A female worker at an internet cafe in Saitama is being held hostage by a male customer but she is believed to be unharmed, local police revealed Friday.
The police said they received a report from the cafe in the city of Saitama at around 4:10 p.m. Thursday that the woman, in her 20s, had entered the male customer's booth at 2:20 p.m. after being called over by him, but had not re-emerged since then.
The man entered the cafe at around 10 a.m. on Thursday. He has apparently made no demands for any money for the woman's release.
On Friday morning, the police continued trying to persuade the man to release the woman and leave the booth, the door to which is locked from the inside. It has not been confirmed whether the man is armed with a weapon.
The internet cafe occupies the sixth and seventh floors of a building on a shopping street near Omiya Station. The booth is located on the seventh floor.
"We are looking into the situation," the operator of the internet cafe said Thursday evening.