Bodies of two children found after fire destroys house in Saitama; arson suspected

Friday 28th November, 09:18 AM JST

SAITAMA —

Two bodies believed to be a 16-year-old girl and her 12-year-old brother were found amid the remains of a fire which destroyed a house in Saitama City on Thursday night. Police said Friday there is a possibility of arson.

A neighbor noticed the house on fire and called the fire department around 11.30 p.m. Firefighters managed to put out the fire about two and a half hours later, but the two-floor 60-square-meter wooden home was destroyed.

The owner of the house, Hisashi Furukawa, 47, and his wife, Satomi, 38, were rescued with just minor injuries, but two bodies were found on the second floor, believed to be their 16-year-old daughter, Mayu, and their 12-year-old son, Yuki.

According to police, as he was being taken to hospital, Furukawa said he started the fire. .

Wire reports

› Login to comment

10 Comments

rjd_jr at 09:33 AM JST - 28th November

RIP to those two unfortunate young people.
LFRAgain at 11:29 AM JST - 28th November

Jeez! What the hell is wrong with people? How does one torch his home, killing his own children, and escape to later confess? If there were any proof that life isn't fair, this certainly counts.
Spidey at 01:18 PM JST - 28th November

I think I'm finally starting to see the light. Time to sell the house and hit the road out of this pathetic excuse of a society!

S
romulus3 at 02:32 PM JST - 28th November

the astonishing and agonizing amount of death by family in Japan makes me sick. It will be the usual financial woes that made him do it. "I felt uneasy about the future so I thought we were all better off dead". Hey, you wana die, do yourself in. Leave your family out of it.
LFRAgain at 03:09 PM JST - 28th November

Spidey,

As long as you aren't the one plotting to off your family, no point in pulling up stakes yet.

But I agree with the sentiment. There are just enough random acts of just plain freaky violence in Japan committed by family members against family members to make anyone wonder if there isn't something seriously wrong with the underpinnings here.

I think Romulus hit it right when he said this will likely be another case of, "I felt uneasy about the future so I felt we would all be better off dead."

It frightens me to think how bad things could get if the massive economic upheaval that's eating up jobs in the US comes to Japan. It'll be worse than the post-Bubble panic with company execs throwing themselves off bridges and buildings en masse.
romulus3 at 03:13 PM JST - 28th November

It'll be worse than the post-Bubble panic with company execs throwing themselves off bridges and buildings en masse.

very likely and very scary.
BBLeo at 06:00 PM JST - 28th November

Either he is a 'NUT' or situation with economy in Japan drove him to the edge. If he didn't want to be around, why not kill himself, and at least give a chance to his children to have some life.
yasukuni at 08:25 PM JST - 28th November

Agree with most of the posts here. I will take it one further, and get bashed or have my post deleted, but here goes. Spidey, there ARE big problems in Japanese society and always were. It's just that until recently there was enough money and jobs to mask it. Romulus conjecture as to the reason for the murder is probably correct. Until Japanese can commit to life, and living as a family even without money, private schools and whatever the others have, and value living regardless of how much or little money they have, this kind of news won't be going away. And LFR, if Japan goes through thousands of layoffs, and unemployment like other countries have experience, yes it will be frightening. By the way, I actually LIVE in Saitama. Its becoming a scary place for someone with kids. The amount of depressed, hopeless looking people you see is getting worrying. Take money and jobs away from people and you see what they have.
Lalalemon at 09:39 AM JST - 30th November

According to Japanese newspaper articles, the father argued with his kid about TV sound, and lost his temper when his wife sided with the kid. And this is a "47-year-old" man. Go figure.
Lalalemon at 09:40 AM JST - 30th November

Correction. The man lost his temper when HIS KIDS SIDED WITH HIS WIFE. Weirder and weirder....