Three people were killed in a fire early Sunday at a house and an adjoining store on Sajima Island in Ehime Prefecture, police said.
The victims were tentatively identified as Toshiyasu Nakata, 80, the owner of the house, his eldest son, Shunichi, 45, and his grandson, Yoshinori, 14.
Katsumi Nakata, the 39-year-old second son of Toshiyasu, was not injured.
The fire broke out at around 4:30 a.m. and burned down the adjoining store before being extinguished about 90 minutes later. Nobody was in the store at the time.