Sogen Kato: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|False2010 Japanese longegevityfraud claimcase}}

| name native_name = {{ubl|Sogen Kato|{{lang|ja|加藤 宗現}}}}

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1899|07|22|df=yes}}<ref name="Independent">{{cite news|title=Tokyo's 'oldest man' died 30 years ago|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/tokyos-oldest-man-died-30-years-ago-2039086.html|access-date=4 January 2011|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|date=30 July 2010|archive-date=2 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100802061627/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/tokyos-oldest-man-died-30-years-ago-2039086.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

| death_date = {{circa|November{{Death date and age|1978|11||1899|07|22|df=yes}}}} (aged 79)<ref name="Japan Today">{{cite news|title=Mummy believed to be that of '111-year-old' man found in Tokyo|url=http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/mummy-believed-to-be-that-of-111-year-old-man-found-in-tokyo|access-date=4 January 2011|newspaper=Japan Today|date=29 July 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101213124104/http://japantoday.com/category/crime/view/mummy-believed-to-be-that-of-111-year-old-man-found-in-tokyo|archive-date=13 December 2010}}</ref>

{{nihongo|'''Sogen Kato'''|加藤 宗現|Katō Sōgen|extra=22 July 1899 – {{circa|November 1978}}}} was a Japanese man thought to have been Tokyo's [[oldest people|oldest man]] until July 2010, when his [[mummified corpse]] was found in his bedroom. It was concluded he had likely died in November 1978, aged 79, and his family had never announcedreported his death. Relatives had rebuffed attempts by ward officials to see Kato in preparations for [[Respect for the Aged Day]] later that year, citing many reasons from him being a [[Vegetative state|"human vegetable"]] to becoming a [[Sokushinbutsusokushinbutsu]]. The(Buddhist causemummy). ofAn death[[autopsy]] wascould not determined due todetermine the statecause of Kato's bodydeath.{{citation needed|date=September 2018}}

The discovery of Kato's remains sparked a search for other missing centenarians lost due to poor record keepingrecordkeeping by officials. A study following the discovery of Kato's remains found that police did not know if 234,354 people over the age of one hundred100 were still alive. Poor record keepingrecordkeeping was to blame for many of the cases, officials admitted. One of Kato's relatives was found guilty of fraud; his relatives claimed [[yen|¥]]9,500,000 (US$117,939; [[GBP|£]]72,030) of the pension meant for Kato.

[[File:SogenKatoHome.svg|thumb|300px|right|upright=1.3|An illustration of where Kato's mummified body was discovered. '''(1)''' Location of where the body was found; '''(2)''' Newspaper from 1978; '''(3)''' [[Rotary dial]] telephone; '''(4)''' Main entrance.{{#tag:ref|This illustration is based on a reconstruction of Kato's house shown on the [[Nippon Television]] program ''Bankisha''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.japanprobe.com/2010/08/02/news-program-builds-replica-of-mummy-mans-house/ |title=News Program Builds Replica of Mummy Man's House |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2 August 2010 |website=Japan Probe |access-date=10 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101006184338/http://www.japanprobe.com/2010/08/02/news-program-builds-replica-of-mummy-mans-house/ |archive-date=6 October 2010}}</ref>|group=note}}]]

Eventually, Kato's body was found by police and ward officials inon Wednesday, 27 July 2010, when ward officials intending to honour his achievement of longevity on [[Respect for the Aged Day]] later that year were again rebuffed and police broke into the house.<ref name="Telegraph"/><ref name="autogenerated3">{{cite news|title=Tokyo's 'oldest man' had been dead for 30 years|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-10809128|access-date=16 January 2011|newspaperpublisher=[[BBC News Online]]|date=29 July 2010|archive-date=31 January 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110131154459/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-10809128|url-status=live}}</ref> Found in a first floor room, Kato's mummified remains were lying on a bed wearing underwear and pajamas and were covered with a blanket.<ref name="Independent"/> Newspapers that were found in the room dated back three decades to the [[Shōwa period]], suggesting that Kato's death may have occurred around November 1978.<ref name="CNN">{{cite news|last=Ogura|first=Junko|title=Tokyo's "oldest man" may have been dead for decades|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/07/30/japan.oldest.man/?hpt=Sbin#fbid=UeKmViN_IIA|access-date=16 January 2011|newspaper=[[CNN]]|date=30 July 2010|archive-date=21 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021200304/http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/07/30/japan.oldest.man/?hpt=Sbin#fbid=UeKmViN_IIA|url-status=live}}</ref> An official named Yutaka Muroi said, "His family must have known he has(d) been dead all these years and acted as if nothing happened. It's so eerie."<ref name="autogenerated3"/>

