JAPAN: 76-year old Okayama man says he set fatal fire

OKAYAMA, Japan (Kyodo), March 3, 2008: A 76-year-old man was arrested Sunday on suspicion of setting fire to his house in Niimi, Okayama Prefecture, and a charred body — believed to be the man's wife — was found among the wreckage from the blaze that also destroyed six neighboring homes. The fire started in the wooden two-story house of Takeyoshi Neya shortly after midnight Saturday. Neya, who was initially unaccounted for, turned up at the local fire department about an hour later and said he started the blaze. Neya lived in the house with his wife, Shizuko, 79, and their 48-year-old son. The son was away when the fire broke out. (C) The Japan Times