Two people were found dead after a fire gutted seven houses and a barn early Saturday on Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture, police said.
A resident who called the fire department at 5 a.m. said flames were coming out of the house of Masayuki Iwasaki in the city of Sado.
Hiromu Homma, Iwasaki's 86-year-old next door neighbor, was found dead, the police said, adding that another body recovered at the scene is believed to be Iwasaki, who was 71.
The houses were on the coast and conditions were windy when the fire broke out, according to local weather reports.