Japanese man arrested following Nintendo bomb threat

A 27-year-old man has been arrested in Japan after sending bomb threats to Nintendo’s Kyoto headquarters, claiming in letters that he had planted explosives and would “blow you all up.”

The details:

• As reported by KTV News (via Automaton) Kyoto Prefectural Police arrested the man from Hekinan City, Aichi Prefecture, on May 12 on suspicion of forcible obstruction of business, following a series of threatening letters sent to Nintendo earlier this year. According to police, the envelopes contained messages including “I’m going to blow you all up," “My plans cannot be thwarted,” and a claim that he had “already planted multiple bombs” at the HQ.
• Nintendo reported the threats on March 16, prompting officers to search the company’s offices, but no suspicious items or explosives were found. The suspect has now admitted to sending the letters, but no motive behind the threats has been confirmed.
• Japanese media note that this is at least the third obstruction-of-business case involving bomb or death threats against Nintendo since 2022, following earlier incidents that forced the cancellation or postponement of events such as Nintendo Live 2024 and Splatoon tournaments.