The discovery in Japan of the body of a 20-year-old woman at her ex-boyfriend’s house has sparked criticisms of the country’s anti-stalking law and the poor handling of the case by the police.
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Police found the skeletal remains of Asahi Okazaki in a bag hidden under the floorboards of the house in the city of Kawasaki, Kanagawa prefecture, on April 30.
It was their fourth search of the premises, and their first full one with a warrant. By then, Okazaki had been missing for over four months, according to local newspapers.
A postmortem later revealed that more than a month had passed since her death and her body had been partially burnt.
Officers met Okazaki’s 27-year-old ex-boyfriend, Hideyuki Shirai, at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on May 3 after he returned from a trip abroad, the Asahi newspaper reported. He was later arrested for illegal disposal of a corpse.
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Public anger was stirred over a newspaper report quoting the victim’s family, with many questioning whether the police should have intervened sooner in the case to help prevent Okazaki’s death.