In November 2010, the [[Tokyo District Court]] sentenced Tokimi Kato to a 2½ year sentence for fraud, [[suspended sentence|suspended]] for four years. Judge Hajime Shimada said, "The defendant committed a malicious crime with the selfish motive of securing revenue for her family. However, she has paid back the pension benefits and expressed remorse for the crime."<ref>{{cite news|last=Shimbun|first=Yomiuri|title=No prison for granddaughter who pilfered pension money|url=http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Crime/Story/A1Story20101123-248731.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101202045531/http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Crime/Story/A1Story20101123-248731.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 2, December 2010|access-date=2 January 2011|newspaper=[[AsiaOne]]|date=23 November 2010}}</ref>

After the discovery of Kato's mummified corpse, other checks into elderly centenarians across Japan produced reports of missing centenarians and faulty record keepingrecordkeeping. Tokyo officials attempted to find the oldest woman in the city, 113-year-old Fusa Furuya, who was registered as living with her daughter. Furuya's daughter said she had not seen her mother for over 25 years.<ref>{{cite news|last=Buerk|first=Roland|title=Tokyo's 'oldest woman' missing for decades|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-10848254|access-date=16 January 2011|newspaperpublisher=[[BBC News Online]]|date=3 August 2010|archive-date=30 January 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110130150707/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-10848254|url-status=live}}</ref> The revelations about the disappearance of Furuya and the death of Kato prompted a nationwide investigation, which concluded that police did not know if 234,354 people older than 100 were still alive.<ref name="Globe and Mail 2010" /> More than 77,000 of these people, officials said, would have been older than 120 years old if they were still alive. Poor record keeping was blamed for many of the cases,<ref name="Globe and Mail 2010">{{cite news|last=Mackinnon|first=Mark|title=Japanese living longer, lonelier|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/asia-pacific/japanese-living-longer-lonelier/article1746791/|access-date=16 January 2011|newspaper=[[The Globe and Mail]]|date=7 October 2010|archive-date=13 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913131332/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/asia-pacific/japanese-living-longer-lonelier/article1746791/|url-status=live}}</ref> and officials said that many may have died during [[World War II]]. One register suggestedclaimed a man was still alive at age 186.<ref name="BBC 2010">{{cite news|last=Murphy|first=Zoe|title=The mystery of Japan's missing centenarians|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11299646|access-date=16 January 2011|newspaperpublisher=[[BBC News Online]]|date=21 September 2010|archive-date=26 January 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110126042717/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11299646|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{quote box |width=15em25em |align=left |salign=right|quote="Many of those gone missing are men who left their hometowns to look for work in Japan’sJapan's big cities during [[Japanese_economic_miracle#Steady_increasing_stage_(1973–1992)|the country’scountry's pre-1990s boom years]]. Many of them worked obsessively long hours and never built a social network in their new homes. Others found less economic success than they’dthey'd hoped. Ashamed of that failure, they didn’tdidn't feel they could return home."|source=—''[[The Globe and Mail]]'' report<ref name="Globe and Mail 2010" />}}

Following the revelations about Kato and Furuya, analysts investigated why record keepingrecordkeeping by Japanese authorities was poor. Many seniors have, it has been reported, moved away from their family homes. Statistics show that divorce is becoming increasingly common among the elderly. [[Dementia]], which afflicts more than two million Japanese, is also a contributing factor. "Many of those gone missing are men who left their hometowns to look for work in Japan’sJapan's big cities during the country’scountry's pre-1990s boom years. Many of them worked obsessively long hours and never built a social network in their new homes. Others found less economic success than they’dthey'd hoped. Ashamed of that failure, they didn’tdidn't feel they could return home,"<ref name="Globe and Mail 2010" /> a Canadian newspaper reported several months after the discovery of Kato's body.<ref name="Globe and Mail 2010" />

