I love biking around my area after working from home and have taken a few photos of some unusual things on the beaches here: a huge decomposing leatherback turtle getting devoured by crows, a massive wild boar who had died on the beach, and even a deceased bloated pig. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not looking for dead things, 99% of my photos are of amazing sunsets, cool surfers, fisherman, and farmers.
But today on my bike ride. I stopped by the elevated walkway down to the beach and saw what appeared to be a snorkeler. A surfer was nearby and I assumed they were friends. The “snorkeler” wasn’t moving which isn’t unheard of for snorkelers, but something looked off. They seemed to be too relaxed just bobbing along with the waves. I grabbed my camera and zoomed in to see a bit better, snapped a few photos as the waves brought them up, and dread hit me.
I ran across the street to ask if they rented out snorkeling gear and told them that someone appeared to not be moving in the water. A few guys joined me and we made our way into the water and pulled out a young lady who was indeed dead.
One of the restaurant guys started CPR until a coast guard helicopter dropped by along with ambulance and police. She was lifeless from the moment we pulled her out. I answered their questions about finding the woman, brought my photos to the police station, and went back home. The police were kind and polite the whole time. Didn’t even ask me for my zairyu card. I feel bad for the family though who will hear the news soon. Most likely an international student from the nearby university.
40 comments
I’m so sorry that happened to you. I can’t even imagine what that’s like.
Sorry to hear of this and sorry you had to experience it. I hope you have done better days ahead to get over it, take care
Wow, definitely not a pleasant experience. OP take time to process stuff, this should be shocking
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If you end up feeling any emotional distress about what you saw you should reach out about it. Sorry you saw that.
Oh my goodness. You did the right thing. What a shock though.
Edit: I meant to say – thanks to you she was found. That is a positive.
Oh, love. That’s got to be rattling! I’ve never experienced it myself, but I’ve known a few people who have had a similar experience and were very badly affected by it. As others have said, it’ll likely mess with your emotions and perhaps not immediately or in a predictable way. If you do have difficulty dealing with it, or sure reach out to someone or to us here!
That sounds horrible, but be proud that you did the right thing.
Hey buddy, I’m thinking about you, and her family as well. Wishing you the best. Also, to the person who performed CPR, that was an impressive thing to do. Good people all around today
Was this in itoshima?
That must have been terrible for you and everyone else involved. I’m proud of you for being strong and having your wits about you. Thanks to you that poor women’s family gets closure from what could have been an agonizing question and wait.
I’m glad you have a loved one close to lean on. Best wishes to all involved.
I hope you can process that experience properly.
For some reason I read Cows devouring a turtle
Sorry to hear what you went through. Was she obviously a foreigner? You finish your comment by saying she was “most likely an International student”.
Hey there- I’m sorry this happened and it seems you dealt with it really well. I live in Chigasaki…Where did this happen?
Thank goodness you didn’t just pretend not to see it and walk on. You brought the parents early closure which is the best that can be done in this situation.
That’s really sad… Sorry you had to witness it
Quick question, was the big wild boar you saw dead on a beach in Shikanoshima?
I found one there once too, wonder if that’s the same
oh man, that sucks…for everyone involved. give yourself some extra time to ease back into things
What an awful event. I’m so sorry you had to go trough that. Don’t be afraid to reach out for professional help if you keep dealing with this in your mind. In my country there’s a charity that works with the police and will call anyone who’s been involved as a victim or a witness in difficult cases (the police passes on their details), they called me the day after I witnessed a young girl getting hit by a driver to ask if I had been sleeping well and were there for my cousin when he was working as a cashier in a gas station as a side job when suddenly robbers stood in front of him. I don’t know if there’s any similar kind of charity or organization in Japan (perhaps someone can recommend) that can help you because you shouldn’t have to deal with this alone. Please don’t think that there’s anything you could have done different. You did the best you could under extremely scary and unexpected circumstances. Sending you a hug (if appreciated).
I hope you’re OK man, that would be too much to handle for most people. Feeling sad for the lady, did they share any details about the reason of death or did u find the surfer around?
That sounds like a horrific thing to experience, especially if like myself you’ve never seen a corpse before, as others have said I’m sorry you had to encounter such a gruesome find.
Whoever this soul is, may she rest in peace, her family will be receiving some terrible news.
Sorry to hear this mate. All the best x
I’m very sorry to hear that. The poor young woman and her family when they hear the news…
I think you did really well under the difficult circumstances.
It will take some time to process.
For what it’s worth, I had an almost identical experience several years ago in Bali.
A teenage German boy was pulled from the sea lifeless. His parents were there relaxing on the beach… you can imagine their reaction.
I still think about it and that poor family sometimes.
