The case of a dead body in a Japanese toilet

In 2011, the Fukushima Prefecture in Japan became infamous due to the serious nuclear leakage incident following the 3/11 earthquake. However, today we won’t discuss that nuclear leak but rather the mysterious death that occurred in a restroom in Fukushima.

The incident happened on February 28, 1989, at an elementary school in Tamura, Fukushima, Japan. At around 6:00 PM that day, a 23-year-old female teacher at the elementary school left the teaching building after a day of classes and was heading back to the staff dormitories, not far away.

In February, Fukushima was still experiencing winter, and by 6:00 PM, it was already dark. Shortly after returning to the staff dormitories, the female teacher prepared to use the restroom.

The Mystery Under The Toilet

The staff dormitory was designed with individual rooms, each equipped with a private restroom. Therefore, she was the sole user of the restroom in her room.

At that time, the conditions in the mountainous villages in Japan were not very developed. The sewage pipes from the restrooms did not flow but rather collected in independent cesspools. The toilets were of the squat type, with a U-shaped pipe under them. One end of the U-shaped pipe was connected to the toilet, and the other end served as the sewage outlet outside.

Periodically, someone would open the manhole cover and use a machine to pump out the waste from inside to the outside.

Before using the restroom, out of instinct, she would typically look into the toilet to check for anything unusual. When she peered in, she saw something blurry that resembled a shoe, and instinctively felt something was amiss.

Therefore, she went outside to open the manhole cover to inspect what might be underneath. In any case, she wanted to check for her peace of mind. However, when she saw a human foot inside, the female teacher panicked, screamed loudly, and ran to seek help from her colleagues.

A little later, the principal and some other colleagues arrived at the scene, and after a closer examination, they confirmed there was a human foot inside. They also noticed that the foot had no shoe. They immediately called the police.

When the police arrived at the scene and observed the situation, they tried to use their hands to pull the body out, but the sewage pipe was too narrow, and they couldn’t proceed. So, they contacted a backhoe to dig up the entire U-shaped underground pipe. Afterward, they used a cutting machine to open the pipe and retrieve the body.

While recovering the body, the police confirmed that the victim was a man, but the position of his body when he died was quite unusual. His arms and legs were curled up, lying upside down in the U-shaped pipe. The lower part of his body was wearing pants, while the upper part was bare. In his hand, he was clutching a neatly folded dress shirt. His face was turned toward the restroom side of the pipe, giving the impression that he was trying to peep at women using the restroom.

Due to the prolonged time the body had been in the cesspool, the police had to put in considerable effort to clean the body. After cleaning, many people immediately recognized him. The victim’s name was Naoyuki Cano, a 26-year-old young man who was very well-known locally.

According to the forensic examination, judging from the post-mortem rigidity, the man had died two days before he was found. The cause of death was hypothermia and circulatory disorder within the chest. In simpler terms, he died of exposure after being trapped in a tight space. There were some minor scratches on his elbows and knees, but no other apparent injuries or signs of struggle. After a series of investigations, the police quickly closed the case, as they couldn’t find any evidence of murder, concluding it as an unusual death resulting from an attempt to spy on women using the restroom.

Despite the police considering it an accidental death, both the victim’s father and the local people couldn’t accept that explanation. They knew him well and regarded him as a promising young man. He was responsible for business management at a company in charge of maintaining the nuclear power plant at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

He was also capable of composing music and poetry, and he had excellent public speaking skills. He was responsible for organizing entertainment activities for the youth in the village and was often invited to officiate weddings for friends and even give speeches on behalf of the village chief.

The villagers couldn’t reconcile the image of such a young man with a peeping Tom. Of course, the villagers didn’t doubt the police’s conclusion based on their knowledge of the deceased. Still, there were numerous doubts surrounding the case.

So, why did people not believe the police’s investigation results? Let’s explore some of the suspicions in the case:

Suspicion 1: How did the victim get inside the pipe?

The U-shaped pipe was symmetrical, with a diameter of 36 cm. One end led to the outdoor sewage, and the other end was in the restroom inside the house. The indoor toilet was a squat toilet with a diameter of only 20 cm, making it impossible for the victim to enter from inside. The victim was 1.7 meters tall, and according to the average shoulder width measurements for Japanese men aged 25 to 29, which was 40.4 cm, it would have been very difficult for him to fit inside the 36 cm diameter U-shaped pipe.

