Four years on, Osaka arson victim’s sister helps to rehabilitate inmates

OSAKA –

Four years after a deadly arson attack on a psychosomatic clinic in Osaka, the sister of the clinic’s then 49-year-old director is helping rehabilitate inmates, as well as people suffering from drug addiction.

Nobuko Nishizawa, 48, whose brother, Kotaro, was among the 26 victims of the Dec. 17, 2021, attack, began meeting with inmates this year.

At a correctional medical facility in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, in July, she met with a foreign inmate in his 20s who had committed fraud after losing his part-time job.