TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police are continuing their search for a suspected arsonist 25 years after a devastating blaze ripped through a Kabukicho commercial building, claiming the lives of 44 people in one of Japan’s deadliest post-war fires, reports NHK (Sep 1).
In the early hours of Sept. 1, 2001, a fire broke out near a third-floor stairwell in a multi-tenant building located in Shinjuku Ward’s bustling red-light district. Thick smoke quickly engulfed a third-floor mahjong parlor and a fourth-floor bar, killing 44 patrons and employees, primarily from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Tokyo police maintain a strong suspicion that the fire was deliberately set, but a quarter of a century later, the perpetrator remains at large.
Staggering death toll
The staggering death toll was directly linked to egregious safety violations by the building’s management. Fire doors, designed to close automatically to contain a blaze, were blocked by heavy signs and failed to operate. The narrow staircases—the building’s only escape routes—were rendered useless, cluttered with discarded televisions, lockers, and mounds of garbage.
In 2003, police arrested six executives connected to the building’s ownership company on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in death. Five of the executives ultimately received suspended prison sentences, with the presiding judge blasting them for “prioritizing profit and completely neglecting safety management.”
First responders vividly recall a scene from hell. Takafumi Kawagoe, 54, a member of the rescue squad that night, remembered the heat being so intense that melted metal dripped from the ceiling like liquid. When firefighters finally breached the upper floors, they found victims piled on top of each other near exhaust windows, desperately trying to escape. Some of the dead were still clutching their mobile phones.
“Makes me furious”
On Sunday evening, a memorial was held at the site of the former building. Over the years, the number of grieving relatives attending has dwindled, and recently, 74-year-old Yasuko Ueda has been the lone family member to appear. Ueda, whose daughters Aiko, 26, and Ayako, 22, perished in the fourth-floor bar, laid flowers and offered 4,400 hand-folded paper cranes to mourn the victims.
“When I see news about objects still being left on building stairways today, it makes me furious,” Ueda said. “It seems the tragedy has been forgotten. Building owners need to think about human lives, not just profits.”
Despite the 2001 tragedy sparking strict amendments to the Fire Services Act, negligent owners continue to flout the law. Inspections conducted by the Tokyo Fire Department last year on approximately 3,500 commercial buildings in the capital’s entertainment districts revealed that nearly 20 percent—687 buildings—still had illegal obstructions blocking stairwells and fire doors.
Authorities have pledged to expand their inspections to crack down on malicious violators and prevent a repeat of the Kabukicho massacre.
