Psychiatric Patient Burns Down Entire Clinic Killing 25 Other Patients & Staff
[Music]. bada bing badao have you guys ever been. to Japan have you ever been to Osaka. it's one of Japan's busiest cities it's. actually the most populated city in. Japan it's not Tokyo it's Osaka so just. imagine how packed the streets are on a. Friday morning it's the last day of the. work week December 17th of 2021 so this. is a fairly recent case right it's a. little bit chilly but that's not getting. anybody's Spirits down they're excited. for this freaking weekend everyone's. rushing to work ready to they have their.
little last push before they can relax. businesses are opening up for the day. getting ready for the busy days ahead. and one of those businesses that would. have been swamped over the weekend was. this small little Psychiatric clinic in. Osaka okay and it's a relatively small. Clinic it's the fourth floor of a. multi-story multi-tenant building that. has eight floors in. total a floors and it's on the fourth. yes and it takes up the whole fourth. floor but it it's not that big of a. building the whole building itself is.
less than 3,000 ft so it's it's a. relatively small Clinic under and above. the clinic there's cafes and clothing. stores and offices it's called the Nishi. umeda clinic and even though the. Psychiatric clinic wasn't big it was. well known in the area usually people. had nothing but good things to say about. the place mainly because it was run by. this doctor Dr Nishi zawa and he was. really passionate about his work it's. one of the few psychiatric clinics in.
the Osaka area where they open till 10: p.m. every day which is yeah I mean. that's pretty late like not a lot of. therapists not a lot of psychiatrist. work till that time I mean Dr Nishi zawa. wanted to make sure that everybody got. access to his help so he's thinking well. if the 9 to5 employees get off and. therapy is closed when are they going to. get therapy mhm he mainly focused on. helping corporate employees just not. succumb to the stress of Japanese work. culture which like look Japanese work. environment are Cut Throat it's.
competitive unrelenting I mean the. pressure is astronomically High and the. clinic focuses on treating patients with. depression and panic disorders so you. get it small little clinic that just. wants to give people a chance just wants. to give them some. help so December 17th 2021 the clinic is. hosting this group counseling session at. 10:00 a.m. for patients who have taken. leave off of work for mental health. they're ready to get back into the. Workforce so they're going to come to.
these group counseling sessions and talk. about what it's going to be like getting. back into that work culture and how how. they don't become overwhelmed again it's. open to the public typically anywhere. between 10 to 20 patients would show up. for this little meeting and the whole. Clinic was super busy getting ready for. this event getting the room ready. patients are funneling in they're. filling out the forms they're checking. in with the receptionist and right. outside the building there's owners. walking their dogs before before they.
head to work there's people in suits. rushing to catch the train like it's. it's Osaka it's a busy City it's a. regular morning even across the street. there's this little Italian restaurant. and the restaurant manager's name is. Ryan he's going through all the receipts. from his little restaurant and his. employees are setting up cuz they're. about to open and he's in the back and. he just hears people. screaming out of nowhere he's like okay. this is really weird he runs outside. dropping all of the receipts behind him. his employees have this like crazy look. in their eyes did you see did you see.
boss there's a fire across the street. and they're like screaming what's. happening what's happening it's like. what are you talking about what fire so. he runs outside of the restaurant and. all Ryan sees is like this intense smoke. billowing out of the building in front. of him like there's black smog filling. up the streets the smell of like burning. plastic is so intense it it's almost. animated there's these huge bright. orange Flames like eating up the. building in front of him the whole.
street is cloaked in a layer of smoke. there's fumes everywhere he's squinting. and he realizes that the fire is coming. from the fourth. floor he's like is that am I seeing this. right is that coming from the. Psychiatric clinic and his employee is. like yeah yeah I I think it is this was. a pretty emotional moment for both of. them they didn't really know the. employees of the clinic that well they. didn't even know their names but they.
would come for lunch breaks they would. sit down at the Italian restaurant maybe. two to three times a week so he knew. them like he knew that they were very. passionate about helping people they. were so friendly they were just the. nicest people and now they were most. likely dead in the. fire Crowds Are gathering at the bottom. of this burning building and it said. that it was oddly. quiet you know what do you do I mean the. fire trucks haven't arrived yet there's. no screams or anything coming from. outside the build from inside the. building the villan had no idea what to.
do or how to even help and then suddenly. they hear a Survivor a voice a woman is. leaning out of the sixth floor window. screaming help me help. me so this part is kind of confusing. because everyone is looking and the fire. looks like it's contained on the fourth. floor so she couldn't have escaped like. what's going on why can't this lady on. the sixth floor get out is maybe the. stairway flooded with smoke like what's. going on but everyone is waiting the.
