Hyogo prefectural police arrested a 27-year-old man Saturday on suspicion of making a bomb threat against a sports stadium unless a film starring a Japanese boy band was pulled from theaters.
According to police, on July 31 last year, Shuhei Yoshie, a resident of the city of Kyoto, warned that a bomb would go off at the at Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya. The threat said the explosion would occur on Aug. 3, when a game was scheduled between the Hanshin Tigers and DeNA BayStars professional baseball teams.
The game was called off, but because of bad weather and the cancelation took place only after spectators had filed in. No explosives were found in the stadium.
Yoshie is suspected of having sent letters to all 48 Hyogo police stations and the prefectural police headquarters last July 31, demanding the cancellation of screenings of "Eightranger 2," starring members of western Japanese idol group Kanjani Eight.
Additional security guards were deployed at Koshien Stadium following the threat, while police stepped up monitoring efforts.
Police found that the letters were sent from a post office in Kyoto.