Video game developer received threatening letter earlier this spring.
It’s hard to overstate how widely respected Nintendo is in its home country. A pioneer in its field that’s recognized around the world, creatively artistic and financially successful, Nintendo is, in the eyes of many people, practically a symbol of the nation itself, an ambassador of Japanese creativity and business acumen.
And yet, not everyone in Japan is a fan, as the Kyoto police have arrested a 27-year-old man for threatening to blow up Nintendo’s headquarters.
On March 16, an envelope arrived at Nintendo’s head office in Kyoto’s Minami Ward. Inside was a letter, which contained the statement:
“I’m going to blow you all the hell up.”
The letter went on to say “I’ve already planted multiple bombs at Nintendo Co., Ltd,” and, in what could be called video game villain fashion, even gloated “You cannot stop my plan.”
Nintendo promptly contacted the police, who dispatched officers to search the area around the headquarters building, but no explosive devices or suspicious packages were found.
▼ No Bob-ombs were spotted lurking about either.
I suppose one could argue that this means that, technically, Nintendo really couldn’t stop the letter-writer’s plan to blow up the building, by nature of him apparently not having actually planted any bombs in the first place. However, this doesn’t mean that the Kyoto Prefectural Police couldn’t arrest the man, which they did on May 12 after their investigation led them to an unemployed man living in the city of Hekinan, Aichi Prefecture, who has admitted to sending the letter.
Investigators are still looking into his exact motive for sending the threat, but as he doesn’t currently appear to have been in possession of or concealed any explosives, he’s currently being charged with forced obstruction of business, a catch-all-category crime within the Japanese legal system that encompasses a wide variety of types of harassment, threats, and disruptive behavior at or related to places of business. However, given the heightened sensitivity to such violent threats in Japan, particularly in Kyoto, since the Kyoto Animation arson attack, prosecutors will probably be taking this case very seriously.
Source: Kyoto Shimbun, Sankei Shimbun, Gamespark
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