fire departments they arrive nobody. could really help her until they get. there and within minutes they're pulling. out this ladder climbing up saving the. woman on the sixth floor and it was just. the most chaotic intense scene now once. the ambulance has arrived she was the. only person that was saved from the. burning building 26 people would die. from the fire what and you know how I. said it was kind of early silent before. then it became very very chaotic. firefighters were dragging lifeless.
bodies out there trying to perform CPR. outside the building to motionless. figures the civilians they don't really. know what to do there's reporters that. are coming in and this older man he. broke free from the crowd and he's. stepping forward and he's crying out to. everyone please my son please my son my. son owns the clinic please where is my. son he's not picking up his. phone everyone looked up at the clinic. the fire had been put out at this point.
the windows were broken and they could. see inside and all you can see are the. charred Interiors like the walls are. burned they don't know how to tell this. old man that his son probably won't ever. be picking up his phone ever again so. there's a lot of reasons why a fire. could start gas leaks lithium batteries. exploding landlords cutting Corners. buildings not being up to code but at. this point in the timeline it was less. about that and more about getting. everyone from inside the building to the. nearest hospital try and save their.
lives a man was brought in with the. group he was unconscious from the fire. but he was still alive the hospital. staff they're trying to save his life I. mean it's just pure stress and in their. attempt to save his life you know. they're doing their protocol they're. emptying his pockets and they kind of. look at each. other inside of his pocket he had two. cans of tear gas a pocket knife and they. find out that near his body there was a. melted lighter found they realized that.
the man that they were trying to save. was the culprit he was the one that had. set the fire and had just taken the. lives of dozens of people. [Music].
as always full show notes are available. at Rotten Mingo podcast.com I actually. worked with a Japanese researcher for. this case to get as much of the. information as possible but with. International cases there's always a. chance that things are Lost in. Translation some Paths of researcher. left undiscovered so please let me know. if you have any additional information. on this case Below in the comments and. side note we have an exciting rotten. mango merch drop tomorrow Thursday April. 20th 1:00 p.m. eastern time this is part. of The Collection I don't know if you.
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story The Fire lasted for 30 minutes. there were over 70 trucks fire trucks. and ambulances lined up reporters are. rushing to the scene I mean it's pure. chaos the building was just minutes from. one of Japan's busiest Transportation. stations the Osaka station so it was. pretty easy for people to stop by and. see what the commotion was about a shop. owner across the street told a reporter. while he was shaking his head you know. fires are really scary it takes away. everything a thief can take away a few.
things but a fire it takes. everything he was right in a different. part of Osaka a woman named nobuko was. starting her day she's eating breakfast. with her son and she's reading these. breaking news headlines breaking news. fire in Osaka Psychiatric. clinic and she just felt this like gut. punch in her stomach she tried to think. okay no there's so many psychiatric. clinics here in the city like there's no. way she clicks the article she keeps.
reading and she realizes that her. nightmares are coming true this is where. her brother works this is her brother's. Clinic she runs out of the house with. her little baby and starts calling her. brother's wife the wife picks up and she. just says we're already on our way the. hang up and Nuku said it it was weird I. mean it felt like life was in slow. motion trying to get to her brother's. Clinic everyone in the city is just. walking around like it's a good Friday. morning how is it a good Friday morning. right now now her life is crumbling it.
just didn't even make sense she runs to. the Psychiatric clinic and it's ass soon. to be crime scene she starts going from. police officer to firefighter begging. them please I'm Dr Nishi zawa sister he. owns this Clinic please can you just. tell me if he's. okay nobody could say. anything that night she would finally. see her. brother not at home not at the. hospital but in a. morg she said that is eyes were closed.
and he looked he looked like he was. taking a nap he looked so peaceful and. perfect she just kept expecting him to. wake up she held hands with her dad the. one that was looking for his body or. looking for his son at the. scene and the dad reached down stroked. his son's face one last time and he. whispered you did your best son you did. your. best 26 people died from that fire that. lasted 25 minutes. they were all staff and patients of the.
clinic so it was clear that this man. with the tear gas was targeting the. Psychiatric clinic but why like why of. all businesses there are so many. businesses to be angry about out there. there's conglomerates there are these. evil entities that are ruining the. planet killing people for a dollar a. Psychiatric clinic like a tiny. one I mean it doesn't make any sense why. the staff are just trying to help people. the patients they're already V. vulnerable they're seeking help they're.
trying to recover literally why what did. they ever do to you the only person that. could properly answer that question was. a man who was lying unconscious in the. hospital the hospital were trying to do. everything in their power to save this. man they're trying to save this man that. had just killed dozens of people his. name is morio tanimoto and this wasn't. the first time he tried to kill. someone police were pretty quick to find. out who he was where he lived because. his wallet was found near his body now.
