Corpse Of Homeless Man Lay Rotting On Japanese City Street For Two Months

The Guardian (UK) ^ | 12-19-2003 | Justin McCurry

[blam]

Corpse of homeless man lay rotting on Japanese city street for two months

Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Friday December 19, 2003
The Guardian (UK)

For two months, the body of an elderly man was ignored by passersby as it lay rotting on a street corner in Osaka, a short walk from a department store and a big railway station. The police in Japan's second city said yesterday that the corpse, thought to be that of a homeless man in his late 60s or early 70s, had begun to decompose by the time the authorities were called in to take it away.

The cause of death has yet to be determined, but crime is not suspected.

The area is one of Osaka's busiest: an estimated million people pass through every day. Yet the corpse was ignored by shoppers and commuters until December 4, when a taxi driver called the police.

The recent publication of a Japanese version of the Big Issue, which is sold a stone's throw from where the body was found, had raised the hope that Japan was beginning to take its growing homelessness problem more seriously.

But in recent months there has been a rise in the number of attacks on middle-aged, homeless men, many of whom are the victims of company restructuring but are often regarded nevertheless as feckless and worthy of contempt.

In August three youths were arrested in Osaka for allegedly beating several homeless men with iron pipes. The authorities evict people sleeping rough in parks, often in an attempt to improve the area's image before a conference or sporting event, including last summer's World Cup finals.

Yesterday, workers in central Osaka showed little sign of being embarrassed, let alone ashamed, about the the neglected body.

"I guess the place where the body was found is kind of a blind spot for passersby," a spokesman for Hankyu department store, Masaaki Takahashi, told Kyodo news agency. "We didn't receive any inquiries or comments from our customers. There was no big stir among our employees either."

[Normal4me]

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Surely, the body started stinking within a few days of the death. It's plain disgusting.

[Bob J]

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[Gumption]

Doesn't sound very "honorable" to me.

[Bedford Forrest]

Now if he had turned up as the surprise ingredient on the Iron Chef show - then the story would have had legs. Osaka is a city. Cities are bad places. Osaka is a bad place.

[Viking2002]

Like I really need to read this while I'm eating a sandwich.......LOL

[Nick Danger]

Bureaucrats are the same the world over. Ask them to trim the fat and the first thing they cut is the homeless disposal team.

Bring out yer dead. Bring out yer dead.

[Revolting cat!]

What a waste of a fresh sushi ingredient!

[krb]

What happened to the ND icon?

[apackof2]

My lord what is with the Japanese!

[Lockbar]

Somehow I don't think this story "rings true".

[Old Professer]

I hope that when I die, someone will at least measure my feck before they bury me.

[GeronL]

Darn, they didn't blame Bush??

[glock rocks]

Oh, my. This is unconscionable.

Here in Salt Lake, we don't leave them laying around more that a week or so.

[CaptRon]

Oh, those wacky Japanese.

[Dan Evans]

My lord what is with the Japanese!

Give 'em a break. They have smaller noses than we do.

[Archie Bunker on steroids]

The guy probably had enough saki in him to keep fresh for a couple months.

[Consort]

Michi kill.

[ConservativeMan55]

"JUST DAMN!!!"