Couple Stabbed to Death near Tokyo

Chiba, Dec. 19 (Jiji Press)--A couple in their 50s were stabbed to death in an apparent murder in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, on Wednesday afternoon, prefectural police said.

Toshiaki Watarai and his wife, Reiko, both 59 years old, were found stabbed on the premises of a private home and were later confirmed dead at hospital, the police and others said.

There were wounds to Toshiaki's stomach and Reiko's chest, according to the police and others.

A fire occurred on Wednesday afternoon, some 600 meters away from the scene of the stabbings, burning down eight houses and leaving a man in his 70s and a woman in her 80s injured, according to the Kashiwa fire department.

The police are looking to see whether the two incidents are linked.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]