Crime Dozens of schools across Japan closed following death threats

thomas · 25 Jan 2023

Hopefully, nothing but an (extremely silly) prank: on 23 and 24 January, hundreds of high schools and universities across Japan received death threats against students and teachers and bomb threats.

In Saitama Prefecture, 140 prefectural and other public schools canceled classes after threatening notes were faxed to 136 prefectural high schools and 35 private schools, according to the Saitama prefectural board of education. At least 23 schools in neighboring Ibaraki Prefecture closed or sent students home early after 124 schools received threats. In Osaka Prefecture, 128 prefectural high schools and a prefectural junior high school received death threats along with a ransom demand for 3 million yen ($23,000), the Osaka prefectural board of education said. The faxed messages were sent from the same number registered in Tokyo, most of them in the early hours of Jan. 24. Similar messages were also sent to high schools in Nara, Yamanashi and Tochigi prefectures. The schools called the police to investigate.

Death threats to schools across Japan force dozens to close | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

Bomb threats close 8 universities in Japan on Monday | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News

Bomb threats forced eight universities in Japan to temporarily close on Monday.

www3.nhk.or.jp

Bomb and death threats sent to universities and high schools across Japan

Bomb threats were sent to 12 schools while death threats were sent to 138 schools, according to the education ministry and other sources.

www.japantimes.co.jp

Petaris · 25 Jan 2023

It seems that violent crime and threats are trending up in Japan lately. Hopefully its just a temporary thing and not a precursor to a more violent future.

Grandpa Frank · 26 Jan 2023

Had it happen in Maine a few weeks back and it was weird that the calls came from other states far from Maine.

thomas · 26 Jan 2023

One of my private students is a music teacher at a large HS in Saitama. She told me that on Tuesday, her school received a bomb threat by fax. The sender was a (non-existent) lawyer who demanded a ransom of 3m JPY to a (likewise non-existent) bank account; otherwise, the school would be attacked with Molotov cocktails and self-made guns. Some 140 schools across Saitama and Ibaraki received the same threat. Very little information is available, and I guess the police asked the media not to report to avoid copycat cases. Sadly, a lot of graduation ceremonies had to be cancelled.

johnnyG · 26 Jan 2023

Boy, those vaccines are truly making people go crazy... First pilots, and now this.

NOT!

fouad · 26 Jan 2023

Makes me wonder. Is violence reaching even violence free Japan ?

mdchachi · 27 Jan 2023

fouad said:
Makes me wonder. Is violence reaching even violence free Japan ?

Also wonder how much is it just the reach of the media. In the 70s there were domestic terrorists who put bombs into trash cans. Sarin gas attacks in the 90s. I'm not convinced we are seeing any new trends.

IronDove · 27 Jan 2023

bosozoku and yakuza are nearly all gone so overall, id hazard a guess that violent crime has gone down. japan is or maybe was known for "weird crimes" stuff like acid in the soap dispenser and the infamous pantsu thieves (i know of 1 that stole thousands of articles of used womens underwear and had them on display). lately, it seems crime is on the up but that's kind of just the ebb and flow doing what it does.

it does kind of seem like the need or want for money is outweighing the need to conform or social pressure to be honourable and upstanding members of society. there are catalyst thieves stealing cars, home invaders robbing and battering vulnerable individuals and now this. i doubt its a prank by some kid trying to be an anti hero because of how many schools were targeted.... and a fax machine? probably a desperate money grab by an individual with way too much time on their hands or maybe its hybrid warfare. who knows?

fouad · 27 Jan 2023

What I had in mind is the crime stats for 2013 that is 4000 killed by gunshot in the US for 40 in Japan

nice gaijin · 27 Jan 2023

Imagine how the gun industry is probably salivating over the prospect of re-arming Japan... or other countries that've implemented strict laws like Australia.

Wild times we live in, hopefully this is just a bad prank but it's still an act of terrorism, and it's a whole lot of effort that may suggest it's not just an individual with a fax machine.

...
Can we just take a moment to appreciate the fact that it's 2023 and we're still receiving bomb threats by fax?

mdchachi · 27 Jan 2023

nice gaijin said:
Can we just take a moment to appreciate the fact that it's 2023 and we're still receiving bomb threats by fax?

Seems like there would be an electronic trail and that should help them figure out the source.

nice gaijin · 27 Jan 2023

mdchachi said:
Seems like there would be an electronic trail and that should help them figure out the source.

My thoughts exactly... I'm pretty confident they're not going to let this one go unsolved

thomas · 1 Feb 2023

An update on the death threat faxes sent to educational facilities in Kant and elsewhere: the perp was quite busy, sending out 15,178 threatening faxes to 572 universities, 4,905 senior high schools and 9,701 junior high schools in the course of three days.

In Saitama Prefecture, 136 prefectural high schools and 35 private schools received death threats via fax. According to the prefectural board of education and other sources, more than 140 schools closed temporarily because of the threats. A staff member at Nara Prefectural University in Nara, where 613 students attend, found two identical faxes were received around 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 23. University staff and police officers patrolled the campus after those threats. The university president and others discussed the matter and then decided to suspend classes from the afternoon.

The Tokyo-based operator of the online fax service used to send the threats has been closely collaborating with the police. It is assumed that only one person is behind the threats.

Death threat faxes sent to schools for 3 straight days | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

nice gaijin · 2 Feb 2023

thomas said:
An update on the death threat faxes sent to educational facilities in Kant and elsewhere: the perp was quite busy, sending out 15,178 threatening faxes to 572 universities, 4,905 senior high schools and 9,701 junior high schools in the course of three days.

The Tokyo-based operator of the online fax service used to send the threats has been closely collaborating with the police. It is assumed that only one person is behind the threats.

Death threat faxes sent to schools for 3 straight days | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

Wow I may have underestimated how much trouble a lone individual can get up to. I guess we'll just stay tuned for new developments

mdchachi · 2 Feb 2023

He must have really not liked his experience in school. Maybe he was a perverted teacher that got canned.

thomas · 30 Aug 2023

Tokyo police arrested two men suspected of being behind the bomb threats. They used Tor to send the faxes anonymously.

Police arrested Sho Okuma, 26, unemployed, who lives in Soka, Saitama Prefecture, on 2 August, and Nao Sato, a graduate student at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, who resides in Koganei, Tokyo, on 3 August, the sources said. The two are accused of conspiring to send a fax to the Tokyo College of Music on 23 January, demanding, "Pay 300,000 JPY (USD 2,060) or the bomb we set will be detonated." The threat was conveyed through a service that allows mass fax sending via the internet. The two men accessed the service through Tor, a system that allows faxes to be sent anonymously. It is rare for a criminal case involving the use of Tor to be filed.

2 men arrested after 300,000 bomb, murder threats faxed | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

Majestic · 30 Aug 2023

"I will bomb your school unless you send me.... $2000 dollars!"

Crime Dozens of schools across Japan closed following death threats

thomas

Unswerving cyclist

Bomb threats close 8 universities in Japan on Monday | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News

Bomb and death threats sent to universities and high schools across Japan

Petaris

Sailing away...

Grandpa Frank

Sempai

thomas

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johnnyG

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fouad

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mdchachi

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IronDove

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fouad

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nice gaijin

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mdchachi

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nice gaijin

Resident Realist

thomas

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nice gaijin

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thomas

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