The ex-president of a traditional Japanese inn where legionella bacteria were found at 3,700 times the permitted limit in the bathwater has been found dead.
A passerby found the lifeless body of disgraced Makoto Yamada on a mountain pass in the city of Chikushino, Fukuoka Prefecture, on the morning of 12th March.
In a nearby car, police found what they believe to be a suicide note.
The note reportedly read: “I am very sorry. I feel morally responsible for everything. Please take care of the rest.”
Police questioned Yamada, 70, for about six hours on 10th March and summoned him again the following day, but he failed to show up to the police station.
Yamada was the former president of the 158-year-old traditional inn Daimaru Besso in Chikushino, once visited by Emperor Hirohito.
An inspection of the bathwater in the inn’s hot springs in November found legionella bacteria at 3,700 times the permitted limit, local media earlier reported.
Legionella can cause a severe form of pneumonia (lung infection) called Legionnaires’ disease.
It emerged that the bathwater at the inn was only changed twice a year instead of weekly.
The government of Fukuoka Prefecture filed a complaint against the inn with the police on 8th March.
It accused the inn of violating the Public Bath Houses Act by lying that it changed the bathwater in the hot springs much more frequently than it really did.
Yamada, in a news conference on 28th February, admitted: “I told my staff it was OK not to change the bathwater as fewer people were using it.”
He admitted to instructing staff to illegally give public health officials fraudulent chlorination records.
He confessed to failing to chlorinate the bathwater due to the fact that he and workers “selfishly disliked the smell of chlorine”.
He quit his role as operating head at the inn on 2nd March.
Fukuoka Prefectural Police official Eiji Kodama said in a statement: “We would like to express our sincere condolences to the man who passed away.
“We believe there were no problems in how the police dealt with the case.”