the main questions that the police have. before he even wakes up is who is he why. did he do this why did he Target the. clinic and how did he actually execute. this evil plan so to answer the first. question the police go to morio's place. his residence and they interview a ton. of the neighbors so inside of his house. they find a knife sheath that matched. the knife that was found in his pocket. so yes this is his place of residence. they find a bag of drugs like. prescription drugs that he had been Pres. Red by the Psychiatric clinic and he.
tried to light them on fire so he's a. patient there yeah he's a patient oh. just you wait he's been to this Clinic. over 112. times. wow so it's obvious now that a he's a. patient at the clinic but maybe. something happened maybe he felt wronged. by them like why was he going to the. clinic in the first place like what. mental health battles was he struggling. with police also uncovered evidence that. morio had been planning this attack for. a very very long time in fact he might.
have been inspired years ago so he had. these old newspaper clippings all around. his apartment of the 2019 kyodo. animation arson attack do you know what. happened okay so if you guys want like a. whole separate video on that please let. me know but it it's a pretty extensive. case here's a quick summary morning of. July 18th 2019 so just like 2 years. before this incident the Kyoto Animation. Studio which side note is this. incredibly popular Anime Studio in Jaan. they produce a lot of massive hits the.
building was mainly for production staff. so it's not like a theme park or some. sort of retail front it's basically for. employees to come and make the. animations and a man that did not work. there currently walked in with a trolley. of 11 gallons of gasoline walked in. through the front door doused the entire. entrance area and even several employees. like several human beings of the. animation studio with gasoline. and ignited everything on.
fire the building ended up. exploding it was reported that he was. screaming die as he was doing all of. this he also set himself on fire by. accident while he was lighting. everything up and ended up trying to. flee but he was actually caught by the. police. outside 36 people would end up dying 34. people would end up injured oh my God it. was really hard for people to flee from. inside the building because the fire. originated near the entrance so they.
were effectively trapped but another. thing to note is that the fire caused. like this mini explosion which filled. most of the floors of the building with. toxic fumes and smoke within 30 seconds. so even if you wanted to find a window. to jump out of or some sort of Escape. Route the time that you would have to do. that is next to. nothing wow the suspect was in custody. he was charged He's A 42-year-old named. Shinji ioba and he accused the Animation. Studio of stealing his work and that is.
known to be the motive of why he took 36. people's. lives it is considered one of the. deadliest attacks in Japan between. civilians in recent history and um morio. had newspaper clippings of this incident. all over his house all over his. apartment side note another piece of. evidence was morio had bought gasoline. from a store before this event took. place which here's the thing about Japan. now if you buy gasoline now that's not.
pumped directly into your car like if. you buy a canister of gasoline you have. to provide your ID and you have to write. down the purpose of this purchase and. it's all because of the 2019 Kyoto. attack yeah so it was very easy to trace. that he had purchased a ton of gasoline. and he wrote down that it was for his. motorcycle which I don't think that he. owned a. motorcycle this show is brought to you. by better help we're getting married in. like 2th months and I want to say that.
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[Music]. there's not really much I can tell you. about him but maybe ask like that man.
down the street that man has been living. here for like 35 years so they go to the. man down the street and sure enough he's. a 51-year-old who had been in the. neighborhood for so long almost four. decades and he said you know it's crazy. morio had actually lived here in the. 9s morio was living here decades ago in. uh 1995 he lived here with his wife and. kids back then the family wasn't very. friendly they just kept to themselves.
typically but then out of nowhere one. day they moved out never said goodbye. never tried to contact any of the. neighbors just abruptly moved I thought. I would never see them again but last. month morio moved back but he was alone. this time no wife no. kids okay more questions now then there. are answers like where the hell is this. guy's family like did he kill them. too kind of. well at least he tried.
to morio tanimoto was born to a pretty. financially stable family um some would. even consider them wealthy well off his. dad owned a steel metal Factory and the. kids he has four kids right all of them. were at the factory as kids learning. about the dad's business they were. trained there since they were old enough. to be morio was actually really. passionate about metal work which I. don't you know I don't really know much. about metal work so I can't really say. but he just had this Mission throughout. his entire life like this Vision in his.
head he's going to get his degree he's. going to qualify as a specialist in. sheet metal work he's going to take over. his dad's business bring it to the next. level like he had all of these dreams. and it seemed like The Logical route for. him the family supported him he was a. hard worker at the very end at the very. last second they were like sorry Mario. we're actually going to give it to your. brother we're going to let your brother. inherit. everything he was so enraged he felt so. betrayed he felt slighted he left the.
family home and actually never talked to. his brother ever. again they were ex estranged for more. than 30 years for the rest of their. lives and once he left his family home. he was just lost he was bouncing around. trying to get any job that he could so a. lot of you know restaurant work and all. these things just odd jobs like washing. dishes and for a while things weren't. looking great but then in 2003 he's like. you know what I have a skill I have. literally I have a skill I should just.
