[/floatr]Irish Times: Trinity remembers eternal student 'Matt the Jap'Gardaí are liaising with Interpol and the Japanese embassy to contact relatives of Matteo (Masahiso) Matubara, one of central Dublin's most familiar characters, following his death last month. Matubara (73), known affectionately to generations of Trinity College students as "Matt the Jap", died of natural causes in his home off Mount Street almost two weeks ago...His passing was marked in the classified section of yesterday's Irish Times with this tribute from the college's Central Societies Committee: "Known to generations of Trinity College graduates and students as a 'college character', Matteo was a seemingly constant and eternal fixture at student events and meetings, and his passing conjures up a sentiment of not-quite-the-sameness"...He was extremely deaf and communicated with people by sign language or, more often, by exchange of written notes. He could write in English, Irish, Japanese, Norwegian, German, French, Russian and, it is reputed, several other languages...Mystery surrounded his background, much of it encouraged by Matubara himself. He claimed not to have any family in Japan, until friends discovered he was sending cards to a brother in Tokyo. His library card was removed as he was found to have written on old textbooks, though friends claimed he was correcting typos...more...
Some stories about Matsubara here: "From my own experience he is simply a deeply unpleasant old man."
