The Fukuoka District Court on Thursday sentenced a former firefighter to eight years in prison for repeated acts of arson.
Tsugiyoshi Eriguchi, 38, admitted to the acts, saying he lit the fires out of pent-up frustration over mounting debts.
Eriguchi, from Chikushino, Fukuoka Prefecture, was convicted for committing three acts of arson between late January and early February, including breaking into a building in Fukuoka and setting fire to a blanket, according to the ruling.
Eriguchi, then a member of the local fire department, admitted to 15 other charges of arson during the trial.
Prosecutors had demanded eight years in prison.