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104-Year-Old Tokyo Woman Found in Backpack

Her son kept her there for nine years, he says

By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff

Posted Aug 20, 2010 1:18 PM CDT

(Newser) – After discovering that Tokyo’s (supposedly) oldest man had been dead for 30 years and its oldest woman is missing, police began a search for other Japanese centenarians—and found one in her son’s backpack. The remains of the 104-year-old woman were stuffed in the pack for nine years, AFP reports. Her 64-year-old son, who couldn’t afford to bury her, “laid out her body for a while, washed it in the bath, then broke up the bones and put them into a backpack,” he says.

More than 40,000 people over age 100 are registered in Japan, but almost 200 of those were discovered to be missing during this investigation. Relatives are suspected of attempting to draw out pension payouts by not reporting the deaths.

A 104-year-old Japanese woman was found stuffed in her 64-year-old son's backpack.
A 104-year-old Japanese woman was found stuffed in her 64-year-old son's backpack.   (Flickr)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 28 comments
bobfairlane
Aug 22, 2010 6:24 AM CDT
I thought it was going to be about a 100yo japanese midget riding in a backpack, alive.
Guest
Aug 22, 2010 1:21 AM CDT
The old woman got off lightly, her grandson was there to help her and he ended up killing her accidentally, happens all the time in Japan they kill there grandparents and then mummify their bodies out of remorse. Same as incest which is so prevalent there and you'd never know it if you didn't live there amongst them. Funny culture really the Japanese, they pretend to be so proper but really they are so corrupt and deviant. Mmmm Japan.
tellyy
Aug 21, 2010 1:05 PM CDT
the japanese are getting weirder when it comes to their dead loved ones.

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