Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Yikes!: 101 elementary schools in Hamamatsu closed due to bomb threat

101 elementary schools in Hamamatsu closed due to bomb threat

I'm glad the authorities took this seriously.  Usually there's nothing to this kind of threat but you never want to experience that one time when no one listens and a bomb actually goes off.  I can't help but wonder about this guy's motive for disrupting the day of 44,000 school kids, their teachers and school staff, parents and countless law enforcement officers.  The good news is there was no bomb and everyone made it safely through the day.

Still, it's shocking.  I mean, I've heard of many such cases in the US but this is my first time here in Japan and it's right in our own city.  Hamamatsu is generally a clean, orderly place.  A bit sprawling and inconvenient at times, but full of friendly, well-meaning, generous people.  And one asshole who was apparently having a terrible Tuesday.

Explosive devices themselves are not an unknown here.  We've had a couple of cellphone alerts about unexploded ordinance dating back to WWII turning up when construction crews did some digging.  The US dropped a lot of bombs on Hamamatsu back in 1945.  We really don't need anyone blowing things up nowadays, thank you very much.

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