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TOKYO - A Japanese broadcaster has voiced his anger and has apologised after sponsoring a weekend concert where a rock band played the Internet video showing the beheading of a Japanese hostage in Iraq. The sponsor of the event, Tokyo Broadcasting System, said it had no forewarning of the stunt. "Showing this kind of video in public can never be forgiven on humanitarian grounds," the network said in a statement. "As the sponsor, we offer deep apologies to the family of (Shosei) Koda, people who came to the concert and other people concerned," the statement said, without naming the band...

Japan government confirms body is Japanese hostage 30 minutes ago Top Stories - AFP TOKYO (AFP) - The Japanese government has confirmed that a head and body found in Baghdad are the remains of Japanese hostage Shosei Koda, the foreign minister said. Koda, 24, was threatened with beheading by Islamic militants in a video released on the Internet late Tuesday if Japan did not withdraw its troops from Iraq (news - web sites) within 48 hours. Japan had refused the demand. "Unfortunately we have confirmed that the body is that of Shosei Koda," Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura told a news...

/begin my translationAccording to Kyodo wireservice, in Tikrit, Iraq, a body of an Asian was found on (Oct.) 29th. It is not immediately clear if it is the body of the Japanese hostage who was recently kidnapped. /end my translation

Body Found in Tikrit May Be Missing Japanese Traveler American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Oct. 29,2004 – Multinational forces have confirmed that the body of an Asian male was found in Tikrit today, according to Multinational Force Iraq officials. Civilian news sources report that the Japanese government is trying to determine whether the body is that of a 24-year-old Japanese traveler reportedly kidnapped Oct. 27. The soldiers took possession of the remains from a hospital and transported them to a military mortuary affairs collection point. On Oct. 28, acting on information obtained from intelligence sources, 1st Infantry Division soldiers...

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan was checking a media report on Friday that an Asian body had been found in Iraq after a deadline expired for the beheading of a Japanese youth whose captors had demanded that Tokyo withdraw its troops.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi officials found the decapitated body of what appears to be a young Asian male in Baghdad on Saturday. Associated Press Television News videotape showed the severed head, which had long black hair and features similar to a Japanese hostage. A hospital official said he believed the body was that of kidnapped Japanese hostage Shosei Koda, saying he recognized the body from a videotape aired by Al-Jazeera television. Iraqi's civil defense officials said they were alerted to the corpse in the fields off Haifa Street, a Baghdad neighborhood that is largely controlled by insurgents. Authorities retrieved it...