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Tokyo: Ex-fire chief issued warning after subordinate’s suicide

TOKYO (TR) – The former chief of a fire station in Shinjuku Ward was issued a warning following the suicide of a subordinate last year, the Tokyo Fire Department has revealed, reports TBS News (Mar. 31).

In December, the subordinate, a 47-year-old commander at the Ushigome Fire Station, killed himself.

Thereafter, his colleagues claimed that the then chief of the station, Shinichi Nakamura, 56, had carried out power harassment toward the commander.

According to the Tokyo Fire Department, the results of an inquiry into the matter revealed that while Nakamura poorly conveyed instructions to the commander there was no evidence of remarks or actions that could be construed as harassment.

A commander at the Ushigome Fire Station committed suicide in December (Twitter)

On Tuesday, the department issued a warning to Nakamura. However, he chose to resign from his post that same day. “To the bereaved family, I am very sorry,” the former chief said.

The wife of the commander was displeased with the results of the inquiry. “If there was [no harassment], why did my husband commit suicide?” she asked. “I want to ask the Tokyo Fire Department: Before determining whether the punishment should be light or heavy, was the weight of a human life [considered]?”

Molesting a woman

In a separate case, another fireman, 35, received a six-month suspension from his post after he was accused of molesting a woman inside a train carriage in December, reports TV Asahi (Apr. 1).

After the fireman, who heads a training division in a personnel department, reached an out-of-court settlement with the woman, he was not prosecuted in the case.

Saitama case

In a third case, a 28-year-old fireman at the Shakujii Fire Station retired on Tuesday after he was suspended for six months for molesting a woman in Saitama Prefecture, reports the Sankei Shimbun

On the night of February 4, the fireman allegedly grabbed the buttocks of the woman, aged in her 30s, inside Kawagoe Station in Kawagoe City.

Police also accused the fireman of molesting three other women near the station that same day. After papers on him were sent to prosecutors on suspicion of indecent assault, he was released without indictment.