Man commits suicide; mother's remains found in cupboard

In the cupboard, police found the remains of a woman who appeared to have had died several years earlier.

Unbelievable~

such cases may be contributing to Japanese women's high life expectancy stats.

That means when he was born, his mother was 50. But wait, if she died a several years earlier and presuming she was 98 at that time, he would have been 44 or 45, which means he was born when his mother was 53 or 54!

Police are treating the incident as a suicide.

The most redundant of comments in news stories in Japan.

Sad and weird at the same time

I am not too sure what to even think about this news, my guess this guy or or the mother had mental problems. Why would anybody put a dead body up in a cupboard? I do not even want to imagine the stench of a rotting corpse! Just in the summer, in a few days, my moeru gomi, burnable garbage smells horrible, now just multiply that a million times? These people had no neighbors that would recognize that the old women had not been seen for a while? Anyway, RIP strange family in Tokyo??

What I am finding most shocking of all is that I seem to be able to read stories like this and not even blink anymore.

Grief for a loved one can be devestating, poor guy couldnt live with it.RIP both him and his mother

Even if his hands were tied behind his back, they probably still would have called it a suicide!

At the very least we have abandonment of a corpse here (the mother), so this belongs in the crime section.

...why would you keep a dead body in a cupoard? Wouldnt someone notice?...

What about the smell??

My mother died, so I laid her to rest in the cupboard. Im going to be by my mothers side.

umm.. so many freaks around, really can't count, can't tell who's the freak out there. I think maybe one living right below me. Dudes weird

"Old Mother Hubbard Went to the cupboard,..."

@ southsakai "umm.. so many freaks around, really can't count, can't tell who's the freak out there. I think maybe one living right below me. Dudes weird"

I got 2 .5 of them "staying "across the street from me too.....

thanks for letting me have a window of opportunity to share this southsakai

Back on topic please.

We are born to die, clearly he did not get the memo.

agreed, this news item is truly shocking. but now that i think of it, JT is mostly reporting shocking stuff, similar to the infamous "U$ Inquirer". JT is doing anything for the sake of getting more hits on their homepage, and if JT gets enough hits, it charges dearly for advertisement that i don't care for. fortunately, there's always choice, and other news sources out there, perhaps giving a bit more weight to quality.

Elbuda MexicanoAug. 27, 2011 - 08:39AM JST

Why would anybody put a dead body up in a cupboard?

Two main reasons: a. Have you priced funerals in Japan? You have to be pretty well off to afford a funeral that won't embarrass you. b. Collecting retirement benefits.

Not so unbelievable. I'll bet you he was still collecting her benefits and needed the income. It happens a lot.

" Why would anybody put a dead body up in a cupboard? " Because it's damn expensive to be buried here.

Is it just me, or have there been a lot of crazy people in JT stories lately? We've got this guy, the man they suspect of placing the body parts in the trash can, the man who killed his wife & then offed himself by jumping out the window, the foster mom who is a star but killed her foster daughter....and these are all stories from the past week.

A mummy's boy who clearly couldnt deal with the death of his mummy. Weirdo for sure.

But how could anyone live with a corpse, the decay, the smell, the thought ..................................................

I wonder if the son was collecting a social security check on behalf of the mother.

old mothers cupboard

I don't understand how anybody could live with the stench of a dead body in their room, let alone how that could go undetected for years. My guess is that he was a terminal hikikomori who ran out of funds, so decided to end it all. Weird.

Two main reasons: a. Have you priced funerals in Japan? You have to be pretty well off to afford a funeral that won't embarrass you. b. Collecting retirement benefits.

This is what amazes me about Japan sometimes. I can understand with point "b" about collecting the benfits. I don't agree with it but I understand why it happens. Point "a" is what I really don't get.

I find it interesting that people are worried about what other people think about a funeral you give, and yet I would imagine that this person probably was not very social and hardly saw those who would come to a funeral. The reason I say this, is because if he can keep a dead body in a cupboard for several years, I doubt very seriously if they had company over, or if they actaully had a social life that would cause them to interact and have friends. If a friend just "lost contact" especially if they were that old, one would hope that people would ask a few questions, at least the "I didn't know she passed away."

But alas, I guess that is just life here in Japan.

Laurie, my first thought was also "oh no not a 'Sadako'". Shudder. I hope they disclose the information when they sell that house!

We cant understand how this guy could live with the stench, etc etc but I think he must have been very emotionally attached to his mother so he couldnt live without her. I think if somebody you love so much passes it is quite possible to lose your mind out of not knowing what to do, and not being able to handle the situation.

In a sense, I understand where this guy is coming from.

I'm wondering if the mother had some type of pension, and the son was collecting it even after her death by not reporting her as dead, but so ill she can't leave the apartment (same thing goes on here in the US all of the time)? Can't think of any other logic (warped or otherwise) someone would do such a selfish thing.

@weasel I dont think that has got anything to do with the situation at all. If he was collecting such a pension why would he have committed suicide? And in his note he wrote he is going to join his mother. All I can put together from this story is that he had major coping issues following the death, and it seems he loved her very much so he couldnt let her go.

But who knows the real tale. Not any of our business anyway.

To everyone asking about the stench

Bodies stop smelling after a while.

Damn that's freaky, reminds me of that story about leaving the dead bodies of their grandparents in their rooms for 10+ years and when the police asked about them the children said, "hasn't come out their room in years".

Sad story, births, weddings and funerals are super expensive in Japan!

The whole situation is just sad on so many different levels. Your final moments on this spinning orb suffocating in a plastic bag with your Mother's remains holed up in the nearby closet.

Guess he got tired of running the motel by himself. (Bettsu Motel?)

why would you keep someone in a cupboard? the police just handle it with a short story and report: suicide. its easy. a lot of weird things ending in japan with a suicide. life has many colors, not just black and white. in the life are not just absolute winners and loosers. they just can not do anything in the usual level. always extreem.

Everyone in Japan and Okinawa are cremated when they die. The Funeral Home does the cremating and the "remains" are returned to the family to do with what they want. Remains that are cremated do not smell

This is sad. So, the police found the man's body a few days after his death. Too bad they didn't find the mother's body until several years after her death.

here we have a man who kept his 98 y/old dead mother's remains in his cupboard and killed himself... I present to you: Japan.

and i thought some of the things we americans do is weird... i guess we arent the only country with strange people... :(

so what abt the smell ???????..... hmm coco's channel.