Man sets himself on fire at central Japan city hall; 3 staff injured

The man is totally mental and they knew about him so something could possibly have been done before he committed this heinous crime.

The police have seized the bottle and are examining its contents. The fire was put out around 20 minutes later by staff using fire extinguishers.

It took the staff 20 freaking minutes to find a fire extinguisher and put the fire out?

After reading that, I am actually surprised the entire building didnt burn to the ground!

Here is my 20cents advice to anyone having problems with the city office Staff, Be prepared to face the warmest and the coldest people you have ever encountered in life. I have had some Really Good honest and helpful staff and some Horrible ones too.

If you got off the wrong side of the bed one day Do Not Go to the city office that day chances are your day will be your worst nightmare.

Try to avoid going there anyway you can, some of the staff are there to just make you Miserable bcz.. they are Miserable themselves.

I can understand how he feels. I just got my yearly National Health Insurance bill and it's so high. 57,000 yen a month.

They need to lower it. A lot of people I know are also complaining about it.

The worst part about this system is that when you are late on your payment the penalties will eat you alive, I believe it is about 14% after certain days possibly 30 I heard !??

So the city office has now become a Loan Shark, they know you are hurting and can't pay on time and instead of working with you to find out the reasons why you late? they take you down and Hit you where it hurts the most $$$.

We all fall on hard times, the city office suppose to work with you and guide you so you can manage and get out of being delinquent but instead at 14% they cripple you.

The worst part about this system is that when you are late on your payment the penalties will eat you alive, I believe it is about 14% after certain days possibly 30 I heard !??

So the city office has now become a Loan Shark, they know you are hurting and can't pay on time and instead of working with you to find out the reasons why you late? they take you down and Hit you where it hurts the most $$.

We all fall on hard times, the city office suppose to work with you and guide you so you can manage and get out of being delinquent but instead at 14% they cripple you.

You beat me to it. That's exactly what the city office is. A loan shark. Hit the nail on the head.

Lower taxes.

Absolute madman. A sociopathic, violent one at that.

I hope the staff make a full physical and mental recovery.

Takahama is not part of Nagoya btw...it is a different city about 40 km away from Nagoya inside Aichi prefecture...

@ Speed,

I can understand how he feels. I just got my yearly National Health Insurance bill and it's so high. 57,000 yen a month.

U R Over Working.

 I can understand how he feels. I just got my yearly National Health Insurance bill and it's so high. 57,000 yen a month.

Thank you sir! It means that last year you raked in the cash, paid a hell of a lot of taxes, and made life easier for some (literally) less fortunate soul somewhere else in Japan.

If you live in Tokyo, you should consider moving! It's cheaper elsewhere!

Be prepared to face the warmest and the coldest people you have ever encountered in life. I have had some Really Good honest and helpful staff and some Horrible ones too.

Absolutely! Fortunately for me none horrible but some were cold. Some of them can be quite aggressive when they talk with you. I have encountered some very kind people though. My worst experience with a public servant was at a drivers licence center in Gifu. Horrible man!

I'm a person with a lot of patience; I hardly argue with anyone... Until I have to go to the city hall. The muppets there make me lose my mind in 5, 4, 3, poof, I'm mad as...!

I feel for the man too. Also can concur that government revenues relies far too much on ordinary people rather than corporates.

I hope he gets his point accross with somebody, Japan is a modern society, it should never have got to this. I have a feeling some dinosaur bureaucrat is probably the source of the extreme reaction by the man.

@Yubaru

Today 07:35 am JST

It took the staff 20 freaking minutes to find a fire extinguisher and put the fire out?

After reading that, I am actually surprised the entire building didnt burn to the ground!

Maybe you don't know well but there are enough fire extinguishers there. Also you based your comment based on the text without actually knowing that there was panic.

Was there no sprinkler system?

Maybe you don't know well but there are enough fire extinguishers there. Also you based your comment based on the text without actually knowing that there was panic.

Ironic that someone would defend the INaction of a bunch of public servants. I have been in plenty of "panic" situations, and from experience not everyone does panic, but unfortunately plenty refuse to take action and prefer standing by and just watching.

20 minutes is a very long time when someone is burning, and to make excuses that they didnt put it out because of "panic" alone is ludicrous and inexcusable.

If the man dies, THEY are all, or should be held, partially liable! They are presumed to be "professionals" as they are government employees, and are held to higher standards. Their inaction in this case is negligence!

So if taxes are too high and would explain partially this dramatic situation, it is just the beginning since demography will not improve before long time.

And Yubaru is totally correct, twenty minutes to think about using fire extinguishers for a city hall ? Utter incompetence of management.

This article is not giving any details about the tax payment dispute. It should to potentially prevent this from happening again. Hiding will not solve issues.

The Tax clercs are THE WORST public servants, not only from Japan, but from all over the world. They are rost în Japan because they always gave you that totally fake politeness and smile, while having ZERO empathy if you have financial issues, such as looking for a job, etc.

I can understand the guy's frustration, but now he is the bad guy in this story, instead of those soulless clercs.

I'm a person with a lot of patience; I hardly argue with anyone... Until I have to go to the city hall. The muppets there make me lose my mind in 5, 4, 3, poof, I'm mad as...!

Got it, Garthgoyle. I only have to walk through the door and I feel my blood pressure rising. But when I have to fill in a form, take it somewhere else, then get in a queue for that in order to get a paper to entitle me to get into the queue to see someone I need to see, I usually start to fume about why this isn't all online and why I have to spend an hour or more needlessly fronting up to bureaucracy that insists on this just because it can. That seems to be a feudal legacy - know your subordinate place in the scheme of things.

My city office can be an annoying experience, simply because of the waiting due to inefficiency and bureaucracy, and the lack of adequate air conditioning in the summer due to eco policy. But, everyone has always been quite helpful. In fact, many issues have been handled with a phone call, and the appropriate forms being mailed. Some things can even be done online or at the conbini.

YubaruToday  07:35 am JST

The police have seized the bottle and are examining its contents. The fire was put out around 20 minutes later by staff using fire extinguishers.

It took the staff 20 freaking minutes to find a fire extinguisher and put the fire out?

After reading that, I am actually surprised the entire building didnt burn to the ground!

They're Japanese, they have to find a senpai and make sure it's okay to use the fire extinguisher before doing anything. I've worked places when a staff requires an ambulance, the Japanese staff check with their boss before calling the ambulance - culturally unable to take initiative.

Thats an extreme event that doesn’t paint a very good picture of the city hall he went to perform his desperate deed. He maybe a nutcase, but there’s ways to deal with these people and there are ways not too. Bureaucracies can drive people mad!

Request denied. So sorry, next!

YubaruJuly 17  07:35 am JST

The police have seized the bottle and are examining its contents. The fire was put out around 20 minutes later by staff using fire extinguishers.

It took the staff 20 freaking minutes to find a fire extinguisher and put the fire out?

After reading that, I am actually surprised the entire building didnt burn to the ground!

Japan is well renown around the world for its excellent firefighting department. It has to be, given the frequency of 'Japanquakes' that occur every few years. Couldn't medics or anybody do something to stop this insanity before it got so crazy?