get a job at a sheet metal Factory so. that's what he does in Osaka and it kind. of went back to his roots it utilized. his skills which was a great choice from. the moment that he started working at. this Factory the owners fell in love. with him they were so impressed like. they had nothing but praise for this guy. he was leagues ahead of the other. workers he's constantly getting promoted. promoted another raise another raise. another raise you could just tell which. pieces were done by him that's how good. he was compared to everybody else you. could liter really tell his work.
apart he was also very passionate about. training the younger workers so he's not. very competitive he just wanted everyone. to do well he just wanted everyone to. learn more about sheet metal work and. the only thing that they noticed about. him was that he was very sensitive when. his work was criticized but after the. agitation would wear off the owner said. you know he could see where we were. coming from he could see where the. criticism was coming from and we were. just trying to help so I mean overall it. seems like a well adjusted guy he's. making enough money to support a family.
so he gets married to a nurse they. settle down in the apartment and they. have two young Sons now we don't really. know much about the family other than. the fact that they weren't that friendly. to their neighbors and uh other than the. fact that they got divorced in. 2008 and ever since then morio has been. completely alone so in 2003 he's at the. height of his life great job married. with kids like 5 years later divorced. and everything else in morio's life just. starts going downhill his whole attitude.
changes he starts showing up late to. work he would just skip work with short. notice the owners are trying to talk to. him because he had been such a valued. employee for so long they're like we. don't want to fire you but like what's. going on and at one point his boss is. like his unqualified therapist his boss. is like I don't know what to do I'm just. trying to listen to the guy he just. seems so lonely he just seems so. stressed like he has. nobody and in 2010 about 7 to 8 years. after working in that factory morio.
silently quit and just. vanished he stopped answering calls from. co-workers his bosses didn't answer any. text messages just. disappeared it said that after quitting. his job morio poured all of his energy. into trying to get his wife back into. trying to get his family. back okay but just picture this right. he's mentally fragile he's desperate so. imagine the way he's trying to get his. wife back it's not going to be the most. romantic way like let me let me try to.
rekindle our love babe but maybe it's. more of an attempt ruled by fear and. Desperation like you got to you got to. come back to me she starts rejecting him. she's like you're spiraling I can't be. with you and he falls into this. depression he starts wasting all of his. money on horse race betting and he just. couldn't let go of the idea that family. must be together that's like his thing. in 2011 morio tries to make it a reality. his eldest son invites to come over and. spend time with the family so the.
ex-wife she didn't want to get back. together but she didn't cut him off. completely like she wants them to be a. part of the kids' lives and they're not. really kids anymore but you get it how. old is the son I I would I want to say. early 20s at this point okay so adults. yeah so morio accepts the invitation. makes his way to his ex-wife's house and. he's walking in with a little smile but. it's not it's not really like a happy. smile it's just like a weird unsettling.
smile morio had several kitchen knives. in his bag and he was there because he. wanted to end his life and take his. family with him so that the family could. quote be. together wow so the family had dinner. and they're sitting around the table. laughing reminiscing and morio he just. couldn't get himself to do it I mean. everyone's laughing and having a good. time like he loves these people right so. he can't do it. and instead everybody goes to bed that.
night but morio and his eldest son so. his ex-wife and his youngest son they go. to bed him and his oldest son they stay. up at night to talk about life and work. and family and they're sharing drinks. and it's supposed to be this moment. where despite everything that's happened. father and son are. bonding but it all comes crashing down. at 6:00 in the. morning morio pulls out his knife with a. 6-in blade and starts stabbing his son. in the head. he stabbed him in the head multiple.
times thankfully his son was able to. fight him off and get help when the. police arrived at the scene both Father. and Son were taken to the hospital they. were drenched in the son's. blood and after this incident in 2011. morio was sentenced to 5 years for the. attempted murder of his son which is. insane 5 years for attempted murder for. stabbing your own son in the head and. face over and over again like how does. that even make. sense who wow I don't know.
that's yeah wow the trauma the sun's. going to have yeah like the recovery. like like forget about the mental even. the physical too it's on the head yeah. from your dad wow and then just like the. trauma of you know the mom wa seeing the. son recover seeing her child recover and. I'm sure there's maybe even levels of. guilt of like maybe I chose the wrong. person to have children with like maybe.
this is all because of me maybe it's. because I left you know there's there's. always ways that the human brain blames. ourselves for things but there's so many. levels of trauma and the court was like. let me hear out morio let me hear out. his trauma zorio argued that he was. depressed and lonely he just wanted to. die and he wanted to take his family. with him so that they could be. reunited the judge was like for that. reason I'm just going to give you 5. years so I guess he was given less years.
