A 25-year-old unemployed man has been arrested on suspicion of threatening to blow up the Prime Minister's Official Residence, the Metropolitan Police Department said Wednesday.
Arrested was Hidenobu Hamada of Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture.
The threat came in the form of e-mail sent to the Internet home page of the Prime Minister's Official Residence.
Hamada was quoted as saying he wanted to complain about losing several million yen on stock transactions and blame the government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for the nation's low stock prices.
According to police, Hamada sent 18 e-mail messages Dec. 8 to the Web site section that solicits opinions from the public. The messages included such threats as, "Abolish all U.S. military bases in Japan within half a year. If you do not, I will blow up the Prime Minister's Official Residence."
The public relations division, a part of the Cabinet secretariat that maintains the Web site, notified police of the incident Dec. 10, which led investigators to examine the transmission records and arrest Hamada.