Japanese man hid elderly father's body in wardrobe for 2 years: 'Funerals are expensive'
Nobuhiko Suzuki hid his father's body in a wardrobe for two years to avoid funeral costs after his death in January 2023.
Unwilling to bear the costs of a funeral for his father, a man in Japan decided to keep his body hidden in a wardrobe at his house for two years, the South China Morning Post said.
56-year-old Nobuhiko Suzuki's actions came to light after he did not open his Chinese restaurant in Tokyo for a week, raising concerns among neighbours. The neighbours subsequently contacted the police and officers reached his house to find his father's skeleton in the wardrobe.
Suzuki told the police that he had hidden the body after his father died at age 86 in January 2023. While it is not known how his father died, Suzuki claimed he just found his father's lifeless body when he came home from work.
“The funeral was expensive,” he said, explaining why he concealed the body.
Police said that while Suzuki initially felt guilt over his actions, he eventually blamed his father for his death. He has now been arrested and being investigated for allegedly embezzling his father’s pension.
The case has sparked mixed reactions among Japanese internet users. While some speculated that he killed his father to collect his pension, others sympathised with his situation.
Internet reacts
“He is just a bad guy who hid his father’s body for his pension,” said one user.
Another wrote, “When my father passed away, the hospital urged me to find a funeral home immediately. I ended up spending two million yen (US$14,000). Losing a family member for the first time is overwhelming, with so many unknowns.”
A third user suggested: “People often do not know what to do after a loved one dies. We need a system to connect them with support networks.”
According to a survey, the average funeral cost in Japan was around 1.3 million yen (US$8,900).
This is not the first case of its kind in Japan. In 2023, a 56-year-old unemployed man was sued after allegedly hiding his 72-year-old mother's body at home for three years, from 2019 to 2022, while embezzling about two million yen from her pension payments during that time.