instead of if he had been like I just. wanted to kill my son because my son was. pissing me. off the judge was like Oh no you're Su. let me help. you it's safe to say even though he got. off so easy with the justice system his. family had no longer wanted anything to. do with him I mean it took the family. such a long time to recover after what. happened I don't even know if they'll. ever fully recover the eldest son. refused to let this be his life though. he started working and tried to move on.
and in 2016 morio was released from. prison he was free but he had absolutely. no one nobody he didn't have his family. his brother that he was extra estranged. from his own children were gone his. ex-wife was gone he had no friends he. had no one to further prove this later. when the police went through his phone. he didn't have a single saved contact on. his. phone he was completely and utterly. alone and it was also very hard for him.
to find a job after he got out because. of his criminal record he had a hard. time readjusting into society and. reintegrating into life and also I'm not. telling you this to try and elicit some. sympathy for the guy trust me I'm not. I'm just walking you through what. happened right and I know it sounds like. oh my God no poor guy had nobody but. that's not what I'm thinking at all I do. think that there are a lot of. conversations to be had about isolation. though and how it can lead people to do. very drastic things but nothing excuses. murder especially mass murder so anyway.
morio has no job no friends no family. nothing his mental health is just. spiraling downward and it's getting. really scary and as of 2021 even his. bank account was completely empty like. he had no savings to fall back on he had. nothing left so one month prior to the. fire he settles down in his very very. old apartment that he had once shared. with his family back when they were. happy which look I can't imagine that to. be good for anyone's mental health when.
you feel alone to go live in the place. that you used to live with your family. and you used to have a great life like. you're just asking to dig up Old Wounds. and then pour salt directly into them. like it's not. smart it's suspected that he made the. decision in that apartment to take his. own life and to take down as many people. with. him he chose the. clinic which is an odd choice because. the clinic was the only place that tried. to help him when he was at his.
lowest maybe there were arguments. disagreements on treatment I don't know. right maybe he wanted them to change his. life maybe he thought the clinic was. going to make him whole again and make. his ex-wife take him back and they. weren't able to do that because therapy. isn't Magic and maybe he blamed them for. it maybe he was irrationally angry we. don't know but we do know that morio. went to that clinic A Lot close to 112. times he originally started going in. 2017 to treat his insomnia and he.
reported feeling lethargic but somewhere. in be in those 112 visits he went from. being interested in his treatment into. being interested in mass. murder 6 months before the fire with. every visit he started documenting on. his phone how many people were in the. clinic at all times he started staking. out the clinic on Fridays Thursdays and. Fridays he recorded the daily comings. and goings of the clinic employee the. patients he would write on Thursday.
September 9th at 9:13 p.m. Dr Nishi zawa. the clinic head left through the first. floor entrance of the. building he even noted how he was going. to take measurements of exit doors he. recorded that certain Fridays the clinic. would hold these group counseling events. where anywhere between about 20 people. would be gathered inside the clinic and. he decides that's the time because the. clinic is small the most people would be. gathered in the clinic at those.
counseling. sessions and he knew that there was. going to be another session Friday. morning December 17th. 2021 he even rehearsed his attempt at. his own house several times before the. actual. fire now a few weeks before the fire on. December 3rd morio initiated another. part of his attack he applied caulk to. the fire extinguisher door like you know. how fire extinguish extinguishers are. usually placed behind a glass door where. everyone can see it mhm and like you.
open the door oh he jammed it he applied. sealed it with caulk uh caulk is um like. if you look at the backsplash of your. kitchen you know the white Parts it's. like this cementy glue that Seals. Everything it's like waterproof mhm. that's caulk he got a caul gun and just. caulked it up. wow wow wow wow and like nobody noticed. because nobody really looks at the fire. extinguisher until you need it it would. be really really really hard to open. that door if it was all cocked up then. the night before the fire security.
cameras caught someone fiddling with the. emergency exit of the clinic apparently. morio had tried to seal the emergency. exit of the building with tape like he's. like trying to tape the door. shut he goes home the night before the. fire and he makes some last minute. checklists he writes on his phone must. confirm lighter. works and have to bring knife. Friday morning security cameras caught.
morio on his bicycle heading towards the. clinic there's video of this that's been. released and he's got these like paper. bags in his little bicycle basket please. assume the paper bags held cans of. gasoline or like liquid gasoline and he. was trying to be discreet with it going. around Japan with highly flammable. liquid is not taken lightly anymore so. he's hiding it in the paper. bags now let's talk about the actual. crime there's only one exit from the. Psychiatric clinic it was right in front.
of the reception and waiting area so the. only way to get in and out of this. fourth floor Clinic is through that one. staircase one elevator and that's it. there's no back door there's no. emergency exit that's the only way in. and out just one door that's all and. that's where the fire started it was a. very strategic placement uh very similar. to The Kyoto animation Attack. conveniently blocking everyone from the. St and the elevator even people in the.
