I miss mom... But I don't miss her social security!

This has been going on for awhile, and I'm sure its far from over....

Japan has over 40,000 folks that are over 100 years old. Or so their social security rolls would have you believe.

As it turns out, moving back in with your dead parents can turn into a healthy living in Japan.

The first story I saw was when some city council members thought they'd cash in on a local photo op by congratulating Sogen 'I'm Not Dead Yet' Kato for turning 111. But the family resisted saying that the old fellow had locked himself into a room to be a living Buddha. The councilmen were having none of this and had the police force their way in where they found the mummified remains of Sogen, who had been dead for many years.
The family had collected over $109,000 off of Sogen's pension.

Then there were a few more stories. Like the one about the woman who is still collecting her payments at an address that was turned to a park in 1981.

Now they busted a dude that has been carrying around his mom's remains in a backpack. Because he couldn't afford her funeral, he thought he'd keep her around and collect her checks. He describes how he washed the body for awhile then eventually broke her into pieces and loaded her into the backpack.

In all, there are more than 200 folks over the age of 100 that are collecting checks but otherwise cannot be found.

THIS is whyjapanesepaytaxes.

PS - You know we're gonna have a bunch of this ourselves now that the boomers are aging and the kids are moving back home...

read more:
Almost 200 centenarians 'missing' in Japan(bbc)
Tokyo's 'oldest woman' is missing(bbc)
Tokyo's 'oldest man' was a corpse(bbc)