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Remains of man, his sister found in apartment

13 Comments

The decaying remains of an elderly man and the body of his younger sister have been found in their apartment in Tokyo's Koto Ward, police said Monday.

According to police, the remains were found on the floor near a table in the 4th floor apartment at around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday. Sankei Shimbun reported that police received a call from another resident in the building saying that something was not right in the apartment.

Police said the man, 81, who reportedly suffered from dementia, was wearing only diapers, while the body of his sister, 71, wore only underwear. Police said neither body appeared to have any signs of external injury.

Neighbors said the man was last seen in June of this year, while his sister was last seen in October, and that they kept to themselves. The building manager said they hadn't paid their monthly service fees since August.

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13 Comments
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Decaying remains, and body.....Sensationalism here? 2 dead bodies, sadly found, and no one knew about them passing.

The building manager said they hadn’t paid their monthly service fees since August.

Sounds to me like someone wasn't doing their job!

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Some Japanese choose death than to live on welfare.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Some Japanese choose death than to live on welfare.

Curious here, why assume that these people were on welfare? At that age they were more than likely receiving pension benefits and with and older brother suffering from dementia the difficulty of taking care of him had to be difficult at best, and getting assistance from the social welfare system here does not automatically mean that they are on welfare.

The system again failed here to identify and assist a family in need.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

"something was not right in the apartment"

Oh you mean those two rotting corpses lying there for months on end... ;-)

3 ( +4 / -1 )

If she, as the only caregiver, fell ill (and her state of undress suggests she was either getting up or going to bed when suddenly something happened), then he would have been stuck too. Terribly sad.

If they had been receiving home care, this would not have happened. When the quality of health care is based on your ability to a) find out about it; and b) pay, things like this will happen.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

This along with the MANY other similar incidents are a precursor and an indication of the "changes" occurring in Japanese society as a whole and the need to address the "negative" effects and effects of those changes.

The most important being the changes in how the Japanese people as well as the world view "LIFE" and how the educational, political and social cultures are being affected. It appears that this kind of heretofore publicized and often unheard of incidents of human behavior are coming to light. Some are the results of changes in values, but many appear to be directly related to man-made "idealistic" laws that are "forcing" people to act and react in ways that may not be "rational" but somewhat perfectly "logical".

One such issue is with the "manbiki" or petty theft in stores by the elderly. When the elderly are not "allowed" to work and given a limited "handout" of a retirement with overly strict and sometimes meaningless if not irrational rules and regulation governing social assistance, the response may not be as "predictable" as the society may expect.

It is with many nations such as the USA as with Greece, re-evaluate the role of government and laws in people's lives and live;livelihood. When people forget or are not allowed to "earn" or to "work" or to take meaningful action for themselves, no one will take any action responsibly.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

the building manager said they hadn’t paid their monthly service fees since August.

Sounds to me like someone wasn't doing their job!

or perhaps he was a nice guy who was letting it slide since he knew their situation. and if they weren't on welfare, don't you think they would have kept up with the bills or paid for a (subsidized) home care worker to come?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Some Japanese choose death than to live on welfare.

So its better to die than hurt your pride. If youve worked all your life paying your taxes then fall into tough times why wouldnt you claim welfare. Thats whats its there for. Yes some people abuse it but its better than living on the street. I was on welfare during my younger years as there was just not enough jobs during those economic tough times. But ive now got my own business and have been paying considerably more taxes than you average citizen fir many years. Dont worry the government has got back its welfare money i used to survive and then some many times over. If your going to sit on welfare and do nothing then you shoukd feel shamed. But to refuse it because it hurts your pride is just stuidity

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Some Japanese choose death than to live on welfare.

So its better to die than hurt your pride. If youve worked all your life paying your taxes then fall into tough times why wouldnt you claim welfare.

That logic wouldn't stop posters here from criticizing them for collecting welfare.

Don't collect welfare and die? Called stupid.

Collect welfare and don't die? Called entitled.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

or perhaps he was a nice guy who was letting it slide since he knew their situation. and if they weren't on welfare, don't you think they would have kept up with the bills or paid for a (subsidized) home care worker to come?

Right, 4 months behind in their payments and not once does he check up on them. Try not paying your smart-phone bill for 4 months and see what happens after two.

He wasnt doing his job, also without information other than what was provided in the article, there is no way to presume or assume anything.

That logic wouldn't stop posters here from criticizing them for collecting welfare. Don't collect welfare and die? Called stupid. Collect welfare and don't die? Called entitled.

There is no logic really, it's damned if you do, dead if you don't.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Sad :(

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Like I have been saying here for years, do YOU wanna grow old in Japan?

This is an example, this is the future & it started over 10yrs ago! I bet there are thousands of people dead or on the verge at any time in Japan in homes at any given time, its going to get worse as the number of seniors soars!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

As others have said, this will only accelerate.

Suburban apartment buildings with parking spaces are particularly hurting C.ono owners are stuck in a vicious cycle of hollowed-out equity and ever-rising costs. Meanwhile finding solutions is cunningly outsourced to the resident committees.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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