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It's very puzzling..I haven't seen anything further since the initial news reports. I recall that immeditely after, there was some speculation that it couldn't be suicide..ergo, there had to be something sinister..

It's hard to even speculate long distance, with a paucity of information..It will be interesting to see the final coroner's report when released. They should be able to deduce a lot by tracing the weapon..

I guess with the passing of time we will eventually learn a little bit more about Iris. I am not really questioning the initial reports about suicide, I am just wondering what drove her to it.

This is just speculation on my part but I am starting to wonder if some of her enemies -- maybe some of the radical, nationalist in Japan had not gotten to her somehow. I am just speculating and I have nothing concrete to go on.

However, when I think about how immensely proud she was of her heritage and her fierce determination to bring the Japanese country to account for its war time past and pay reparations she may have embolden her enemies to start investigating her actions more closely.

I do know she was working on a documentary of Japan's ill-treatment of American prisoners of war during the WWII. Her enemies may have started to feel that this book might rally wide-spread outrage amongst a broad based number of American citizens and led to greater demands for reparations against Japan for war crimes.

I am not suggesting that right-wing Japanese nationalist killed her but maybe they started doing some investigative work on her. Maybe they started a file on her. Maybe they found incriminating personal information about her past. Maybe they recorded her conversations with Chinese government officials which could prove to be very politically embarrassing. Remember, her first book dealt with the Chinese-American rocket scientist who was deported (allegedly for espionage activities) and who later developed the "silkworm" missile for the Chinese government.

If she really did have "powerful" enemies maybe they could get their hands on some very incriminating information and threaten to expose her in a way that questioned her loyalty to the United States. Hey, I am just speculating. Sometimes I have an imagination that goes wild. Take care and all the best.