The victim’s father even attempted to reassemble the cut pipes and test entering them, ultimately demonstrating that there was no way to enter the pipe, even without clothing. So, how could he have entered it?

Suspicion 2: Unusual position

The incident occurred in February when the weather in Fukushima, Japan, was cold. Inside the U-shaped pipe, which was also damp, the conditions were even colder. The investigation revealed that when he passed away on February 26, there was still about 20 cm of snow on the ground. In such freezing conditions, he was found with his upper body exposed, and what was even more strange was that he was holding a dress shirt in his arms. Such peculiar positions and actions were truly hard to comprehend.

Suspicion 3: Lack of injuries

During the post-mortem examination, forensic experts found some small abrasions on the victim’s elbows and knees. However, there were no other obvious injuries. The autopsy report suggested that the victim was alive when he entered the pipe and subsequently died of hypothermia. If he had been murdered before entering, there would have been clear signs of injury. But there was no evidence of any significant injuries.

Suspicion 4: The shoe

When the body was discovered, the victim was not wearing shoes. The police conducted a search around the crime scene and found one of his shoes wrapped inside the pipe. This was the shoe that the female teacher had seen and confirmed as his. Later, the police found the other shoe far away, under a riverbed. Why were both shoes found in such separate locations?

Suspicion 5: Relationship with the Female Teacher

The victim and the female teacher had a close relationship. He also had a good rapport with her boyfriend, and they were well-acquainted with each other’s activities. Prior to the incident, the female teacher had received multiple harassing phone calls, prompting her and her boyfriend to record them and report them to the police. Additionally, the victim assisted the female teacher in identifying the harasser’s identity.

Suspicion 6: Time

The victim was found on February 28 and was last seen on February 24. The last person who saw him was his father, who reported hearing his son talking to someone outside the door around 10 AM on February 24, just before he went missing. Interestingly, this coincided with the death of Emperor Showa of Japan, whose funeral was held on February 24. It was a national mourning period, and the female teacher had taken leave from February 24 to February 27 to visit her hometown, which the victim knew. He likely expected her return on February 28 and knew she would be the sole user of a certain restroom. Therefore, it seems unlikely that he would endure freezing weather to observe her for two days while she was absent. This raises questions about his actual whereabouts during those two days.

Suspicion 7: Victim’s Car

During the investigation at the crime scene, the police found the victim’s car parked near the dormitory with the keys inside, suggesting that he might have temporarily parked there and intended to return shortly. Otherwise, he would have removed the keys.

Suspicion 8: Female Teacher

Some have questioned the female teacher regarding her ability to see the shoes beneath the toilet in the dimly lit restroom, given the time of day and the deep hole under the toilet. Furthermore, after spotting the shoes, she did not immediately seek help from others but instead went outside to open the sewage drain cover herself. While this might seem courageous, it raises questions about whether she was the perpetrator pretending to discover the victim. However, there is no evidence to support such a theory, and the female teacher had no motive to harm the victim.

Suspicion 9: Nuclear Power Plant Accident

Over a month before the incident, there was an accident at the Fukushima Dachi nuclear power plant, where the victim and his coworker, who committed suicide due to the incident, worked. This suggests a potential connection between the victim’s death and the incident at the nuclear plant. However, this connection is speculative.

Suspicion 10: Village Head Election

Ten days before the incident, the village held a heated election for the position of village head. Some supported the nuclear power plant, believing it provided job opportunities and boosted the local economy, while others opposed it, fearing its adverse health effects. The village head had significant authority in determining the fate of the nuclear plant’s operations, and the victim might have uncovered something related to the election behind the scenes, possibly leading to his death. The timing of his death and potential motives make this a significant local suspicion.

In the end, the mystery remains unsolved, and the question of how the victim managed to enter the sewage pipe persists. Although the case was officially closed as an accidental death, it still raises doubts and suspicions among the local community, who believe it might have been a carefully staged murder.

The truth may remain hidden, known only to the deceased.

What do you think about this case?

Please share your conclusions in the comments below.

Goodbye!