Japanese man found dead in Kuta

An elderly Japanese man was found dead on Monday in his rented room in Kuta. A preliminary police investigation found no signs that the man had fallen victim to violence or foul play.

“There is a possibility that his death was caused by a chronic illness. We will carry out an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death,” Kuta police chief Adj. Comr. Gde Ganefo said.

The man was identified as Sato Mitsuyoshi, 60, a retired man who had been residing in the rented room for eight months. The room is part of a housing complex on Jl. Yudistira, Kuta. The compound’s owner Ni Nengah Dasning found Mitsuyoshi’s body at around 10.00 a.m. local time.

“The last time I saw Mitsuyoshi was three days ago and he never came out of his room again. This morning I decided to check on him. I repeatedly knocked on his door but he didn’t respond,” Dasning said.

Fearing the worst, Dasning alerted his neighbors and they later broke into Mitsuyoshi’s room.

“It turned out that he had already died,” she said.

She said that the room had smelled terribly, indicating that Mitsuyoshi had died some time before he was discovered.

“We suspect that he died two days ago,” Ganefo said.

“Many people in the neighborhood knew him quite well and his death shocked them,” Dasning added.

A forensics team took the body to Sanglah Central Hospital’s morgue.

In the rented room, the team discovered several kinds of medication, including sedatives and drugs for diabetes. The deceased was known to have suffered from diabetes.

“The drugs and the deceased’s medical condition are the two reasons why we think that a chronic illness was the likely cause of death,” Ganefo said.