Maciamo said:
The most shocking is that the family knew he was dead and even changed his kimono regularily.
You can't be so sure whether they actually knew or what they knew. So it's safer to hold your shock for now. If the allegedly dead man had his three children in his late twenties, the three siblings are in the age range of 77 to 82 this year. Five yrs ago, they would have been anywhere between 72 and 77. At that age, vision, hearing, and general mental abilities can become quite unreliable. Therefore until futher investigation shows otherwise, it might not be fair to blame the surviving children just yet for knowingly hiding their fathers corpse. As for changing the kimono regularly, a body with toughened joints would have been a major challenge indeed. But one can always do a little modification for the father; customised komono if you will.
Maciamo said:
I wonder how the body didn't rot, and most of all, if they really believed that he was still alive as the article said.
At an advanced age the body tends to lose water content. So even at the point of death, major oozing of bodily fluids would not have been that extreme. The children might just have thought, "O, pop's having some major perspiration. Maybe we should cool the room for him. Since he doesn't seem to be too healthy, let's refrain from exciting him by trying to converse. Just let him be, and he'll let us know when he needs something."
Furthermore, if the death occurred sometime during late fall and early winter, the low average temperature might have preserved the corpse with more dehydrating, and less putrifying. By late spring, the body could have dehydrated enough to withstand further chemical decomposition. To add a little more guesswork to what I already offered, let's say the old man used to be a domineering partiarch, much feared, and a man of few words. The children, out of respect and fear, might not have wondered why he should have stopped eating and drinking, and much too afraid to ask why.
BBC said:
'(Papa is) Too weak'
The three siblings said they thought their father was still alive, but one recently consulted a relative about the possibility he might be dead."
Unless there was some foul play that can be proven, or unless the police can establish a motive such as financial difficulty or debt causing the siblings to fake their father's longevity to collect the municipal gifts which only amounted to 150,000 yen (us$1,440; £750) and five cashimere blankets worth only 100,000 yen (us$910; £500) which may not be a huge sum spread over 5 yrs, it may be pretty tough to prove that they were knowledgeable of the death of the deceased.
BBC said:
Itami city hall told the AFP news agency that the city was considering asking Kaneoka's family to return gifts it had received since 1999.
What a thing to say to the poor, bereaved, and orphaned children. Shameless officials of Itami. They should have more respect for the elderly, and people's feelings.
