Sogen Kato (Paperback)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Sogen Kato (22 July 1899 - c.1978) was thought to be Tokyo's oldest man until July 2010, when it was found that he had possibly died in 1978, aged 79, and his family had never announced his death in an attempt to preserve his record. Relatives had rebuffed attempts by ward officials to see Kato in preparations for Respect for the Elderly Day in September, citing various reasons from him being a "human vegetable" to attempting the ritual of Sokushinbutsu. The cause of death is undetermined due to the state of Kato's body. The remains of Kato sparked a criminal investigation into fraud by the relatives, and the search for other missing centenarians lost due to poor record keeping by officials. Following the discovery of Kato's body, his relatives were investigated over claims they fraudulently received around 9.5 million yen of pension money.