july november thought tokyo oldest man july corpse found bedroom concluded likely died november aged family announced death attempt preserve record relatives rebuffed attempts ward officials preparations later year citing reasons human vegetable cause death determined state body discovery remains sparked search missing lost poor record keeping officials study following discovery remains found police know people age alive poor record keeping blame cases officials admitted relatives found guilty fraud relatives claimed pension meant history discovery body tracking residence tokyo reportedly living attempts officials meet rebuffed numerous times family reasons given relatives including human vegetable eventually body found police ward officials july ward officials intending honour achievement longevity later year rebuffed police broke house found floor room remains lying bed wearing underwear covered blanket newspapers found room dated decades period suggesting death occurred november official named said family known dead years acted happened eerie day visit granddaughter told acquaintance grandfather shut room floor home years ago couldn open door outside mother said leave left think dead official reported concerns safety earlier year ward office autopsy failed determine cause death fraud trial following discovery body relatives arrested august subsequently charged fraud prosecutors alleged daughter granddaughter received pension money addition wife died age survivor mutual pension deposited bank account october june approximately withdrawn body discovered likely paid senior welfare benefit time turned family advantage investigators said pair transferred money account november sentenced year sentence fraud suspended years judge said defendant committed crime selfish motive securing revenue family paid pension benefits expressed remorse crime aftermath discovery corpse checks elderly japan produced reports missing faulty record keeping tokyo officials attempted find oldest woman city year old found known address vacant granddaughter said seen grandmother years revelations disappearance death prompted nationwide investigation concluded police know people older alive people officials said older years old alive poor record keeping blamed cases officials said died world war register suggested man alive age following revelations analysts investigated record keeping japanese authorities poor seniors reported moved away family homes statistics divorce increasingly common elderly million japanese contributing factor gone missing men left look work japan big cities country boom years worked long hours built social network new homes found economic success hoped ashamed failure didn feel return home canadian newspaper reported months discovery body japan elderly nation world october percent population found aged percent largely caused low rate babies woman population steady number needed issue aging country increased government let immigrants country foreign nationals accounted percent total population report government indicates population elderly inquiry noted elderly japanese citizens dying die months left rotting corpse said editorial comments country press news editorial said findings suggested deeper problems japanese register system families supposed closest elderly people don know cases taken trouble ask police search read editorial situation shows existence lonely people family turn ties severed japanese doctor said surprised news said japanese seniors dying ignored families patients come families come social workers said happens especially tokyo single person families added key reason statistics people japan living longer achievement placing new society declining number working age japanese fund rising health care pension costs globe_and_mail reported said tokyo crowded families possibly live space families live said national census found million elderly japanese citizens living compared million decade cent men cent women age japan neighbours friends relatives rely recent study discovered associated_press reported number elderly people committing suicide reached record high health economic worries appears collective cry help japanese seniors arrested year arrested told police stole feelings isolation economic necessity globe_and_mail reported discovery corpse director asian studies said phenomenon japanese traditionally seen sober law people fact like rest story missing holds mirror society reflects realities japan want accept
Sogen Kato