crime

Fragments of human skull found in supermarket toilet

20 Comments

Fragments of a human skull were found in a toilet outside a supermarket in Tokyo's Nerima Ward, police said on Saturday.

Police said the fragments were found just after noon on Friday, Fuji TV reported. A store employee called 110 to report what appeared to be human bones in the toilet.

Police said the skull fragments were from a body that had been cremated and that only the jaw and cheek bones remained. Police believe the skull had been broken into many pieces during the process of cremation.

Police are investigating the matter as a case of improper disposal of a body.

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

20 Comments
Login to comment

Burned fragments, and the guy could recognize them as human remains? In the toilet? Ug. so they had to fish the pieces out of the bowl. Gruesome work.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Perhaps the deceased asked to have their ashes / Bone fragments, scattered at sea, and the relative was taking a short cut.

0 ( +8 / -8 )

Bet the owner is still getting a pension.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Yeah, well, that has just totally creeped me out! It's not so much the fact that the bones were found in a public toilet, but the fact that some creepy individual has been carrying these bones around for who knows how long. That's just creepy!

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Fragments of a human skull were found in a toilet outside a supermarket in Tokyo's Nerima Ward, police said on Saturday.

Ugh! Creepy! I have just found myself plucking synonyms out of the air "eerie, ghoulish, gruesome, weird," just to name a few.

At any rate, chances were that the unaccountable individual was completely at a loss about how to do away with the human skull and ended up putting it in the toilet.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It's usual to have the some of bones left intact in Japanese cremations. After the cremation the bones are picked out with chopsticks and placed in a box to be taken to the resting place.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

@ Dokachin

Yes i think we all know that, the point is what kind of person would dispose of them in such a way. Isn't a hole in the ground a more suitable resting place than down in the sewers, unless of course you felt that should be the last resting place of the family member at if that is the case it is beyond harsh.

RIP

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Well, where else would you find human bones?

After the cremation the bones are picked out with chopsticks and placed in a box to be taken to the resting place

This is one custom which I would definitely not like to take part in.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

"Police are investigating the matter as a case of improper disposal of a body."

If it really was a cremated body, then I'm surprised there are any laws about disposal of the bones. After collecting the bits from the crematorium, aren't you free to do what you like with them?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

After attending my wifes grandfather cremation and using thing long chopsticks to take a part of the ashes, we both agree to be cremated at a Christian crematorium (even though we are not Christians) so we could be scattered "whole" in the sea or buried under a tree. Now this makes me question the legality of our plan. Anyone have any ideas on the subject....

0 ( +0 / -0 )

There are some regulations as to where and how they may be disposed of.

Do you have any more info? At cremations of family members in Japan, I remember in one case the bones being divided up between the children of the deceased, after first spreading them out on the living room table. After my wife's grandmother's cremation, most of the bones were interred in a temple, but close family members took a piece each, probably to be placed in the butsudan at home.

I was wondering whether this was a case of someone dropping a few received bones following a funeral, perhaps after drinking too much afterwards. Stranger things have happened.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Strange story and it there's obviously a possibility of foul play involved.

@Kobe White Bar Owner

Yeah, I was pretty blown away by it my first time around. My Japanese wife's aunt died of cancer and after she was cremated I couldn't believe we were all gathered with the immediate family and taken in to view her skeletal remains. Then we used those long chopsticks and each of us took bone fragments off of the remains and placed them in an urn. My parents were both cremated after they passed away in the U.S., but their remains were handed to us in a clean brown paper package, and that was that. I kind of like the way the Japanese do it. There is (to me anyway) more familiarity (and finality) with the skeletal remains of the deceased and it seemed to truly sink in that this person was really gone and that in the future I was going to look the same way when I'm dead and gone. Since my wife's aunt's funeral I've been to a few of these now and the shock I felt the first time has worn off now.

But, to each his/her own. It all depends on how you look at it.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@JeffLeeAPR. 26, 2015 - 06:44AM JST Burned fragments, and the guy could recognize them as human remains? In the toilet? Ug. so they had to fish the pieces out of the bowl. Gruesome work.

Forensic Medicine, LEA uses.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I was wondering whether this was a case of someone dropping a few received bones following a funeral, perhaps after drinking too much afterwards. Stranger things have happened.

That is certainly true, but honestly I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I've "accidentally" dropped something in the the loo, even after drinking. And if I really were carrying the remains of a loved one around, there's no way I'd even let them anywhere near a public convenience.

Or it could be someone trying to cover up a crime.

I'm going with this, probably involving pension fraud.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"were found in a toilet"

I see people are interpreting this as found in the actual toilet bowl. I was assuming they were found in the cubicle, presumably on the floor. Why is English so difficult when it comes to toilet matters? (in the loo, in the toilet, in the bathroom, in the lavvy) Does anyone know where they were actually found? Without this knowledge, how can we be expected to solve this crime?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Albaleo, according to this article, they were found inside the 'benki' of the outside men's room, ie floating or wedged in the bowl. 屋外にある男子トイレの便器内に火葬された成人とみられる http://miroku.ldblog.jp/archives/44430160.html

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Albaleo, according to this article, they were found inside the 'benki' of the outside men's room, ie floating or wedged in the bowl.

Which kind of begs the question of how the store employee knew that they were human remains. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't recognise them for that, I'd probably just assume that somebody had really bad digestive issues.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Cheek and jaw bones should be fairly obvious, no?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites