A teenager on a family holiday has been arrested for allegedly starting seven fires around the wards of Sumida and Chuo.
Caught Before He Left the Country
An 18 year-old American male on holiday with his parents has been arrested for arson at seven different locations across two wards in Tokyo. The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was originally arrested for starting a fire near a recycling area in Nihonbashi. The investigation was then widened which led to the discovery of six other fires that had occurred in one day over a 2 km radius.
Many of fires were started in various trash cans over Sumida and Chuo ward.
The boy is quoted as telling the police that he, “doesn’t remember anything.” He’d been in Japan on a family trip, visiting key attractions like Akihabara and Tokyo Disney Resort, and was due to return home today.
The investigation is currently ongoing.
Reactions to the Incident
Many Japanese commentators on social media are lamenting the perceived lack of persecution that they fear the boy will (not) face, as he is a US citizen. One X (formerly Twitter) user proposed putting a cap on the number of foreign travelers that Japan admits to the country. “There are so many low-life foreigners now that we can’t control them…”
A Precedent
Another user said that the case already reminded them of Ridge Alkonis, a US naval officer who killed two people when he crashed his car into a restaurant in Shizuoka 2021. Alkonis served just 537 days of the three-year sentence handed down by the Japanese court, after successful lobbying by his wife and supporters in the US.
Alkonis’s case was particularly divisive as he is a member of the US army, already a controversial subject in Japan. It remains to be seen what will happen to the newly-arrested arsonist in this case.
