Police have identified three of the four people who died in Sunday's fire at a restaurant in Tokyo's Koenji district, while at least four other people died in fires in other parts of the country Monday.
Two of the four male victims in the restaurant fire were identified Sunday as Tsutomu Takei, 31, and Daigo Akeda, 30, both residents of Tokyo and employees of another restaurant chain, who were in the Ishikari-tei restaurant when it caught fire around 9:10 a.m.
One of the remaining two victims, both employees of the restaurant, was identified Monday as Yusuke Kurokawa, 43, of Saitama Prefecture.
Autopsies will be conducted on the victims.
The police said they will investigate possible negligence in connection with the fire, which broke out on the second floor of a five-story building about 100 meters south of Koenji Station. The blaze left another 12 people injured.
Also Monday, a 62-year-old woman was found dead in her home in a public apartment complex in the city of Fukuoka where a fire occurred around 12:35 a.m.
Takao Koga, 81, was found in his gutted house in Okawa, Fukuoka Prefecture, after a fire broke out around 6:05 a.m.
In Hiroshima, a fire in a four-story building killed the owner, Masaaki Sakai, 72, who lived on the second floor. Four other people, including women living on the third floor, were taken to a hospital unconscious.
Shoichi Sato, a 58-year-old employee of a golf equipment manufacturer, was found dead following a fire at 7:50 a.m. in the company's office in Arawaka Ward, Tokyo. The fire also spread to an adjacent factory.