waiting area the reception area would. have a hard time getting out because. they have to get through the blaze to. get to the stairs everyone inside was. instantly trapped the rooms in the back. were. windowless so there wasn't even a way to. climb out of a window the only windows. were in the reception area right next to. the. fire. wow and even then you're talking you're. on the fourth floor and there's a fire. blazing right next to you like I don't. don't know how you would get down. according to one female Survivor who.
managed to leave before the blaze took. over she said that she saw morio enter. the clinic looking like a patient police. were able to pull up CCTV and confirm a. lot of this morio is seen getting out of. the elevator onto the fourth floor at. around 10:13 a.m. he's carrying two. paper bags one in each hand he places. them at the entrance right in front of. the clinic. heater it said that these bags appear to. be. leaking the bags were placed on the.
floor out of view from the reception. desk and away from the staff at the. counter so he places the bags down walks. in further towards the reception area. and the receptionist is said to have. been smiling at him with just this big. smile welcoming him into the clinic and. he takes out his wallet and pulls out. his Clinic card which just basically. proves that he's a patient of the clinic. and he's pretending like he's there for. this group counseling session and it's. just so sad like. there seems to be a very trusting.
relationship between the staff and. morio morio checks in returns to the. area in front of the elevator out of. view from staff he takes out a cigarette. lighter from his pocket he test it in. the air several times to make sure that. the flame comes out and that it works. and then he squats down slowly tilts one. of the paper bags and liquid presumably. gasoline starts spilling out onto the. floor right in front of the heater. and he takes out the lighter and lights.
up the. gasoline Flames instantly burst up I. mean this is right next to the heater. the Flames are as high as the ceiling. almost instantly and in that moment. there were more than 20 people inside. this clinic and he had just lit a giant. fire next to the only exit on the entire. floor there were a few survivors like. the lady that got out before the blaze. that saw him put the bags down there was. the lady on the sixth floor that we. talked about there were I think another. two more people near the emergency exit. that were not inside the clinic but were.
near the exit saw the flames and then. ran back down but that was it everyone. else all the staff all the. patients they're going to die in the. fire so all of them are seen on camera. running towards the back of the clinic. away from the fire which is very natural. instinct but back there there there's no. windows there's no way out they had. nowhere else to go and the big problem. with the back is there is a door.
blocking off the main entrance area so. the reception area is blocked off with a. doorm that door was said to be closed to. block the fire but the treatment room is. a curtain like you know those Medical. Offices the smaller ones that use a. curtain yes there was a part that was. just a. curtain that's not really going to hold. the smoke and the fumes back and the. only exit and entrance like I said is. engulfed in flight so they're trapped. and morio is seen on CCTV grabbing the.
second bag of gasoline and throwing it. at the already Raging Fire he has now. blocked the exit route completely is he. inside or out yeah he's inside and he's. watching as the fire is burning bigger. and bigger and then he makes his way. towards the back of the clinic where the. victims are trying to hide and at one. point a victim tries to run towards the. elevator basically trying to get through. the fire to escape but morio throws. himself in front of the victim trips him. and ultimately stops him from his.
attempted escape and it's very obvious. just by looking at the footage a morio. had set the fire B morio has no plans of. escaping himself and C he doesn't want. anyone else to escape either he wanted. to die in that fire and he wanted to. take down as many people as possible. with him eventually the fire becomes too. big and the CCTV camera starts to get. very distorted the video turns black the. camera shuts off forever. the firefighter show up and all the.
victims were found huddled at the back. of the clinic which again is the. furthest point from the exit and. furthest away from the fire most of them. were dead by the time Emergency Services. arrive at the scene all the victims had. suffocated they died from carbon. monoxide poisoning they were trapped. gasping for air literally breathing in. nothing but toxic fumes while they slip. into unconsciousness until they slowly. lost their lives like this is a really. really really really evil way to end. someone's life and even before Hospital.
staff found tear gas in morio's Pockets. even before police went through the CCTV. footage police suspected him of being. the fire starter first of all the. location of the fire starting just. didn't make sense I mean the fact that. the fire extinguisher door was. completely cocked up the firefighters. heavily suspected arson from the get-go. and while everyone else was found in the. back of the clinic in the treatment. rooms morio was found near the source of. the fire so was he wanted to kill them. and now he's in the hospital unconscious.
the doctors are trying to save his life. so that he could answer to his crimes. and the police decided to release his. identity to the world before they knew. if he was going to make it or not before. he had a. trial they believed that the country. needed answers to what happened and with. all the evidence that they were able to. compile on morio I mean it seemed pretty. clear that he did it there's CCTV. footage that he did it there's even a. lot of motive backing it up like he. wanted to die he wanted to take as many. people with him as.
