Japanese man commits suicide

BOGOR (JP): Oku Hajime, 79, a Japanese citizen who had resided here for one year, died on Tuesday after reportedly jumping from the fourth floor of the Devris shopping center on Jl. Veteran.

Indah Cahyani, 28, the victim's daughter-in-law, told journalists at the Bogor Tengah Police station on Wednesday that Hajime left her home on April 12, 2000, saying he was going to tour the city.

"But he never returned home, and then we read a local newspaper on Tuesday that said an unidentified man was found dead after jumping from the shopping center's fourth floor," said Indah, the wife of Oku Nobuyuki, 40, a lecturer at the private Jakarta-based Dharma Persada University.

"We then checked with PMI Hospital's forensic department and found that it was my father-in-law," she said.

Shigeo Aoyama, the first secretary for information and culture at the Japanese Embassy in Jakarta, confirmed that Hajime was a Japanese citizen and had died at the shopping center. (21/imn)