Niece to bring home ashes of 'Matt the Jap'

One of central Dublin's most familiar characters, Matteo Matubara, is to be cremated in Glasnevin today, a month after his death.

Matubara (73), known affectionately to many as "Matt the Jap", died of natural causes in his home last month but could not be buried until it was established whether he had a family in Japan.

Gardaí, liaising with Interpol and the Japanese embassy, finally contacted his niece Akiko, who travelled to Ireland last week to identify the body.

The dead man's name was Masahisa, and his surname is more correctly written Matsubara. This accounted for much of the delay in contacting his family. His niece plans to return to Japan with his ashes, where they will be interred in the family plot in Miyagi.

Friends held a gathering in his honour in Trinity College this month. He received his MLitt in 1987 but never really left, despite being banned from many of its buildings.

President Mary McAleese described him as an "intriguing, enigmatic personality" whose intellectual curiosity made him "a striking figure in the college landscape". Matubara, who was deaf and communicated by written notes, studied in Paris and Norway before coming to Ireland in the early 1980s.