TOKYO - A TWO-YEAR-OLD Japanese boy was found dead in the trash bin of his own room at a Tokyo apartment, police said on Wednesday.

The toddler's father, who is in his 30s, told police he found the body and that his son had been fine when he saw him early on Tuesday morning.

'In the late afternoon, I went to the children's room to check on him and he was already dead inside a garbage can, which stands about 80cm high,' he told investigators, as quoted by a police spokesman.

The boy, who lived with his parents and two sisters in the apartment, had been dead for more than two hours when emergency workers were called to their apartment, the spokesman said.

Investigators would perform an autopsy to determine the cause of death and were questioning the father, he said.

He declined to speculate on the cause of death, including whether there were signs of foul play.

Japan has one of the world's lowest crime rates but has seen a series of grisly attacks on children. -- AFP