Japanese woman dumps dad with Alzheimer’s. He remembers, she’s arrested

The age-old Japanese tradition of ubasute – abandoning an elderly or ailing relative in a remote spot – appears to be alive and well after police arrested a woman suspected of dumping her 79-year-old father at a motorway service station.

Ritsuko Tanaka, an unemployed 46-year-old from the city of Otsu, in Shiga prefecture, was arrested at her home on charges of neglecting her responsibility as a carer to her father, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease.