
These images capture to work of Japan's 'lonely death' squads, who specialise is clearing out the properties of elderly people who die alone and go unnoticed by their families for weeks or months.

Taken in the capital Tokyo, the images show clean-up crews entering rubbish-strewn buildings where the lonely victims spent their final days.

Although police officers will have already removed the often badly decomposed bodies, the majority of the houses are still packed with signs of a once active life - including unwashed dinner plates, unopened letters and calenders several years out of date.

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Saddest job: Taken in Tokyo, the images show clean-up crews entering rubbish-strewn buildings where lonely victims spent their final days

Steam-clean: A worker for special cleaning makes uses insecticides smoke to kill flies in a rubbish-filled flat in Tokyo

Grim: Hundreds of flies are seen at a rubbish-filled flat in Tokyo where the body of an 85 year-old man was left for over a month

Treated with respect: Hirotsugu Masuda prays before entering the Tokyo flat where an 85 year-old man lay dead for over a month

Dirty: A filthy bathtub and toilet are seen the Tokyo flat. Specialist clean-up crews are on hand to cleanse these 'lonely death' apartments

Lonely death: Thankfully, police officers will have already removed the often badly decomposed bodies before the cleaning teams arrive

In March, the body of an elderly man was found on the floor of his apartment in downtown Tokyo. He had been dead for a month.

Neighbours hadn't noticed the octogenarian's absence. His bank made the rent payments on time, his family didn't visit, and the only reason for the body's discovery was the slight smell that troubled the tenant in the flat below.

In rapidly ageing Japan, more people are dying alone and unnoticed in a country of 127 million where one in four people is over 65. Looser family bonds also play a role in their isolation.

For these so-called 'lonely deaths', families and landlords in Tokyo are increasingly turning to Hirotsugu Masuda and his clean-up crew to salvage apartments where the occupant's body lay undiscovered for days or weeks.

'This has started becoming a bit more common in the world and it's become more recognized that there's this sort of job,' said Masuda, whose services are required 3-4 times a week in summer when bodies decompose faster.

Unwanted: A watch and letters are left discarded at a flat in Tokyo where a body of an 85 year-old man was left for over a month

Filthy: The majority of the houses are still littered with unwashed dinner plates, unopened letters and calenders several years out of date

Packing it up: Workers for special cleaning put rubbish into a plastic bags at a rubbish-filled flat in Tokyo

A packet of condoms are seen discarded among other rubbish in a flat in Tokyo where an elderly man lay dead for over a month

Hirotsugu Masuda, a worker for special cleaning, checks belongings for documents to protect the owners family from identity theft

Cleaning away the past: A worker for a special cleaning team sweeps tatami flooring mats at the flat in Tokyo last month

In March, the body of an elderly man was found on the floor of this apartment in downtown Tokyo. He had been dead for a month

When Masuda's team turns up at the Tokyo apartment, police have taken away the corpse but body fluids have seeped into the floor.

Flies buzz around a cooker filled with rice. Old calendars and papers are strewn in rooms untouched for years.

Workers wearing protective gear spray the apartment with insect repellent, using gloved hands to pack the trash in boxes. The six-hour exercise is conducted discreetly to avoid upsetting the neighbours. The crew tells onlookers they are moving house.

When they are done, incense and flowers are placed where the body was, with the man's photo put where his head had been.

Masuda's firm works almost exclusively with 'lonely deaths', charging between £450 and £2,000 depending on apartment size.

Abandoned: Neighbours hadn't noticed the octogenarian's absence. His bank made the rent payments on time, his family didn't visit, and the only reason for the body's discovery was the slight smell that troubled the tenant in the flat below

Taking the items away: A special cleaning worker loads a van with rubbish from a flat in Tokyo

Saying a prayer: In rapidly ageing Japan, more people are dying alone and unnoticed in a country of 127 million where one in four people is over 65. Looser family bonds also play a role in their isolation

Special cleaning workers and 77-year-old flat landlord Yoshie Fukuhara (right) check belongings for documents

Flat landlord Yoshie Fukuhara, 77, lays flowers as she prays at the spot where the body of an 85 year-old man was left for over a month

Farewell: For these so-called 'lonely deaths', families and landlords in Tokyo are increasingly turning to Hirotsugu Masuda and his clean-up crew to salvage apartments where the occupant's body lay undiscovered for days or weeks

In a country where around five million elderly people live alone, the number of decaying bodies found in empty homes is expected to soar. Data shows victims are more likely to be male.

'There's likely 40,000 of these cases and we think that in 10 years, it's likely to go over 100,000 cases,' said Hideto Kone, an NGO official working on such cases.

Victims forgotten by families are not given a funeral and their remains are interred in unmarked graves.

Yoshie Fukukara, landlord of the apartment where the tenant was found dead, still finds it hard to believe.