Two 14-year-old boys have been arrested on suspicion of setting fire to a classroom at their Tokyo junior high school the day before the graduation ceremony in March because they wanted the event canceled, police said Wednesday.
The boys were then second-year students at the school in Adachi Ward. The teens told investigators they wanted the graduation ceremony to be canceled because they did not want to listen to long speeches and sing songs.
The boys, whose names are being withheld because they are minors, are believed to have entered through a window into a carpentry classroom on the first floor of the school. They allegedly poured lighter fluid in the room and set it on fire at around 9 p.m. March 17, partially burning the room.
The school held the ceremony as scheduled and the two boys were in attendance.