Tokyo Sauna Fire: Alarm System Hadn’t Worked for Two Years

Tokyo police are investigating the operator of a private sauna following the deaths of a couple on December 15th in a burning room. Employees revealed the alarm system hadn’t functioned for two years.

Staff at the sauna in Tokyo’s Minato Ward told the Metropolitan Police Department they hadn’t powered the emergency button inside the room to the office for approximately two years.

The couple died trapped inside the sauna during a fire, unable to call for help.

On December 15th, at around 12:25 p.m., emergency services received a call reporting an alarm sounding at a private sauna on the third floor of a building in Akasaka district.

Police found a man and a woman, believed to be customers, collapsed inside a room with charred walls.

The deceased were identified as Masanari Matsuda, 36, a company manager, and his wife, Yoko Matsuda, 37, a nail artist.

The couple, from Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, were pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Investigators learned an emergency button inside the room, designed to alert staff to problems, was connected to the office where power was managed.

Following the fire, the sauna’s owner and employees told police they “had not turned on the power since around 2023.”

Police believe disabling the power to the alarm became routine, and it was not functioning at the time of the fire.