A man found dead Friday in Tokyo Bay has been identified as freelance journalist Satoru Someya, who may have been killed as a result of his work, police sources said Saturday.
Someya, 38, was found with a chain wrapped around his upper body and his hands bound with a rope, they said. His body bore signs of a struggle, including two marks on his head and eight stab wounds in his back.
Someya worked as a freelance journalist under the pen name of Kuragaki Kashiwabara, covering gangsters and crimes committed by Chinese in Kabukicho, one of Tokyo's most notorious night spots.
Someya reportedly told some friends before disappearing earlier this month that some Chinese were after him and he might be killed, the sources said.
Someya had been reported missing after a telephone conversation with a magazine editor on Sept. 5.
A judicial autopsy determined he had been dead for between one and two weeks, according to the sources.