In the Closet in the 21st Century

Japanese woman caught living in man's closet

This is bizarre, and fascinating, and weird and oddly wonderful:

"A homeless woman who sneaked into a man's house and lived undetected in his closet for a year was arrested in Japan after he became suspicious when food mysteriously began disappearing . . . The resident of the home installed security cameras that transmitted images to his mobile phone after becoming puzzled by food disappearing from his kitchen over the past several months. One of the cameras captured someone moving inside his home Thursday after he had left, and he called police believing it was a burglar . . . The woman told police she had no place to live and first sneaked into the man's house about a year ago when he left it unlocked. She had moved a mattress into the small closet space and even took showers, Itakura said, calling the woman 'neat and clean.'"

The woman's ability to be so respectful of the homeowner's space despite being an interloper (what? not a single cough? no snoring? no crumbs on the counter? no using the toilet in the middle of the night?) is surreal and almost admirable. It's impossible to think of a homeless American in the same circumstances -- you'd know within five seconds: "What is that horrible smell? Did someone piss on my bathroom rug? And where did the TV remote go?!!!"

She'd of been the ideal roommate if she'd of coughed up some rent money once in a while.