Japan police probe body sent by mail

Japanese murder detectives are investigating the case of a young woman whose corpse was posted across Japan.

The body of Rika Okada, 29, was discovered in a 2-metre box labelled "doll" in a storage locker in Hachioji city, west of Tokyo.

The company that ferried the package from Osaka to Tokyo said that the order was paid in Ms Okada's name.

Ms Okada had been missing since late March. The bill for the locker's rental was also settled using her credit card.

Shortly before her disappearance, she had written on her Facebook page that she was going to meet an old friend whom she had not seen for many years.

Investigators discovered more than a dozen stab wounds on her body but did not find defensive injuries on her arms, local media reported.

Police in Osaka have refused to confirm reports that a woman using Ms Okada's passport left Japan earlier this month in the company of a Chinese woman heading for Shanghai, said the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Tokyo.