available government support & assitance for families known to her prior to her mother’s death.

May Oyama now rest in peace.

Police said Suzuki told them her mother had died about two weeks earlier and that she didn’t know what to do.

How about, you know, calling the ambulance so they can confirm the death and take the body to the morgue?

Why is this such a common occurrence in Japan - leaving corpses to rot at home while the individual continues to live there?? Surely people must be equipped with enough common sense to not want to live with a corpse stinking up a place.

If the corpse was ‘in the toilet’ then where did Setsuko attend to her bodily functions?

For some ESL readers abroad, “toilet” may refer to the small, closet-size room, and not just the water tank and receptacle bowl.

That's what it means for native speakers at home and abroad, apart from those who live in one of the former colonies.

If the corpse was ‘in the toilet’ then where did Setsuko attend to her bodily functions?

Many houses in Japan have 2 loos, one upstairs and one downstairs.

Why is this such a common occurrence in Japan - leaving corpses to rot at home while the individual continues to live there?? 

To keep the pension payments coming.

Also, a traditional Japanese funeral can be an expensive affair.

"put the body of her deceased mother, Oyama, 79, in the toilet"

WTH

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"apart from those who lived in one of the former EU Esau colonies"

In the bathroom you mean? Surely she wasn't in the actual toilet, right?

A thorough, mental evaluation of the daughter is surely needed but then again, perhaps there were not any available government support & assitance for families known to her prior to her mother’s death.

Or maybe she's a bad person.

mother had died about two weeks earlier 

long enough to build up quite an odor.

Abandoning a body here sporadically likely winds up under floor boards, in a "closet", in a river, or in the mountains.

I know some prefectures and municipalities in Japan are trying to prevent unwanted babies from being dumped in trash cans, storage lockers, or killed so they have made a "baby hatches" or "drop boxes". Why not a "corpse dumping" place for old people? I guess that wouldn't stop the pension seekers, but the funeral costs are also a sky high. I'm not suggesting people just dump a family member out the car somewhere, but just a free service for financially strapped caretakers.

Is it just me or does this kind of thing seem to happen a lot in Japan?

Did know what to do ? What ?

Pension needed please donate ;)

I don’t know if it happens a lot in Japan, but it certainly gets reported a lot :)

I find it hard to believe that she didn’t know what to do or at least where to start asking to find out, unless as others have suggested there is a lack of mental capacity involved. Even as a pension fraud scheme it seems singularly inept not to mention progressively smelly and insanitary!

So, I guess if I pee in the corner of that small room I can't be criticized because I'm still getting it in the toilet?

I'm just taking the p... errr... you know.

Anyway, you gotta love the "I didn't know what to do!" excuse. Well, shoving the corpse in a toilet/bathroom is not the best solution, likely. Ummm... call 119 and ASK what to do? I'll bet she probably knows how to collect the social security checks and is irked that's now no longer an object.

In the bathroom you mean?

Japanese bathrooms are for bathing in, not for emptying the bladder or bowels. The very thought!

So, I guess if I pee in the corner of that small room I can't be criticized because I'm still getting it in the toilet?

Try it and see? I don't think the word you will be looking for will be 'criticised'. Think more on the lines of what clueless owners used to do with dogs that made a 'mistake'.

Even though there are two in my place, I did not ponder to think that there could be two ‘toilets’ in (their) the house.

Lack of education, I wouldn't think it was for a pension check. I would think the daughter lost her senses and because of the loss couldn't think of what she could possibly do. Its a big task preparing for a funeral. I think she lost it for the moment! One would think that with Japan having a graying population and this seems to be a growing problem, the government would educate the public about what to do in these instances. The cities post warnings about molesters on trains why not post about these kinds of things. IF prefecture government official visits the house why not educate the to have talks with the care takers about these uneventful but surely to happen situations.

Purple depressed bacon:

It was actually an ancient practise of keeping bodies within the home. Ancient digs have found multiple bodies under the floor in the main section of the house. Perhaps we are just slowly returning to an ancient practise?

They always say they didn’t know what to do. Are they stupid? I have never heard of this sort of thing until I came to Japan.

Don't know what to do?

Or afraid to report?

She didn't know what to do? How abot calling the emergency services? Is this some mentally handicapped woman with a mental age of 5?

For god sake, bathroom is a room where you take a bath. Using the word toilet is fine.

Yeeeccchhh.

Why do so many Japanese do this kind of thing when an elderly parent or relative dies? Makes no sense. Just call the authorities immediately. Unless it has something to do with cashing in on mommy’s pension?

Police said Suzuki told them her mother had died about two weeks earlier and that she didn’t know what to do.

She didn’t know what to do so she did nothing? What a load of crap!