Police are investigating reports that the arson attack on a renowned Japanese animation studio in which 33 people died could have been carried out by a disgruntled writer.
A 41-year-old man with serious burns was arrested near the scene of the fire, which broke out on Thursday morning at the Kyoto Animation studio in the city’s historic Fushimi district.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Kyodo News reports that police have identified the suspect as Shinji Aoba. Investigators have yet to interview Aoba, who was given anaesthetic when he was treated for his injuries in hospital.
Aoba’s occupation is unknown, but Kyoto Animation has confirmed that he had never been employed by the studio.
A witness who saw the arrest told Kyodo News the suspect was “talking angrily” to police and “sounded [like] he had a grudge against Kyoto Animation”.
Although less famous worldwide than Studio Ghibli, Kyoto Animation, also known as KyoAni, “has recently become one of the top-grossing studios” in Japan, says Channel News Asia.
Its president, Hideaki Hatta, said that the studio had previously been a target of threats, telling reporters: “There have been emails with death threats.”
The fire is the deadliest in Japan since 2001, which killed 44 people at a Tokyo mahjong parlour.
Firefighters have recovered 33 bodies from the studio so far, most of them employees of the company.
Twenty of the victims were found crammed in a narrow stairway leading to the roof of the building, the Asahi Shimbun reports. All are believed to have died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Another 36 people, including the alleged perpetrator, were injured. As the fire spread rapidly through the building, “several people jumped out of the second and third floor windows and suffered bone fractures”, reports CNN.
-
Political cartoons for December 14Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include a new White House flag, Venezuela negotiations, and more
-
Heavenly spectacle in the wilds of CanadaThe Week Recommends ‘Mind-bending’ outpost for spotting animals – and the northern lights
-
Facial recognition: a revolution in policingTalking Point All 43 police forces in England and Wales are set to be granted access, with those against calling for increasing safeguards on the technology
-
Japan’s Princess Aiko is a national star. Her fans want even more.IN THE SPOTLIGHT Fresh off her first solo state visit to Laos, Princess Aiko has become the face of a Japanese royal family facing 21st-century obsolescence
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal
-
Brazil’s Bolsonaro behind bars after appeals run outSpeed Read He will serve 27 years in prison
-
Americans traveling abroad face renewed criticism in the Trump eraThe Explainer Some of Trump’s behavior has Americans being questioned
-
Nigeria confused by Trump invasion threatSpeed Read Trump has claimed the country is persecuting Christians
-
Sanae Takaichi: Japan’s Iron Lady set to be the country’s first woman prime ministerIn the Spotlight Takaichi is a member of Japan’s conservative, nationalist Liberal Democratic Party
-
Japan poised to get first woman prime ministerSpeed Read The ruling Liberal Democratic Party elected former Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi
-
Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of TaiwanIn the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