possible but he is still alive while. everyone else has. died yeah how is he alive. exactly maybe he's at a location that's. closer to the door so there's like fresh. oxygen window or something yeah maybe. there's window okay. wow. so his identity was released to the. world and Japan was. I mean heartbroken is to put it lightly.
like I I think they just didn't. understand how someone could do this and. also how someone that looked like morio. could do this morio is a 61-year-old man. who looks like a harmless grandfather. and I get it you know I get it young. people do evil things old people do evil. things but I don't know people were just. kind of confused like if you saw this. grandpa on the street you want to want. you would want to help him across the. crosswalk he just looks so nice and why. to mental health. professionals the whole country was.
shaken but arson cases aren't that new. in Japan so we briefly mentioned the. Kyoto animation Attack um but in. September of 2001 there was this huge. case in Tokyo that killed 44 people this. is actually one of Japan's worst arson. cases in modern history but no suspect. has been identified to this day it's. been categorized more as a blast so in. Tokyo there was this big gambling. building that people had gathered to. play maang and around 1:00 a.m. the. whole thing exploded and burned for like.
5 hours people were jumping out of. Windows covered in blood crowds were. forming below the building just watching. helplessly as people risked injuries and. jumped from this burning building like. it was it was scary it said that the. whole street smelled like melted plastic. and it made you want to gag and it made. you just devastated for what was going. on it was incredibly tragic the. explosion was said to have been a result. of arson a suspect has never been caught.
and if you're like wait why haven't I. heard of this this is actually not that. well known because just 10 days later. September 11th happened in the US and. that completely dominated the. international news cycle so um it's just. kind of been a forgotten piece of news I. guess and throughout the years Japan. seems to have an arson problem and I say. problem because you know any one life. lost to arson is too lives lost but if. we are to criticize any country I do.
want to put a disclaimer I'm American I. live in America and like it's very clear. that we have a problem in this country. with mass murders and the gun problem. here is far far worse so I don't want. anyone to hear the next part and be like. see gun laws are strict and people still. find ways to do evil things. no arson has been a problem in Japan and. has been seen as the preferred method of. mass murder and it's due in part to. Japan's strict gun laws for example if.
an evil person gets really really angry. in America the easiest way is to grab. their gun that they can buy at the local. store and do something in Japan there. are no guns that are easily accessible. and using something like a knife would. take too long it's way too personal you. would have to be very close to the. victims and there's a chance that you. would get disarmed relatively quickly so. starting a fire is less personal and. causes a lot more damage to a lot more. people. now are there as many arson attacks as.
there are shootings here no but I'm just. saying you know arson has become a. problem for Japan so Japan has seen some. devastating arson cases and it doesn't. really make it less shocking or painful. everyone was just waiting to see what. would happen to see if this man would. stand for his crimes but in December. 30th of 2021 morio died in the hospital. he never regained Consciousness from. carbon monoxide point poisoning he died. without ever standing for his crimes he.
died with literally so many unanswered. questions by the police the family. members of the victims there was just a. sense that nobody was really going to. get closure after this a lawyer. representing the family members of the. victim said you know there's no words to. express the feelings of the bereaved. families towards the suspect now he's. died without apologizing or serving a. prison sentence after taking so many. lives so now the public know why morio. did what he did how it happened but it.
still didn't make sense how do 26 people. die from a fire on the fourth floor like. there were questions being raised about. building safety building code the. Japanese government started a full-blown. investigation into it and they saw that. though the building was equipped with. the legally necessary devices like fire. extinguishers guid lights automatic. alarm systems the building didn't have. sprinklers H so the law in any multi. tenant building that is larger than. 3,000 ft is required to have.
sprinklers but this building was smaller. than 3,000 ft so there were legally no. sprinklers installed they were not. breaking any codes violations or laws. but then there was another law building. standard laws state that large buildings. with more than six floors this building. has eight floors more than six floors. are required to have two staircases that. lead to the ground floor this building. didn't have that they only had one but. when you look into the law it was.
revised to say any building built after. 1974 and this building was built prior. to that wow so technically they didn't. break any law or regulation in that. respect. either and because Tanny Moto morio. started the fire next to the Clinic's. entrance and even through gasoline at. the only evacuation route no one could. reach that one staircase in the building. and that's why the woman on the sixth. floor couldn't get down because smoke. was billowing up and down the.
staircase so even though the building. was not technically breaking any laws. the public demanded the laws be revised. or something to be done about it and I. believe the government now is having. fire departments across Japan conduct. emergency fire safety inspections on I. think close to 30,000 multi-tenant. buildings all of Japan is just coming. together to try and figure out how to. fix this issue how they can come. together to mourn the loss of all these. lives that were lost in the fire and not.
