The windows were melted by the intense flames… “Two days after the fire, the house of Kuniko Inoguchi was still smelling of burning”.

The blackened exterior walls and the faint smell of burnt wood …….

When this reporter visited the site of the fire two days after it broke out, he found a fresh devastation that showed the intensity of the flames.

The apartment of Kuniko Inoguchi, 72, a member of the House of Councilors in Tokyo’s Bunkyo Ward, was engulfed in a raging fire at around 7:30 p.m. on November 27. The fire spread to the top floor of the six-story condominium, destroying approximately 150 square meters. The scene was a residential area lined with old houses about a 7-8 minute walk from Kasuga Station on the Toei Mita Line.

The condominium was located along a narrow alley, and firefighting efforts were difficult because large fire trucks could not enter the building. In the end, the fire was extinguished before 4:00 a.m., nearly eight and a half hours after the fire broke out. Two people died. One body was found near the kitchen, and the other was rescued, but was pronounced dead at the hospital where he was taken.

They are believed to be Inoguchi’s husband, Takashi, 80, a professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, who has not been contacted, and her 33-year-old eldest daughter. Councilor Inoguchi lived with her husband and two daughters. At the time of the fire, Councilor Inoguchi and his second daughter were out of the house. Since the front door of the room was locked and a large amount of gasoline was not found, the possibility of arson by a third party is considered low.

The husband seemed mild-mannered and kind.

Let’s return to the scene at the beginning of this article. Two days had passed since the fire broke out, and the area was still hectic with investigators trying to determine the cause of the fire. Nearly a dozen fire trucks were parked around the area, and police officers …… had set up yellow regulation lines to monitor access to the site. Looking at the apartment building from a distance, one can see that the glass in the windows is melted, as if to illustrate the intensity of the flames.

A woman in her sixties who lives nearby said, “The Inoguchi family is the only one who has been able to escape the flames.

The Inoguchi family lived in a penthouse on the top floor of the apartment building. I heard that there was a direct elevator. He was a kind and gentle husband, you know. …… However, he had not been seen recently because he seemed to be sick with a leg problem. He may have been disabled and could not escape immediately when the fire broke out.

（It was very windy on the day of the accident. The building was on the top floor with lots of windows and good ventilation. As a university professor, he must have had a lot of paper materials and books, so the fire may have spread quickly.

We pray for the souls of the deceased.