A body believed to be an elderly woman was discovered on Friday inside a metal drum at a recycling company in the city of Yoshikawa, Saitama Prefecture.
The discovery was made after an employee called the police around 3:50 p.m. to report what appeared to be a human foot visible in the drum.
According to the Saitama Prefectural Police, the drum — measuring approximately 90 cm deep and 60 cm in diameter — had been collected by the recycling company the previous day from a storage rental facility in the city of Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. The drum is reported to have been stored there since at least February.
The recycling company had received a disposal request from the facility due to unpaid storage fees.
The body appears to have been dead for some time and was found clothed and wrapped in a blue tarp, according to police. An autopsy revealed no noticeable external injuries.
The police are treating the case as abandonment of a corpse and are working to identify the body and cause of death.
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