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'Oldest man' dead for 30 years

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SCMP Reporter

Under the 'uh-oh' category ... BBC reports that Japanese officials went around to congratulate Sogen Kato on his 111th birthday. They thought he was the oldest man in Tokyo. Well, he probably would have been, but what they found were his remains in his bed.

Kato had been dead for 30 years.

But the story becomes even stranger. Officials had tried to meet the old man earlier in the year but his family had chased them away, saying he did not wish to be disturbed. Finally they thought something odd must be going on and called the police, who forced their way into the house last week.

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The police found Kato's body, wearing underwear and pyjamas and covered with a blanket. His family said he 'confined himself to his room' 30 years ago and had become a living Buddha.

But the game was up when investigations found Kato had still been getting his pension all those years - and someone had withdrawn the money from his account.

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