Looking around a three-room apartment in Tokyo¡¯s eastern Edogawa Ward, remnants of its deceased owner¡¯s life are everywhere: yellowing family photographs, a black hairdryer caked in dust, old ?100 notes and stacks of papers, magazines and books (including one titled ¡°The I Hate to Housekeep Book¡°).
With gloved hands, staff members of a cleaning firm called Bxia are sifting through the various accumulated possessions and packing them into cardboard boxes. A 76-year-old woman had died here alone, only to be discovered several months later. Instructions from her estranged daughter who hired the firm are written on a piece of paper stuck to the wall.
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