Japan's Strangest Mystery: Why was Naoyuki Kanno Trapped in a Toilet?

Miyakoji is a tiny village on the outskirts of Japan, with a population of just a few thousand.

The quiet, unassuming rural area isn’t known for much other than its cherry blossom trees and vast flower fields—and the unnerving case now known as the body in the toilet.

In 1989, Yumi Tanaka was one of the few thousand residents who’d grown up in the quaint village, where she worked as a school teacher.

On February 28, she began her work day at Dulu Village Elementary School as usual. The day was normal—uneventful even—until she was close to finishing up. She decided to take a toilet break before driving home for the night.

Entering the restroom, Yumi would be shocked to find a shoe sticking out of the urinal opening. The shoe wasn’t bobbing about or floating on the water; it was fixed firmly in place.

A more thorough inspection of the random object in the toilet saw Yumi realize the shoe wasn’t moving because it was still attached to something.

The horrifying and disturbing discovery would not only haunt Yumi forever but also uncover a mystery that still baffles people today.

The Discovery Becomes More Sinister

In the late 80s, Japanese toilet systems were less sophisticated than they are today. Certainly, they were a far cry from the high-tech toilets Japan often boasts nowadays. Back then, it wasn’t uncommon for the lavatory to be a squat toilet.

A squat toilet is exactly what it sounds like—you have to squat over it to use it. The toilet bowl resembles a male urinal, is horizontal in shape, and is often made of porcelain.

The top of the toilet is a trough-like bowl where the waste is flushed. This is where Yumi Tanaka was shocked to find a black shoe poking up toward her.

A bent pipe connected the squat toilet to the sewage tank. Yumi decided to follow the pipe outside to the septic tank.

Despite discovering the shoe, Yumi perhaps didn’t prepare herself for what she was about to find inside the tank: the body of a man.

Naturally, Yumi was shaken by the discovery, and her shrieking caused her colleagues to rush to her. The sinister scene horrified the group, and they quickly called the police.

When law enforcement arrived, they tried to pull the man from his watery, waste-filled grave to no avail. He was well and truly stuck. This was no surprise since the pipe opening they were trying to pull him from was just over a foot wide.

The police and distressed witnesses believe they’d stumbled upon a macabre murder scene. This is understandable since who would willingly climb into a septic tank and wedge themselves into the pipe?

Officers on the scene had no choice but to call the fire department to help remove the man from the tank.

When the firemen arrived, they had to use an excavator to dig underground and remove the pipe from the earth. Once the pipe was uprooted, it was cut open. A man’s corpse lay inside, his knees in line with his head.

Authorities found the man only clothed from the waist down, though he was clutching his coat on his torso. His head was facing the urinal opening. There were no injuries or blood on the body to suggest any signs of foul play. Certainly, there was no way to ascertain the cause of death at first glance.

The body was sent to forensics, though the pathologist was unable to analyze the body without cleaning the corpse. The man was covered in so much human waste it took two thorough cleanings before the forensics team could carry out their examination.

Once cleansed from the waste, the pathologist got to work and found that the cause of death was hypothermia. This made sense since it was late February, and the weather had been especially freezing around that time.

But that didn’t answer why the man was in the pipe in the first place. There was nothing to suggest he’d been forced into the pipe, no defensive wounds or bruising to show he was shoved into the urinal.

With the body making the news, the man’s identity was quickly discovered. His name was Naoyuki Kanno, and he had been a promising member of the Miyakoji community. He worked in the local power company and was known to be active in working with the village’s youth.

**Photo of Naoyuki Kanno via Indozone Fadami.**

On the day of his disappearance, four days before his discovery, he left home without telling his parents where he was going. He simply told his father he was heading out to run some errands, but didn’t say where.

This wasn’t out of the norm for Naoyuki; he often took off on his own without updating people on his whereabouts. However, he was often back within the day. It was highly unusual for him to disappear for days on end.

After having no contact from Naoyuki by the third day, his parents began searching for him. They began scouring the local area, visiting spots Naoyuki frequented.

The concerned couple didn’t take long to find their son’s abandoned car near a farm. Ominously, the keys were still in the car, and the vehicle was unlocked. Wherever he’d gone, it was on foot, but it seemed as if Naoyuki intended to return to his car.

The following day, Naoyuki was found in the piping of Dulu Village Elementary School.
This left more questions than answers, however.

Why Was Naoyuki Kanno In The Urinal Piping?

There are a few theories on why Naoyuki was in the toilet piping.

Since there were no obvious signs of Naoyuki being a victim of a callous murder—no blood or defensive wounds—it seems he crawled into the pipe of his own free will.

The position he was in was in line with where women would squat to use the toilet. As such, he was labeled a possible “peeping Tom” by many.

It’s been reported that Yumi knew Naoyuki, with some outlets suggesting the pair were having an affair, though this speculation has never been verified. Other outlets report that Naoyuki was friends with Yumi’s boyfriend, although, again, this hasn’t been confirmed.

These rumors helped propel the theory of a love triangle leading to murder, as well as speculation that Naoyuki had targeted the place Yumi worked so he could spy on her as she used the bathroom.

However, the Miyakoji community did not buy into the “peeping Tom” theory. They knew Naoyuki as a kind, reliable man without voyeuristic predilections.

When the police ruled his death as “accidental,” thousands of the village residents signed a petition to get the case reopened and looked into it more thoroughly. This never happened.

It wasn’t just those who knew Naoyuki that felt there was something more sinister surrounding his death. As the facts of the incident spread beyond the small village, the wider public began to voice their concerns that the police were brushing a murder off as an accidental death.

After all, the pipe Naoyuki was wedged in had a diameter of 14 inches. The average shoulder width of a man his age in Japan is 16 inches. It seems the pipe was far too narrow for Naoyuki to have got himself stuck in there of his own free will.

It was suggested by many that the only way he would have gotten in the pipe was by the force of someone else pushing him in.

Add to the fact that Naoyuki’s father, who was of similar size and stature to his son, would re-enact the scene using the septic pipe the body was found in. He would prove there was no feasible way a man of his size could wedge themselves in the narrow piping.

Another small clue that may dispel the Peeping Tom theory is that Naoyuki was only wearing one shoe when he was found. His other shoe was later found nowhere near where he had tragically died.

Either he willingly walked with just one shoe to Dulu Village Elementary School before entering the piping, or the missing shoe offers some evidence of a struggle.

The second theory is that Naoyuki was killed for political reasons. That year, elections for the town mayor were taking place, and Naoyuki had actively supported the town’s current mayor.

However, partway through the election campaign, Naoyuki allegedly withdrew his support after finding out that the mayor was paying for votes.

As a result, it’s alleged by some locals that the mayor ordered Naoyuki’s death to ensure his cash-for-votes scheme remained under wraps.

A third theory is also political. It suggests that the opposition in the election wanted to expand the village nuclear plant. Naoyuki worked at the power plant, and his aversion to the possible health problems from the proposed expansion put a target on his back. This hypothesis suggests this led to his murder.

**The building where the incident occurred.**

None of these theories have been confirmed. The most widely accepted story is that Naoyuki wedged himself in the pipe willingly, despite the wealth of evidence suggesting it was borderline impossible for him to have done so.

It is inexplicable for him to have maneuvered himself inside the pipe and then manipulated his posture while in the small space.

Sadly, it’s unlikely we’ll ever discover the truth to the most perplexing part of this story: why was Naoyuki in the pipe?