The woman was in an advanced state of decomposition to the point of mummification
A reclusive Japanese family refused to believe their 49-year-old sister was dead after she stopped eating – and embalmed her body at their cottage, an inquest heard.
Rina Yasutake, a talented artist who attended Cambridge University, was found lying on a mattress in an advanced state of decomposition in the family home in 2018 – a month after she became unresponsive.
Concerns were first raised when her brother and sister visited a local pharmacy to buy surgical spirit for preserving her body.
Staff at the pharmacy reported that they smelled of “corpses”, North Yorkshire Coroner’s Court heard on Friday.
Police found Rina on a mattress on the floor of her bedroom inside the cottage in Helmsley, North Yorkshire, on 25 September 2018.
It was later established she had been unresponsive since August 18, though the date of death could not be conclusively determined, the inquest heard.
Rina was in an advanced state of decomposition to the point of mummification and a postmortem could not ascertain a cause of death. The court heard third party involvement was ruled out and there was no evidence of substance abuse.
Her siblings Takahiro and Yoshika, now in their 50s, were interviewed by police and confirmed that Rina had stopped eating in around April 2018.
They were not aware she had mental health problems and decided to care for her at home because they feared something could “happen” to her outside if they took her to hospital.
Rina gradually became weak and bedbound before losing consciousness, it was heard.
The siblings said Rina had been behaving strangely after their father’s death, but had not sought any medical treatment since 2013, when she was given counselling after seeing her GP about an “aggressive episode”.
The siblings added that Rina was gifted, privately educated at Queen Mary’s School near Thirsk before reading classics at Cambridge.
They said she was a good painter, but had never worked since leaving university.
The family were self-reliant and isolated, living first in Nunnington after their mother married a British man and they left Japan.
They did not have modern communication devices such as a TV or radio and though fluent in English and Japanese, spoke their own private language to each other.
Detective Inspector Nichola Holden of North Yorkshire Police said there were “significant” language barriers facing the investigation once the family’s unique dialect became apparent.
She said that all three Yasutakes believed Rina was still alive for “many months” after police became involved.
Senior coroner for North Yorkshire Jon Heath recorded an open conclusion.
Takahiro, Yoshika and their mother Michiko, now 80, were charged with preventing a lawful and decent burial.
But the charges were allowed to lie on file at York Crown Court in 2021 after a judge decided there would be no public interest in prosecuting them because of their mental afflictions.
They still live in the same cottage.
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