A Japanese hotel manager was discovered dead with a suicide note after being compelled to apologize after it was revealed that the hotel’s spa bath water was only changed twice a year.
On March 11, Makoto Yamada, 70, was discovered on a mountain pass in the city of Chikushino, Fukuoka Prefecture.
Mr. Yamada was the former president of Chikushino’s 158-year-old traditional inn Daimaru Besso, which Emperor Hirohito once visited. He had barely left the hotel 10 days before his death on March 2.
During an inspection in November, the hotel came under intense scrutiny after it was discovered that legionella bacteria was identified in the bath water at 3,700 times the allowable level. Legionella can cause Legionnaires’ disease, a severe form of pneumonia.
Authorities say they discovered a suicide note in a car near where Mr Yamada was discovered dead.
The note reportedly read: ‘I am very sorry. I feel morally responsible for everything. Please take care of the rest.’
Mr. Yamada had been questioned by officers for around six hours on March 10, and he was summoned again the following day but did not appear at the police station.
Following an assessment of the inn’s hot springs, it was discovered that the bath water was only changed twice a year rather than weekly.
On March 8, the Fukuoka Prefectural Government filed a complaint with the police against the inn, accusing the management of breaking the Public Bath Houses Act by lying about changing the bath water considerably more frequently than it actually did.
Mr Yamada, in a news gathering on February 28, admitted: ‘I told my staff it was OK not to change the bath water as fewer people were using it.’