230,000 Japanese aged over 100 ‘missing’

TOKYO - Over 230,000 elderly people in Japan, listed in the country’s records as being aged over 100, are missing or “unaccounted for”, a nationwide inquiry has revealed.

An audit of family registries was launched across Japan in August after the remains of a man thought to be Tokyo’s oldest living person were found at his family home, the BBC reported.

Relatives of the man are now being accused of fraudulently receiving his pension for decades. Japanese officials now say the missing people “would be at least 150 years old if still alive”.

The justice ministry said some of those unaccounted for “may have died as long ago as World War II”, possibly during the post-war turmoil.

Some may have emigrated without reporting their status to authorities, or their relatives simply did not report the deaths.

The inquiry followed the discovery of the mummified remains of Sogen Kato, who was thought to be the oldest man in Tokyo.

When officials went to congratulate him on his 111th birthday, they found his 30-year-old remains, proving that dishonest relatives were exploiting the pension system.

Kato had received about 9.5 million yen ($109,000) in pension payments.

One in five people are over the age of 65 in Japan. In the past 10 years, the number of centenarians has more than tripled to 40,399 - 87 percent of whom are women, according to government data.