The Story of a Japanese Official Who Was Demoted and Then Suspended for Illegally Filming Corpses at a Crematorium

Took photos of a corpse with a mobile phone and shared them with acquaintances
Claimed to have deleted the photos and was disciplined with a pay cut, but the lie was exposed
Received both a pay cut and suspension... Controversy over double punishment

A public official at a municipal crematorium in Japan who illegally filmed a corpse awaiting cremation with a mobile phone was initially disciplined with a pay cut but later received an additional suspension.

An interior view of a municipal crematorium in Japan, unrelated to the article content.

On the 3rd, the Kyoto Shimbun reported, "Regarding the incident where an employee at the municipal crematorium in Konan City, Shiga Prefecture, filmed a corpse, the city office was found not to have confirmed whether the photos were deleted." According to the report, in May of last year, crematorium employee Mr. A took photos inside the cremation chamber where the corpse was located using his smartphone and shared them with two acquaintances via social networking services (SNS). When this fact became known, the city regarded it as equivalent to leaking official secrets and imposed a disciplinary action reducing his salary by 10% for six months. During the investigation, Mr. A claimed, "I deleted the photos," and the city believed him. However, during a police investigation, it was confirmed that related photos still remained on the smartphone. Mr. A received a summary order fine of 300,000 yen.

Following this, the city conducted an additional investigation and found that despite photos remaining on the smartphone, Mr. A did not report this and further sent photos to acquaintances, sharing them with others beyond the initially identified recipients. The city clearly judged this as a violation of official secrecy and in December of last year imposed an additional six-month suspension on Mr. A. A city official told the Kyoto Shimbun, "There was a lot of personal information unrelated to this incident on the smartphone, so we did not check it to protect privacy. However, trusting the employee’s claim that the photos were deleted was ultimately a mistaken judgment."

Regarding this, a local administration expert told the newspaper, "Considering the seriousness of the content filmed, even if the smartphone is personally owned, the city should have confirmed whether the photos were deleted. They should have strongly demanded cooperation from the employee. If the city’s investigation and verification process had been appropriate, the subsequent situation might have been different. The disciplinary action against the investigator should also be reviewed."

The disciplinary measures are controversial. One expert told the newspaper, "Although the leak of confidential information has been legally confirmed, receiving two disciplinary actions for the same matter constitutes double punishment. If the employee legally challenges this, the second disciplinary action is likely to be canceled. The city should withdraw the first disciplinary action and carefully review and revise the content of the second."