Japan man hides father's body for 2 years to avoid funeral fees, arrested
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Nobuhiko Suzuki, photo courtesy of South China Morning Post
New Delhi: Police in Japan have arrested a 56-year-old restaurant owner for storing up his father’s body in a wardrobe for two years because the ‘funeral was expensive’.
The man identified as Nobuhiko Suzuki concealed the body of his 86-year-old father after he passed away in January 2023, according to a report by SCMP.
The neighbours of Suzuki contacted police after he had not opened his Chinese restaurant in Tokyo for a week, raising concerns.
Police came to check on Suzuki when they discovered skeleton hidden inside a wardrobe.
Admitting to hiding the body, Suzuki said that he found his father lifeless upon returning home but hid the body as he could not pay for funeral.
Despite his claims, the circumstances leading to his father’s death remain unclear.
Authorities are investigating allegations of pension embezzlement as similar cases of hiding the body have previously emerged in the country.
A 56-year-old in 2023 faced charges for keeping his 72-year-old mother’s body at home for three years from2019 to 2022.
He wanted to avoid funeral costs and went on claiming her pension.
He later told the court that mother’s pension was his only financial support.
The average funeral cost in Japan is reported to be at 1.3 million yen (US$8,900), down by 156,000 yen since the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a San Holdings Inc. survey.
More than 60 percent of those surveyed want the funeral expenses to be brought under 1 million yen.