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TOKYO, JAPAN—Akio Tanigawa of Waseda University has uncovered the remains of three people at the site of Krishitan Yashiki, or the Christian Mansion, a prison for Christian missionaries during the isolationist Edo Period (1603-1868). DNA analysis suggests that one set of remains may belong to Italian Jesuit priest Giovanni Battista Sidotti, who entered Japan illegally in 1708. Disguised as a samurai, he was captured and imprisoned until he died in 1714. “It is the first time we’ve found a near match of the bones of a foreign missionary,” Tanigawa told The Japan Times. For more on archaeology in Japan, go to "Khubilai Khan Fleet."
