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The 68-year-old woman and her 42-year-old daughter die of exhaustion in an apartment in Osaka, surprising many Japanese.
On December 11, the police came to inspect the apartment in the Minato district, Osaka city, and discovered the decomposing body of the mother and child. Her refrigerator had no food, the house had water, the gas was turned off, and the old woman’s wallet was only 13 yen.
Police said the two victims died for months and that they only went to the apartment to check after receiving news from the elderly woman’s sister that her sister had not been in contact for a long time. The autopsy results showed that they died of malnutrition, the mother weighed only about 30 kg when she died.
The Mainichi newspaper reported that the two women had lived in the apartment for about 10 years and were initially very active in the local community. However, earlier this year, the son quit his job. They confess to their friends that they have no money left and that they live off the support of their relatives.
Elderly couple in Toshima district, Tokyo. Image: Bloomberg.
Neither the mother nor the daughter applied for or received social benefits, according to Osaka officials, meaning the local welfare office was not aware of their circumstances.
The mother and daughter did not pay for the newspaper on time, so the local newspaper vendors came to the house many times, but did not open the door. They ended up without paying their water bill, so their water was cut off from mid-November.
The death of mother and daughter shocked many Japanese. “The two of them usually go to the supermarket together, they know how to dress and they don’t seem to be in trouble. It’s crazy,” said a 73-year-old woman who knew the mother and daughter.
“Everyone’s connection to the community is fading today. It’s sad that something like this happened here again,” said a neighbor in her 70s.
“When I was a child, the local police used to visit us when we moved to a new house, but now they don’t,” said Yasuyuki Gondo, a professor of psychology at Osaka University who specializes in higher studies. age, he said. “This is said to respect individual freedom.”
This phenomenon also happened to neighbors who lived in an area, Gondo said. “People tend to be aware of family, fear invading other people’s private lives, but that means the social network is weakened,” he said.
The kodokishi phenomenon, or people who die alone and undetected, was first identified in Japan in the 1980s, although there is some evidence that the phenomenon is becoming more common. especially in large cities where most nuclear families cease to exist and many people live alone.
Support centers across Japan have recently received many requests for support from people facing poverty, apparently due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said this week that more than 390,000 cases of consultations were registered in the centers from April to September, three times the same period last year.
People in need can be instructed on how to apply for government benefits due to loss of income or medical assistance. Some centers also advise on job opportunities, although relatively rare, while local governments distribute food packages. The government also organizes homeless people, especially families, to stay in hotels.
Support centers recorded the highest number of people seeking counseling with 95,000 in April, apparently due to job losses and declining income due to the pandemic, but the number dropped to around 40,000 in July.
However, welfare agencies warn that the number is growing again as the number of Covid-19 infections in the country surpasses 200,000, with more than 2,800 deaths.
Mr. Ngoc (SCMP)
