“Grandpa was a very scary man. So we couldn’t open the door,” the grandchild told police, according to Japan Today, adding that Kato had “shut himself up in the room without food or water” some 30 years ago with the aim of becoming a “living Buddha.” Officers who searched the house later that day found Kato’s mummified remains, clad in long underwear and covered by a blanket, lying faceup in bed.