Myojo 56 building fire
35°41′41″N 139°42′05″E The Myojo 56 building fire (明星56ビル火災, Myōjō Gojū-Roku Biru Kasai) was a structural fire that began at about 01:00 local time on September 1, 2001 in the Myojo 56 building, located in the Kabukichō section of Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.
| Myojo 56 building fire | |
|---|---|
Myojo 56 in June 2003, still shuttered nearly 2 years after the fire | |
| Native name | 明星56ビル火災 |
| Location | Kabukicho section of Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan |
| Date | 1 September 2001 ≈ 1:00 a.m. (JST (UTC+09:00)) |
| Target | Unknown |
Attack type | Suspected arson, mass murder |
| Deaths | 44 |
| Injured | 3 |
| Perpetrators | Unknown |
| Motive | Unknown |
The fire, the fifth-deadliest in post-war Japanese history, burned for five hours before being extinguished and resulted in the death of 44 people and injuries to another three. It is suspected that the fire resulted from arson, but no suspect was ever arrested. In the aftermath of the incident, media coverage (which declined after the September 11 attacks that occurred 10 days later) focused on the arrest and conviction of the property owners for criminal negligence and on the building's putative ties to organized crime.