Post date: Nov 22, 2012 1:14:4 PM
A Japanese man with a knife is holding five people hostage in a bank and demanding that Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiko Noda's government resign.
TOYOKAWA CITY, AICHI PREFECTURE, JAPAN (NOVEMBER 22, 2012) (TBS) - A man with a knife holding five people hostage on Thursday (November 22), demanded that Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's government resign.
Identified as Kenichi Nakamura by Japanese media, he is holding the people at theToyokawa Shinkin Bank in the Aichi prefecture in central Japan, a bank spokesman confirmed.The hostages have been identified as Kengo Kato, the 41-year-old vice director of the bank branch, 27-year-old bank employee Junko Yamamoto, 19-year-old bank employeeMoe Takeyama, part-time bank employee 55-year-old Yoko Horie and one unidentified female customer.
All other male employees and customers with the exception of Kato were sent out of the bank by Nakamura immediately after taking control of the small credit union.
Nakamura, who entered the bank in the early afternoon, demanded food, drink and a megaphone.
Police were trying to persuade him to give himself up, public broadcaster NHK said. As of early evening in Japan his demands had been met with a small plastic bag of food left at the rear entrance as well as a megaphone.
"I want Noda to quit. I want to express my own thoughts," NHK cited Nakamura as saying, quoting police sources.
Violent crime and hostage-taking are very rare in Japan.
Japan dissolved parliament's lower house this month for a December 16 election that is likely to return the long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party to power with a conservative former prime minister at the helm.
Support for Noda's Democratic Party of Japan has sunk since it took power three years ago with many voters disappointed about its perceived failure to keep campaign promises.
As of 2100 (1200 GMT) the hostage situation had yet to be resolved, and no injury to the hostages has been reported.