3.25pm Tokyo
I'm working today in a 4th floor office facing Shibuya, which is half a mile away. For the past half hour there have been increasing numbers of helicopters (six of them now, hired by TV companies, I assume) circling Shibuya at low altitude, and sirens audible. A friend, who is on the ground there, says it's like Apocalypse Now, and describes columns of police cars moving up Dogenzaka hill. The TV news speaks of an explosion in a women's spa in Shoto, which is adjacent to Shibuya.
Nothing on the news agencies yet, and NHK just has some old duffers in the Diet.
I'll update when there's more ...
UPDATE: 3.30pm
From Kyodo news agency, a single flash: "Several may be trapped in Tokyo spa facility debris: police"
UPDATE: 3.40pm
The TV is showing aerial images of the skeleton of a low rise building evidently destroyed by a great force. There are "concerns" for a number of people who were inside. Presumably some kind of gas explosion ...
UPDATE: 4.00pm
TOKYO, June 19 KYODO
At least four people were injured and several more people are feared to be under the rubble after an explosion occurred at a women-only spa facility along a busy street in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward on Tuesday afternoon, police and firefighters said.
Authorities believe a boiler at the facility, Shiespa, exploded at around 2:30 p.m., they said.
The facility is located about 500 meters west of JR Shibuya Station.
==Kyodo
UPDATE: 4.05pm
From the Associated Press:
URGENT
Tokyo bathhouse explodes because of boiler, one reported dead
TOKYO (AP) ' A boiler in a women's bathhouse in central Tokyo exploded Tuesday, reportedly killing one woman and injuring at least four others. At least one person was believed to be buried in the wreckage.
Some of the victims suffered burns, fire officials said. Kyodo News agency said one woman had died, but police could not immediately confirm that.
The afternoon explosion was caused by a malfunction in the boiler in the annex of the popular +Shiespa,; said police official Junko Tada. The main building was not damaged.
After the flames had been extinguished, fire officials swarmed the building, which was destroyed except for the mangled iron frame. Debris had been blown in to the street and against the neighboring buildings.
The injured were taken to hospital, but officials would not release further details of their injuries.
At least one person was missing and believed buried in the rubble of the building, said fire department officials Yuji Kohara. Kyodo News agency, however, said several people could still be trapped.
LATER: 11.00pm
Three women have been killed and three people injured after the boiler blew up in the annex of the Shiespa spa. A methane leak seems to have caused the explosion, and the police are investigating on suspicion of "negligence leading to death and injury". The annex was where the female employees of the spa got changed. All of the dead and two of the injured were wrokers at the spa. The third of the injured was a man who was just passing by.
The helicopters have gone home, and the news cycle has moved on. This won't make many foreign newspapers tomorrow. A violent tragedy has come and gone, and soon it will be forgotten.