Man Found Dead in Tokyo Apartment Has Defensive Wounds

Tokyo, Jan. 9 (Jiji Press)–A man found dead bleeding massively at an apartment in Tokyo’s Ota Ward on Thursday has what appeared to be defensive wounds on the fingers of both hands, it was learned Friday. The victim was identified as Akihiro Kawashima, 44, president of an audio equipment-related company. Footage from a nearby security camera showed Kawashima in a suit returning home to the apartment alone around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, and nothing unusual was observed, according to sources at the investigation headquarters set up at the Metropolitan Police Department’s Omori police station in the ward. Investigators suspect he was attacked later. According to the sources, Kawashima lived alone in a two-bedroom apartment with a dining room and a kitchen. He was found face down in the dining room-kitchen area, with stab wounds in more than 10 areas including the neck, stomach and thigh. He may have died of blood loss, the sources said. Several footprints with blood were found in the dining room-kitchen area, the hallway and the entrance of his apartment, as well as a common hallway of the apartment building. There were no signs that the attacker rummaged through the apartment. Kawashima was found after two friends visited his apartment because he failed to show up at 9 a.m. Thursday for a planned meal with them near Narita International Airport in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo. They had the apartment manager call the police after hearing a phone ringing from inside his apartment. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]