Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) has received what appears to be a letter threatening to disrupt train operations unless it pays more than 100 million yen, investigative sources said Tuesday.
Police are taking the threat seriously because part of the letter's contents resembles written statements found at the scene of botched attempts to disrupt bullet train runs in Gifu and Shiga prefectures in 1993, the sources said.
According to the sources, the letter, addressed only to "JR Tokai Station," arrived last month at Nagoya Station. The Nagoya-based carrier later delivered it to Aichi Prefectural Police.
The letter hinted that the sender is preparing to sabotage shinkansen runs, and mentioned "100 million yen to 300 million yen," which police consider the amount sought in the apparent extortion.