Photo/Illutration Investigators on Feb. 2 search the home of a man who claimed to be long-time fugitive Satoshi Kirishima in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture. (Kei Teshirogi)

DNA tests strongly support the claim of a now-deceased man who said he was long-time fugitive Satoshi Kirishima, investigative sources said on Feb. 2.

The DNA of the man, who had called himself Hiroshi Uchida, was compared with those of multiple relatives of Kirishima.

Some of the test results showed no contradiction in kinship, according to the sources.

Further tests will be conducted, and police will also study items seized in a search of Uchida’s home in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, to confirm his identity.

The search at the two-story residence started on Feb. 2. The building is located near a civil engineering company that had employed Uchida.

According to a neighbor, dozens of investigators lined up in two rows headed toward the house at around 10 a.m.

Satoshi Kirishima, who would be 70 years old now, was a member of the East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front, an extremist group tied to a series of bombings in the 1970s.

According to investigative sources, Uchida was admitted to a hospital in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, in early January with terminal stomach cancer, and he told hospital staff that he was Kirishima.

Police managed to interview Uchida over four days in the presence of a doctor, taking breaks every 10 to 20 minutes to accommodate his physical condition.

He was quoted as telling police that after being placed on the police wanted list in 1975, “I didn’t have any contact with other (group) members and lived alone for a long time.”

He said he was a day laborer in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, before moving to Fujisawa for employment as a live-in worker at the civil engineering company.

He continued to do so for about 40 years until he was hospitalized, he said.

The man talked about his hometown and family composition, and said he “regrets” what he had done, the sources said.

The East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front claimed responsibility for 12 bombings in the mid-1970s, including a blast at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. on Aug. 30, 1974, that killed eight people and injured 380.

Police believe that Kirishima, a member of the group’s “sasori” (scorpion) unit, was involved in seven of the bombings.

Kirishima is suspected of planting and detonating a homemade bomb at a building in Tokyo’s Ginza district in April 1975. He was placed on the National Police Agency’s list of wanted persons of importance the following month.

But according to the investigative sources, Uchida denied his involvement in the Ginza bombing, telling police in the hospital-bed interview that he “does not know” about that incident.

He did, however, indicate his involvement in the 1975 bombing of Hazama Corp., a major general constructor, the sources said.

Uchida died on Jan. 29. His body was moved from the hospital to a nearby police station.

‘APPEAR NORMAL’

In 1974, the extremist group secretly published an instructional book called “Harahara Tokei.”

It advised “guerrilla soldiers” to appear normal on the surface.

“Extreme secrecy and closed-mindedness in your place of residence will only lead to digging your own grave,” the book said.

Police believe Kirishima used the book as reference material while on the run for 49 years.

Uchida often went to a restaurant in front of a station near his home. According to restaurant staff members, the customer was called “Ucchi,” and he drank alcohol and liked music.

One worker recalled that Ucchi once said that a younger woman had taken a liking to him, but he turned her down, saying, “I cannot make you happy.”

(This article was compiled from reports written by Hiraku Higa, Ryohei Miyawaki and Arata Mitsui.)

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