According to Japanese news reports, at around 3:20 p.m. today, passers-by at Meshiradai Itchome Park in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo dialed 110, saying that former Japanese Prime Minister "a lot of smoke came out of Kakuei Tanaka's residence." According to the Tokyo Fire Department, the fire broke out in a two-story house with a total burned area of about 800 square meters, and there was also a forest on the south side.
No one has been injured at the moment, and according to sources such as the Metropolitan Police Department's Otsuka Police Station, the scene of the incident is the residence of the late former Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka.
Makiko Tanaka, the eldest daughter of Kakuei Tanaka and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, said in a telephone interview with the Asahi Shimbun at around 5:30 pm on the 8th, "Everything burned down completely. I put incense on the altar and forgot to extinguish it. ”
The site is located in a residential area about 1.3 km east of JR Mejiro Station and faces the main road. A 55-year-old man, who was in a nearby park at the time of the fire, said: "I smelled burning, so I looked towards Tanaka's former residence and saw that the fire was several meters high. More than 10 police cars and fire trucks lined up on the nearby road, and firefighters entered and exited through a gate with a "Tanaka" nameplate written on it.
Kakuei Tanaka (May 4, 1918 – December 16, 1993) was a Japanese politician and architect, and the 64th and 65th Prime Minister (Prime Minister of Japan).
He became Prime Minister of Japan in 1972, stepped down in 1974 on suspicion of the Lockheed case, announced his resignation from the Liberal Democratic Party in 1976, and retired from politics in 1990.
Kakuei Tanaka's visit to China as prime minister brought about the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, ending the abnormal state of Sino-Japanese relations after the war.
Regarding the fire, Japanese netizens said: More than ten years ago, my family switched to LED candles and LED incense, because there were few people in the family, and there was no fire. At first I thought my ancestors would not think it was a punishment, but I was afraid of fire. I only try to use fire during Obon and when visiting shrines.
Some netizens also said: This is not an accident, but forgetting to extinguish the incense is a very common thing, which is frightening. I've always found the incense and candles on the altar scary. My grandmother once knocked over a lit candle in the house, causing her old house to burn down completely, and now she has become very sensitive to using fire in the house.
However, among the elderly, there seems to be a value that it is disrespectful to the ancestors to quickly extinguish the candles and incense on the altar, and an old lady near my house also died in the fire in her house. The source of the fire was apparently a candle on the altar. It's important to think about your ancestors, but fires are also dangerous, so be sure to put them out before you leave the home. I don't think ancestors would want the lives and property of their descendants to be endangered because of them.
In this regard, the editor suggests that everyone who has friends who light incense and candles at home must pay attention before going out to avoid tragedy.