A New Standard for Optimism

[Taliesin]

Link.

TOKYO (AP) - Police on Tuesday questioned three siblings after it was discovered they had been living with the decomposed corpse of their father for nearly a decade, an official said.

Police found the body of Kyujiro Kanaoka lying on a futon bed at the family's home in Itami city in Hyogo prefecture in western Japan, said a prefectural police spokesman, who declined to be identified.

Kanaoka's three elderly children, all in their 70s or older, told police they thought their father was still alive but that one of them recently had consulted a relative about the possibility that he might be dead, the spokesman said.

Police were investigating the cause of Kanaoka's death. Judging from the condition of his decomposed body, Kanaoka may have died as long as 10 years ago, the spokesman said.

Had he been alive, the man would be 107 years old. Hyogo prefecture had registered Kanaoka as its oldest living resident, public broadcaster NHK said.

This is just too bizarre for words.

 

[punkbass2000]

Gives rise to the question of how one goes about measuring death.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

That reminds me of a Red Dwarf episode...

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Im surprised they didnt consult a dermatologist when the maggots started bursting out of his skin

 

[amadeus]

520 Weekends at Bernie-san's

 

[The Last Conformist]

It didn't occur to them that not speaking or moving for a few years might be considered abnormal?

 

[Yom]

It didn't occur to them that not speaking or moving for a few years might be considered abnormal?

That's what I'm thinking. Plus, he was decaying! The smell must have been putrid. Even at 70, unless they all had Alzheimer's or were ********, how could they not realize that he was dead?

 

[Bozo Erectus]

They knocked on his bedroom door from time to time. He never answered, but they were too scared of being cut out of his will to ever open the door and disturb him.

 

[Yom]

They knocked on his bedroom door from time to time. He never answered, but they were too scared of being cut out of his will to ever open the door and disturb him.

Not disturbing him for a couple weeks or even a month, I can undestand (although I would open the door far before then), but 10 years? At least after a few months, the smell should be putrid enough that they can smell it and recognize that it's coming from his room.

 

[The Last Conformist]

They knocked on his bedroom door from time to time. He never answered, but they were too scared of being cut out of his will to ever open the door and disturb him.

Is this just your speculation, or did you read/hear it somewhere?

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Not disturbing him for a couple weeks or even a month, I can undestand (although I would open the door far before then), but 10 years? At least after a few months, the smell should be putrid enough that they can smell it and recognize that it's coming from his room.

Even through a closed door they would have smelled it. Maybe the old man opened the window before he laid down ten years ago?

@Last, pure speculation, but I dont see how people could be standing over a bloated decomposing corpse and not realise, so he must have been locked in a room or something.

 

[Steve Thompson]

That really is too bizarre for words. In fact, I shouldn't even be posting...

 

[Birdjaguar]

There once was a man named Kanaoka
He died sitting up on the sofa
When he began to stink
"Nothing is wrong." The children did think,
And every day they served him his soba.


Soba noodles are native Japanese noodles made of buckwheat flour and wheat flour. They are roughly as thick as spaghetti, and prepared in various hot and cold dishes. The most basic soba dish is zaru soba in which boiled, cold soba noodles are eaten with a soya based dipping sauce.

 

[Steve Thompson]

With skills like that you could get a poem read on the O'Reilly Factor!

Maybe...

 

[Birdjaguar]

With skills like that you could get a poem read on the O'Reilly Factor!

Maybe...

What a great idea. I've never considered sending O'Reilly a suitable limerick, but then all of you who watch him would know who I was!

O'Reilly's a smarty from Fox....

 

[Stegyre]

We're talking about Japan, so it should be a haiku:

Father on futon
Lying still, year after year
His body rotting

 

[amadeus]

"Well, my father went into the bathroom to use the toilet, and here it is, ten years later. You know how long those old folks take in there."

 

[Narz]

There once was a man named Kanaoka
He died sitting up on the sofa
When he began to stink
"Nothing is wrong." The children did think,
And every day they served him his soba.

That actually elicted a full blown chuckle not just a grin. I actually pictured three old Japenese men saying "nothing is wrong".