a lot has been released about the lives. of the victims that were lost in the. fire but there are a lot of stories. about Dr Nishi zawa the owner of the. clinic he was 49 when he died and. everyone who knew him said that he just. I mean that man worked like that's what. they say he worked 12 hours a day just. to help people he took very few days off. always had a smile on his face I mean he. was just so he was just so passionate. about his work he was empathetic he knew.
that meds alone wouldn't fix someone he. just wanted to be there for his patients. he just wanted to listen to them he. would selflessly devote his life to his. patients and they genuinely loved him so. he looked for finding ways to help his. patients in ways that actually worked so. for example one patient of his was. diagnosed with ADHD and he was feeling a. lot of self-esteem issues and. frustrations cuz he can't concentrate at. work he felt used he's making the same. mistakes at work over and over again his.
boss thinks he's incompetent he's. underperforming he feels like he's bad. at his job no matter how hard he tries. and he's just so frustrated and Dr Nishi. zawa is like it's not you it's the job. when you have ADHD you need to find a. job that you get excited about you need. to find a job that fits your personality. and that you can use your personality. and turn it into something that can work. for your benefit which technically these. are all great words in theory but harder. said than done right that's why Dr Nishi. zawa helped him get a job training at a.
farm and the patient said he came alive. at the farm he just felt so capable he. was doing well he got excited he was. motivated he was for the first time ever. excelling at something he felt like his. life had been saved by Dr Nishi. zawa and he said that he just wanted to. tell him that he saved his life but now. he. couldn't it wasn't uncommon to see. people lying up outside the clinic. before they opened. that's the reputation that Dr Nishi zawa.
had and do you remember Dr nisha's. sister she spoke out about her brother. and her loss and she said that her. brother was just this like kind soul he. was really cool that's what she said he. was this cool brother growing up he. never got mad at her even when they got. into these big fights and he's 5 years. older than her he was like a bit of a. history buff he constantly tried to. teach her about history and she would. laugh and um she recall going through. his apartment after he passed and when.
they were younger he had gotten into. college and she was still in school so. she's still living with her parents and. she had written him all these letters. while he's in college she would just. write like cute little sister things. like oh I'm so glad you came home from. summer break like I loved studying with. you during summer break and watching TV. with you at night was so fun I wish you. could stay home. forever she would write another one like. I'm writing to you again cuz I know. studying must be really hard but I want. you to do your best take the physician. license next year take the physician. license exam next year I believe you're.
going to. pass she was really lonely being. separated from her brother and she would. write him all these letters but he never. wrote back so she felt like he didn't. really care or maybe he was too young to. care but she was going through his. apartment and she found all of her. letters just pristinely kept in these. cute little momento boxes and he had. never gotten rid of them I guess they. were very special to him you know he had. kept them after all these. years and he just really cared for.
people so you know after he's gone his. patients are struggling to not only with. their lives as they were but dealing. with the grief and the shock of what. happened they felt even more vulnerable. than before so someone had to step in. and try and help them so there was a. doctor Dr T who came in and tried to. fill Dr Nishi zawa shoes she she says. herself that there is no way to replace. someone like Dr Nishi zawa but um there.
is a connection Dr T was actually Dr. Nishi zawa teacher when he was first. starting his studies so they knew each. other for the past 15 years and. um they were very close and. yeah and a full circle moment that is. very Bittersweet Dr Nishi zawa sister. was able to see how much of an impact. her brother had on his patients they. created online forums to help each other.
get through the loss of Dr Nishi. zawa and his sister now wants to follow. in his footsteps she is now formally. training under Dr T just like Dr Nishi. zawa. did yeah and she said she feels like her. brother is with her cheering her on. telling her that she's doing well. encouraging. her but overall it's just a devastating. case. you know one patient. wrote I've been doing my best while.
keeping Dr Nishi Za's words in my mind I. am where I am today thanks to him I'm. just glad I met you Doctor another. patient wrote a letter to Dr Nishi zawa. as a way to grieve and they wrote I've. always been supported by you Dr Nishi. zawa after this incident I'm very. worried about whether I'll be able to do. my best in the world without you but I'm. going to live my life the way you would. want me to so that you don't have to. worry about me. these letters were given to Dr Nishi. sawa's wife and she said that she.
couldn't stop the tears from flowing as. she read about just the Legacy and the. impact that her husband left on his. patients and that is the case of what. happened in Japan in. 2021 what are your thoughts on this case. I mean do you feel like this is closure. enough or is it frustrating that morio. passed with without standing for his. crimes do you think that any of this is. like a bigger conversation I saw a lot.
of Japanese netizens say that even. though what he did is in excusable we. need to think about how to fix it in the. future how to prevent things like. this and the one thing that the one kind. of motto that's circulating online is. don't isolate the. isolated what are your thoughts on that. but I hope you guys stay safe and I will. see you guys on Sunday for the minisode.
