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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| Japanese probe as 200 centenarians missing |
| 2010-08-13 |
| [The Nation (Nairobi)] Nearly 200 Japanese centenarians are missing, officials said today, with the total likely to rise amid a nationwide search after the discovery of the 30-year-old corpse of a man registered as aged 111. In the western city of Kobe alone, the whereabouts of 105 out of 847 centenarians were unknown as of the end of July, a city official said. "The city launched an investigation on the condition of the 105 people," the Kobe city official said -- in addition to 22 others who have not accessed nursing or medical insurance in recent years. Those unaccounted-for include people who would be older than the current officially recognised oldest woman in Japan, 113-year-old Chiyono Hasegawa, who lives in southern Saga prefecture. They include one supposedly 125-year-old woman. The sheer number of missing has raised fears that Japan's current welfare system could be easily exploited by relatives, after officials visiting Sogen Kato on his 111th birthday instead found his mummified, 30 year-old remains. Police are investigating the late Kato's relatives -- who claimed he had retreated to his room to become "a living Buddha" -- for fraud because the government had kept paying a pension into the man's bank account. A total of 9.5 million yen (109,000 dollars) in widower's pension payments had been deposited since his wife died six years ago, and some of the money had recently been withdrawn, reports said. Local government officials have fanned out for face-to-face meetings with people registered as aged over 100 -- of whom fast-greying Japan, with its world-beating life expectancies, had more than 40,000 at last count. In city of Osaka, 64 out of 857 centenarians are currently missing. Officials today confirmed that a man who was registered as being 127 had been dead since 1966. A government report said in July that Japan's average life expectancy set a world-best 86.44 years for women while men's average life expectancy came fifth globally with 79.59 years. When asked if the report could affect the expectancy rate, a health ministry official said the rate is calculated using national census data as local authorities keep records on centenarians. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #12 Dong, I'm not touchin'. I think it means 'together.' |
| Posted by: Free Radical 2010-08-13 20:13 |
| #11 I think Long means dragon. Dong, I'm not touchin'. |
| Posted by: Threse Fillmore4447 2010-08-13 17:34 |
| #10 "store sign "Long Dong Meats", I presume it's an asian butcher who doesn't realise exactly what that means in English" Or maybe he does, Jim. ;-p |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2010-08-13 17:26 |
| #9 On a visit to Houston a few years ago, I snapped a picture of a store sign "Long Dong Meats", I presume it's an asian butcher who doesn't realise exactly what that means in English. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2010-08-13 15:41 |
| #8 "We will have no mowe Wupert .. no mowe Wodewick .. no mowe Wudolph the Wed Nosed Weindeew ..." |
| Posted by: Steve White 2010-08-13 14:21 |
| #7 "Wewease... BWIAN!" |
| Posted by: mojo 2010-08-13 12:58 |
| #6 I have a vewy gweat fwiend in Wome named Biggus Dickus! |
| Posted by: bigjim-CA 2010-08-13 12:15 |
| #5 Pontius Pilate: So, yaw fatha was a Woman? Who was he? Brian: He was a Centurion, in the Jerusalem Garrisons. Pontius Pilate: Weally? What was his name? Brian: 'Naughtius Maximus'. [the Centurion laughs] Pontius Pilate: Centuwion, do we have anyone of that name in the gawwison? Centurion: Well, no, sir. Pontius Pilate: Well, you sound vewy sure. Have you checked? Centurion: Well, no, sir. Umm, I think it's a joke, sir... like, uh, 'Sillius Soddus' or... 'Biggus Dickus', sir. Pontius Pilate: [guard chuckles] What's so funny about "Biggus Dickus? " |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-08-13 10:16 |
| #4 Which in turn was based on "The Enemy Below", though I believe that they didn't put a body with the jettisoned garbage, but at some risk, carried the wounded guy on board the destroyer, only to dump him later, after he pegged. Id. No life. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-08-13 10:13 |
| #3 Put everything into the waste disposal tubes... Including the body of the Centurion... "Balance of Terror", Star Trek, Season 1. And yes, I have no life. |
| Posted by: Steve 2010-08-13 08:40 |
| #2 That's nothing. You should see our voter rolls. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-08-13 05:21 |
| #1 Put everything into the waste disposal tubes... Including the body of the Centurion... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2010-08-13 01:07 |