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The story
In a fire at a cake shop in Motosu, Gifu Prefecture, three people — including the shop’s 66-year-old female owner — died. A 70-year-old male executive at a funeral company in Mizuho City, who was pronounced dead after being taken to hospital, is believed to have been in a dispute over a romantic relationship with someone who was at the shop. Reports say he may have left the shop once before returning, at which point the fire broke out. On 5ch, reactions came from many angles: the profile of a shop owner who had built her cake business up from nothing, surprise that people in their 70s could still feel such intense emotions, and speculation about the family relationships involved.
In the fire at “Sunrise,” a cake shop in Motosu, Gifu Prefecture, that left three people dead, it has emerged from sources close to the investigation that the 70-year-old male funeral company executive from Mizuho City in the same prefecture — who was confirmed dead after being taken to hospital — had been in a dispute over a romantic relationship with someone who was at the shop at the time of the incident. The fire appears to have broken out after the company executive left the shop once and then returned; prefectural police are investigating the possibility that he was involved in the incident.
According to people familiar with the matter, after closing time the shop owner (66) and a total of ten people, including her junior high school classmates, had gathered mainly in the second-floor living quarters to play mahjong and socialize… (continued in the paid edition)
Chunichi Shimbun, September 7, 2026, 11:30 PM (updated 11:30 PM, September 7)
Source: chunichi.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
The Anpo protest generation's libido is on another level (Anpo = the 1960s/70s mass protest movement against the US-Japan security treaty)
If we're talking the 1960 Anpo generation, they'd be in their late 80s now.
The 1970 Anpo generation would be in their late 70s.
Someone in that age bracket now would've just been born, or still a kid, back then.
The Anpo generation is way older than that.
People in their 60s now were still in elementary school during Anpo.
That generation is the 'Shirake Generation' (the apathetic, disillusioned generation right after the politically fired-up Anpo one).
The older you get, the harder your anger hits, and the easier it is to just say screw it and go all in.
Men and women can still get tangled up over this stuff no matter their age.
Even nursing homes have had stabbings and killings over love affairs.
At 30 you might just stub a cigarette out on someone.
By 70, apparently you burn the whole building down.
When her husband died, he handled the funeral through his company,
and apparently ever since then his funeral home has been handing cake shop discount coupons to its customers.
He probably thought he was helping out the widow,
but she was off having fun with a mixed group of old male and female classmates, and his feelings were probably just an annoyance to her.
So maybe he suspected one of the guys in that classmate group of having something going on with her.
'10% off cake if you hold your funeral with us' — that sounds like the funeral home's idea, forced through.
The cake shop wouldn't normally propose something like that.
Your theory fits the situation perfectly, I think.
Why would the old guy even be there if he wasn't one of the classmates?
Even if he were her boyfriend, you wouldn't invite him to a class reunion.
I saw that his son had a wedding back in February, and even Madame Dewi attended (a well-known Indonesian-Japanese socialite famous for showing up at high-profile events).
His wife had already passed away, apparently, and he was living alone with his daughter (per news reports).
Really feel for the daughter — she's probably only in her late 30s to 40s.
Classmates: 'Hey, the ten of us should take a trip somewhere sometime!'
Ended up scoring a one-way ticket to hell instead.
They're fluent with smartphones, out at the beach or in the mountains being active — having way more fun than broke young people. Medically speaking too, they're apparently a lot physically younger than the retirees of 30 years ago.
Honestly, 60s and 70s might as well count as youth these days.
If they've got grandkids, they're grandpa and grandma, plain and simple.
They've probably got more money than non-regular workers in their 50s from the Employment Ice Age generation, too.
Active seniors.
No way, lol — most people in their 60s and 70s are worn out.
The old guy in this case has to be an outlier.
The female victim probably just thought of him as a casual tea buddy for her golden years — she likely had no clue about the burning passion he had for her.
Sounds like they avoided officially registering the marriage, though.
Not registering the marriage is the right call to dodge inheritance disputes. Just leave the rest to the kids…
Apparently Mr. Hayashi, his daughter, and the cake shop owner used to come to a nearby store together often, but they reportedly stopped showing up entirely about six months ago.
Just because he's 70 doesn't mean the temperament he had in his younger days changed. Maybe he was one of those hard-nosed, old-school funeral industry guys.
Maybe he just happened to have gasoline lying around as a spare in the first place? Regulations already got tighter after the Kyoto Animation arson case (referred to by the suspect's name, Aoba), and now they'll probably crack down even more.
Boyfriend, I guess. You could tell they'd been 'together' for years already. They were dating in a normal, open way — with his son and daughter's blessing. But he'd say 'we're not getting married,' because of inheritance issues and all that. (Q: What kind of person was Mr. Hayashi?) He was just a genuinely nice guy. Never gave us any trouble. When he was in a good mood he'd leave extra, like 'keep the change' — an incredibly generous, big-hearted guy. He's the neighborhood association chairman right now, actually. Really looks out for people.
If it's a relationship with no marriage and no inheritance on the line, you'd think it'd stay more casual and low-key.
So why the gasoline?
Based on that interview, maybe there was no real relationship at all — it's only the old funeral guy's word for it.
Could be a case of one-sided delusion (mistaking a fantasy for an actual relationship).
Background and Key Points of This Story
One easily overlooked detail here is that the male funeral company executive suspected of being connected to the fire was himself confirmed dead after being taken to hospital. Since the very person who would be the focus of the investigation has already died, the full picture of his motive has to be pieced together from physical evidence and witness accounts — it will never be told in his own words. On the thread, the main points of interest were the profile of a shop owner respected enough to run her own business and host old classmates at her home, along with surprise that someone could still feel such intense romantic passion late in life. At the same time, unconfirmed details — like whether they were really dating or the state of his finances — are mixed in among the accounts of people who knew him, so readers should keep the confirmed reporting separate from the speculation on 5ch.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Express+) thread “[Gifu Cake Shop Incident] Trouble Over a Romantic Relationship? Funeral Company Executive Left Once, Then Fire Broke Out After He Returned?“.
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