Crime & Courts

Man in His 40s Believed to Have Set Fire at Sapporo ‘Girls Bar’

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:54 JST, November 27, 2024

A man in his 40s is believed to have spread a gasoline-like combustible liquid before setting fire at a “girls bar” in Sapporo’s Susukino entertainment district on Tuesday, according to police sources.

The man is believed to have taken these actions immediately after entering the girls bar, a kind of drinking establishment where young women work as bartenders. The man was taken to a hospital in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest, according to the sources.

Hokkaido prefectural police and Sapporo’s fire department are investigating the incident on suspicion of arson of an occupied building.

The fire began at around 3:20 p.m. on Tuesday at the bar, located on the second floor of a multitenant building, and was brought under control about 1½ hours later after burning a total of about 70 square meters of the building’s second and third floors, according to Hokkaido prefectural police.

A female worker in her 20s and two men in their 30s and 50s were also taken to a hospital with burns and other injuries.

At the time of the incident, the bar was operating with at least three female workers in their 20s and two men who are believed to have been visiting the place as customers, according to the sources.