There’s a Body in My Toilet!
Was a well-respected man a sexual deviant? Or was it the work of somebody else? A toilet case in the Japanese countryside.
On Friday, 24th of February 1989 Japan has officially said its goodbye to the recently passed Showa Emperor. A state funeral is held that very day and many workers are granted a free day from their duties. Prime school teacher A (name unknown) is one of those lucky ones. Free Friday means an extra-long weekend, granting her plenty of time to spend at her family home.
It’s February 28th when she gets back to teachers’ housing in the village of Miyakoji, near Fukushima. Everything goes well, until 5 pm when A decides to use her toilet. Something strange catches her eye. In the toilet’s small opening A spots a shoe. Confused, she calls other teachers over, only to realize it’s not just a shoe that’s inside, but a body as well. Shortly after this disturbing discovery one of the witnesses calls the police.
The policemen arrive but there is no one to rescue. The man inside the toilet is already dead.
The difficult part proves to be extracting his body. The toilet was a squatting type, working as a pit latrine with two openings. One mentioned before, placed inside the house, measures a mere 20 cm (less than 8 inches). On the outside, there was a tube meant for collecting waste. It was not much wider, with a 36 cm (14 inches) opening. The only option to take the body out was to destroy the toilet. And so they did.
The body was placed in a crouched position with a head facing a hole on the inside. It’s was a man. He was shirtless yet he was pressing a jacket to his chest. The shoe teacher has spotted was placed over his head, which was leaning slightly towards the left side. There were no signs of injuries, only some light scratches. Due to the body’s location, it was to some degree covered in feces and therefore had been washed twice before autopsy took place. The cause of death was judged to be hypothermia. He had been dead since February 26th — two days before A found him.
Identity Of The Body
The body was quickly identified as a local man, living just ten minutes away from teachers’ housing. He was Naoyuki Sugano, 26 years of age, employed at a company that oversaw the Fukushima nuclear plant’s safety. He was well known in the community for his activities in youth association, working as MC at weddings, or even helping to run a campaign for a village headman’s position.
Sugano has been missing since the afternoon of February 24th. The last person who saw him was his father. Naoyuki said that he is going to be back soon before departing from his family home. In his later testimony, the victim’s father claimed his son behaved as usual.
Police had quickly ruled out third party involvement. In their version of events, Sugano entered the toilet out of his own will, as he was trying to peek at A’s private parts. The bizarre death of such a well-liked person and the explanation painting him as a sexual deviant has caused an uproar in Mijakoji. More than half of its inhabitants, over four thousand people, have signed a petition requesting police to continue the investigation. Sadly, to no avail.
Local people have started to make up their own theories. To this day there are a lot of rumors floating around the victim and his supposed relationship with teacher A. The teacher was apparently engaged at the time, but sources are claiming she was having an affair with Sugano. Meanwhile, others have stated the deceased was friends with the said fiancée. It is difficult to say what was true and what was simply a rumor but what is clear is that they knew each other and Sugano has helped A before. Sometime before the accident A had been receiving weird calls. Sugano and her fiancée had recorded those calls and brought them to the police. Officials were not interested.
His job and local activities were also questioned. Many claimed his death may have been connected to village elections. Sugano was deeply involved with the campaign; he even made speeches endorsing the current village head. Until he suddenly withdrew his support. Some speculate he saw some unsavory behavior. Perhaps the candidate giving bribes?
To make matters worse, things weren’t rosy at his workplace. Sugano’s supervisor, operation manager, had committed suicide, jumping before the train at Tokyo’s Ueno Station. A month before, in January, there was an accident at Fukushima Power Plant, with one of the reactors getting shut down temporarily. It might have given workers who were responsible for its maintenance, a considerable amount of stress.
How Did He Get There?
The issue which always comes up with this case is how Sugano could’ve possibly fit into the outside tub. It was only 36 cm wide (14 inches). According to the statistics, an average Japanese male with a height of 160 cm-170 cm (5’2 ft-5’5 ft) has an average shoulder width of 36 cm-38 cm (around 14 inches). Even if the deceased was a very slim man it must have been a tight fit.
Just as weird is what Sugano has left behind on the surface. His missing shoe was found in fields, close to where he parked his car. The car that had keys inside. Why would he leave his keys? And why leave one shoe behind on a cold February day?
Some Internet communities have assumed Sugano was a stalker. But that again raises some questions. Wouldn’t he know A was missing for holidays or notice how empty teachers' housings are?
Did Sugano look for something while she was not there? Or maybe somebody “helped” him with entering the toilet?
Police never re-opened Sugano’s case. Due to Japan’s statute of limitation the case has been closed.
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