After it happens enough times (finding dead bodies), you eventually get to the point where you just think, “Well, this is going to screw up my day.”
So hang in there. It gets better.
Every year international students get stung by jellyfish after obon. Fuck, it’s time to add it to those info packages, fukuoka now,…
I’m very sorry this happened to you but you were incredibly brave for taking action immediately once you realised. Not a lot of people have the mental fortitude to spring into action like that.
So something I’ve read on reddit and imgur, play some Tetris for an hour or so. I’m not a psychologist but apparently something about Tetris helps???
I was a lifeguard, and probably even if you had been there at the right time, there wouldn’t have been signs of distress. It’s not like the kids in the movies, flipping and struggling.
Even if she had been alive, there still would have been only a 50/50 chance of survival. The salt water damages the lungs and they fill up with fluid.
As others have said, if you hadn’t noticed her or hadn’t said anything, her family quite likely would have never known what happened to her, where she went.
You helped provide closure for the family, and that’s important.
I can’t help but remember about that time 10+ years ago when a “friend” of mine went to one of the Izu islands (can’t remember which one) and he sent me an email about his trip with various nature pictures, and among them, a dead body on the beach that had washed ashore. It was dreadful. The body was in one piece, head was there but there was no face, as if it had been carved out. Possibly eaten/rotten away after floating face down at sea for a while? One leg had its shoe still attached but from the ankle up to the knee only bones remained. It’s still in my gmail account as an attachment, but I can’t open this ever again. Not that I need to, _what has been seen cannot be unseen_.
thats really terrible you did the right thing to get help but if you feel sad or scared dont be afraid to talk to someone , try to sleep with a nightlight on and nice music to avoid feeling too afraid ,
keep a close friends number near ,
I’ve seen a few people die in a public place, from road crashes to heart attacks. But for someone so young? That hits home more. We’re just sacks of meat with an airflow. Life is so precious, please be the best you can be.
You were brave, quick thinking and did absolutely the right thing in a foreign country. Moreover you have empathy for the deceased’s family. You are such a kind soul. Bless your heart.
You mentioned there was also a surfer, what happened to the surfer?
I once witnessed something similar in Odaiba
It was one early morning, and I happened to be there at 5am at the benches on the upper deck facing rainbow bridge after a night drive, showing my friend who was on a midnight layover around tokyo. We were both staring blankly looking nowhere due to the exhaustion but out of nowhere a jet ski came our way, followed by a coast guard boat. not long after that the boat turned on its sirens, alerting everyone in the area. As we looked down to check we both witnessed a figure floating face down nearing the shore. jet ski guy secured the waters while a flock of paramedics rushed to the scene with a water stretcher.
for the next half hour we then saw policemen group after group arrive at the scene and they finally boarded the area off out of sight with makeshift fences.
That must’ve been so terrifying. I can’t imagine what it’s like to realize what something so normal turned out to be tragic. I wonder if the snorkeler went there by herself? I wonder how the accident happened (and now I’m too scared to ever go snorkeling).
Also you handled the situation very well. But do take care of yourself mentally. You might not realize the trauma it might be causing you.
This happened to me in Japan. I was out for a walk, trying to find the site of an old tomb mound (kofun). I have lived in the town in rural Fukui prefecture off and on since 1995.
Most neighbourhoods in the town have a shrine of some kind. This shrine was in the woods at the base of a hill. A tertiary prefectural road led into town one way, through the mountains to the next town 30 km — a day’s walk — in the other direction. I was looking behind the shrine for a path a tomb mound (I actually had the wrong hill).
I discovered a body behind the log. The person looked to have been dead for about a week. My guess is that he was a homeless person who had walked through the mountains from the next town, and had stopped at this isolated shrine to spend the night in private, or just have a rest on a log. He had a heart attack and died.
I told the cops, who briefly suspected me. “Why were you at this particular shrine at 6:30am?”
I never learned who the person was, or why they died.
Wow, hope you are okay. PTSD can take a while to hit, and can manifest in different ways, so if you have any weird feelings (disproportionate anger, sudden emotionality, etc. etc.) in coming days be sure to reach out to someone.
I’m so sorry that happened to you. I know it doesn’t make up for that feeling you have now but you saved a family from always guessing and always holding out hope. You gave them closure and you were brave to try to help. You did a good job and I’m so so sorry that happened. Thinking of you <3
That is awful. But thanks to you her family might get some closure.
R.I.P girl.
Damn, that would be traumatizing to me
That poor girl and her family. I can’t imagine what the family must be going through when she’s so far away from home 😢. Op, sorry this happened to you too.
Well done for your response.
Now you have to look after yourself.
Take care!