He/they is not dead. The person who claimed that Byuu/Near committed suicide claimed he confirmed it with the Japanese police. The Japanese have to report every American citizen who died to the US, which is then included in an online database here: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-tra...
No US citizen died by unnatural causes in Japan in the entire second half of 2021, and not on the 28th of June. Byuu/Near was still alive and posting well after the 11th of May, the last time an American citizen died by suicide in Japan in 2021.
Did I say that? No. I said I was surprised to learn the other half of this story, and that the behavior of the specific people behind the campaign to have them removed is horrifying.
They stated they would commit suicide, a major news outlet and people close to the victim stated they committed suicide, and they haven't been heard from since then.
I dunno. Given that this is the only counter-argument people seem to have, maybe the police just forgot to update the database. It's certainly a lot more likely than whatever conspiracy theory Kiwi Farms is pushing about them faking their death and being in hiding for over a year now. Also, Near went by they/them.
Which is more likely, that the Japanese police failed to record the death of an American expat or that Near stopped posting under that username and got a friend to lie for them?
It's really incredible. All these people defending Kiwi Farms, accusing Keffals of various crimes, and claiming Near didn't commit suicide, genuinely seem incapable of correctly gendering trans people for long enough to accuse them. I even told you Near's pronouns! There's no way you don't realize how bad this makes you look to people who aren't transphobic, or how obvious it makes your motives.
https://www.reddit.com/r/retrogaming/comments/o91umv/rip_byu...