Family to claim Japanese man's body

JAKARTA (JP): The family of a Japanese businessman who was found dead last Saturday will travel to Indonesia to claim the body, an embassy official said on Monday.

Cultural Council of the Japanese Embassy, Sachiko Furuya, told The Jakarta Post that the embassy had contacted the family of the deceased Wasao Fukumoto.

However, the family requested the embassy keep their arrival confidential, Furuya said, without further elaboration.

Furuya said the embassy had left the investigation of the matter to the Indonesian police.

Fukumoto, a jewelry trader, was reportedly found dead by a bellboy in a room at Hotel Indonesia with severe stab wounds to his stomach and chest.

Meanwhile Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul Alam said the police still could not conclude whether Fukumoto was murdered as the police were still waiting for the results of the postmortem examination on the deceased.

When asked to comment on reports of stab wounds, Anton said, "That's what the media said. Did the journalists check the body?"(07/emf)