2 Die in Fire at Lawmaker Kuniko Inoguchi’s Condo in Tokyo; Deceased Thought to be Husband Takashi and Their Daughter (UPDATE 1)

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:23 JST, November 28, 2024 (updated at 15:15 JST)

Two people died in a fire that broke out at a lawmaker’s condominium in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo, at around 7:10 p.m. on Wednesday, police said.

The 150-square-meter condo of upper house member Kuniko Inoguchi, 72, is on the top floor of a six-story building in the Koishikawa district of the ward. One person was found dead in the unit, and another, found near the unit’s entrance, was confirmed dead after being transported to a hospital, the Tomisaka Police Station of the Metropolitan Police Department said.

According to a senior official at the police station, Inoguchi, of the Liberal Democratic Party, lives in the condo with her husband and their two daughters.

Her husband Takashi, 80, a political scientist and professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, and one of the daughters, 33, have been unreachable since the fire broke out. The police suspect the two died, and they are trying to identify the bodies. The police and the fire department are jointly investigating the scene to determine the cause of the fire.

Inoguchi and the other daughter, also 33, were each out for work at the time of the fire.

A security camera at the entrance of the building captured Takashi and the now missing daughter entering separately at around 5 p.m. Wednesday, according to investigative sources.

The condo building is in a residential area about 400 meters north of Korakuen Station on the Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line. Thirty-seven fire trucks and other vehicles were dispatched to the scene to battle the fire, but it took about eight and a half hours until they had fully extinguished it at around 3:50 a.m. on Thursday.

“Flames were violently pouring out of the window,” a male neighbor, 82, said.