Japan ishas the mosthighest percentage of elderly nationpeople in the worldWorld;<ref>{{cite news|title= Japan: Most Elderly Nation|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04EEDC1530F932A35754C0A9609C8B63|access-date=8 May 2011|newspaper=The New York Times|date=8 May 2011|archive-date=12 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111212095948/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04EEDC1530F932A35754C0A9609C8B63|url-status=live}}</ref> as of October 2010, 23.1 percent of the population were found to be aged 65 and over, and 11.1 percent were 75 and over.<ref>{{cite web|title=人口推計|url=http://www.stat.go.jp/data/jinsui/pdf/201102.pdf|publisher=Statistics Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications|date=8 May 2011|access-date=8 May 2011|archive-date=23 March 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110323204202/http://www.stat.go.jp//data/jinsui/pdf/201102.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> This has largely been caused by a very low [[birthrate]]; as of 2005, the rate was 1.25 babies for every woman—to keep the population steady the number needed to be 2.1. However, the issue of aging in the country has been increased by the government's unwillingness to let immigrants into the country—foreign nationals accounted for only 1.2 percent of the total population as of 2005. A 2006 report by the government indicates that by 2050, {{frac|1|3}} of the population may be elderly.<ref>{{cite news|last=Tabuchi|first=Hiroko|author-link=Hiroko Tabuchi|title=Japan Passes Italy As Most Elderly Nation|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/30/AR2006063000255.html|access-date=8 May 2011|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=8 May 2011|archive-date=12 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112092415/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/30/AR2006063000255.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

One Japanese doctor, however, said he was not surprised at the news. Dr. Aiba Miyoji, of the Tokyo Koto Geriatric Medical Centre, said many Japanese seniors were dying alone, ignored by their families. “Some"Some patients come in with their families, but many are alone or come in just with their social workers,”" he said. “It"It happens especially in Tokyo. There are more and more single-person families.”" Dr. Aiba added that a key reason for the statistics was because people in Japan are living longer than ever before. "That achievement is placing new burdens on a society where a declining number of working-age Japanese have to fund rising health-care and pension costs," ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'' reported. Dr. Aiba said that because Tokyo was so crowded, families cannot remain in the same household. “There’s"There's not enough space for families to live together any more,”" he said.<ref name="Globe and Mail 2010" />

A national census in 2005 found that 3.86 million elderly Japanese citizens were living alone, compared with 2.2 million a decade before. 24.4 percent of men and 9.3 percent of women over the age of 60 in Japan have no neighbours, friends or relatives on whom they could rely, a more recent study discovered. In 2008, the [[Associated Press]] reported that the number of elderly people committing suicide had reached a record high because of health and economic worries.<ref>{{cite news|title=Suicides by Japanese elderly hit record high|url=httphttps://www.nbcnews.com/id/25265556wbna25265556|access-date=8 May 2011|newspaper=[[NBC News]]|date=8 May 2011|archive-date=5 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305160144/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/25265556/|url-status=live}}</ref> "In what appears to be a collective cry for help, more than 30,000 Japanese seniors are arrested every year for shoplifting. Many of those arrested told police they stole out of feelings of boredom and isolation, rather than any economic necessity," ''The Globe and Mail'' reported after the discovery of Kato's corpse.<ref name="Globe and Mail 2010" /> Jeff Kingston, the Directordirector of Asian Studiesstudies at the [[Temple University, Japan Campus|Japan Campus]] of [[Temple University]], said, "It is a humanising phenomenon—the Japanese are traditionally seen as sober, law-abiding people—when they are in fact scamsters like the rest of us. [The story of the missing centenarians] holds up a mirror to society and reflects realities that many in Japan do not want to accept."<ref name="BBC 2010" />

* [[Aging of Japan]]

* [[Elderly people in Japan]]

* [[List of Japanese supercentenarians]]

* [[Lists of centenarians]]