Japan trading exec found dead

This Japanese crisis with Livedoor is getting weirder!  Now this exec related to Livedoor has been killed!  This is getting scary out there in the east!

An executive of a Japanese securities firm involved in takeover deals by the high-profile Internet startup Livedoor has been found dead, police say.

The executive, Hideaki Noguchi, 38, was found dead on the southern island of Okinawa, according to Kyodo news agency, quoting police in a report Thursday. Authorities said tests would be needed to confirm the cause of death.

Kyodo, quoting police in the Okinawa capital Naha, said that Noguchi apparently slit his wrist at a Naha hotel on Wednesday. He was taken to the hospital but died there.

Noguchi worked for H.S. Securities, a company involved in the acquisition of publishing company Money Life by ValueClick Japan, the predecessor of Livedoor subsidiary Livedoor Marketing.

This deal is at the center of the investigation into Livedoor that prompted a massive sell-off on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Tuesday and Wednesday, raising volume levels so much that the TSE suspended trading 20 minutes early because its computer systems were being overloaded.

The Japanese sell-off, aided by weaker than expected earnings for key U.S. tech stocks Intel and Yahoo, was followed by substantial falls Wednesday in other markets, including Europe and Wall Street.

But on Thursday the benchmark Nikkei index rebounded, climbing to close up 2.3 percent.

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