Police raided the office of a rightwing extremist group Friday in Tokyo on suspicion that one of its members torched the family home of Liberal Democratic Party veteran Koichi Kato in Yamagata Prefecture on Tuesday.
Kato, 67, a Lower House member and a former secretary general of the LDP, is critical of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Tokyo's war-related Yasukuni Shrine, which is revered by rightists.
A 65-year-old man, identified by police as a member of the rightist group, was found with burns and wounds after the fire at the Kato family home in Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, and was taken to a nearby hospital.
Police said the man apparently tried to commit hara-kiri and they will question him when he recovers. They believe kerosene was used in the arson. They also found a knife the man apparently used on himself, and a can for the kerosene.