Uproar after Japanese woman found dead at a carnival in Trinidad

Mayor of Trinidad’s Port of Spain on Monday said he would resign following an uproar caused by his comments on the death of a Japanese woman.

The woman, identified as Asami Nagakiya, had participated in a carnival in the city last week but was found dead later. She’s believed to have been strangled.

Mayor Raymond Tim Kee said Nagakiya, a regular visitor to Trinidad, was to blame for her own death because of the bikini she was wearing.

His comments led to a petition from a section of the public calling for him to resign and for people to “stand in solidarity with Ms Nagakiya and all women who have been blamed for their own victimisation”.

The petition has since garnered more than 10,000 signatures.

Nagakiya’s body, clad in a two-piece masquerade outfit, was found in Queen’s Park Savannah by workers cleaning the park where the major carnival parades and events were held.

Two people were questioned by police on Friday, February 12, in connection with the death, according to the local newspaper, the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian.

Officers did not name the two as suspects, as both had gone in to volunteer information.