The fire at a Nanba video parlor in Osaka's Naniwa Ward, which killed 15 customers and injured 10 other people, highlights a potential danger at similar facilities with small private rooms. It is outrageous that a customer is suspected of deliberately starting the fire — on the very day that a revision to the Fire Service Law took effect, requiring video parlors with private rooms to install automatic fire alarms.
A 46-year-old customer, arrested on suspicion of arson and murder, is believed to have set fire to tissue paper and personal articles, aware that his act could cause others to die. He is quoted as saying that he had become fed up with life. It is also reported that parlor employees called a fire station but left the scene without trying to extinguish the fire or lead people to safety.
The parlor structure contributed to the tragedy. Private rooms were arranged along a corridor, 1.2 to 1.6 meters wide, that twisted twice at a right angle. The room where the fire started was near one of the corners. Twelve of the 15 bodies were found further down the corridor from there, and 11 of those 12 were inside private rooms. The parlor owner bears a degree of moral responsibility for the tragedy given his establishment's hazardous layout.