crime

Bullet train passenger's comment about exploding bladder reported to police as bomb threat

32 Comments

A Tohoku-bound bullet train was forced to make an emergency stop after passengers reported that a man had warned there would be an explosion on the train.

According to police, the Tohoku shinkansen running from Tokyo Station to Shin-Aomori was stopped in Nasushiobara, Tochigi Prefecture, at around 9 a.m. Friday, after a passenger reported that a man had said, "There's going to be an explosion in this carriage".

Fuji TV reported that police conducted a search, but no suspicious packages or items were found.

During police questioning, the man said, "I was drunk and on the phone at the time. I may have said I felt like my bladder was going to explode."

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32 Comments
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Little did he know about the pair-a-noids in the seats behind him listening!

Everyone on board should be thankful that it was a liquid bomb rather than a gas bomb, cause the gas bomb surely would have gone off!

-9 ( +4 / -13 )

who pays the fine here, the drinker or he eavesdropper?

-1 ( +8 / -9 )

He shouldn't be drinking so much that his bladder was going to explode. (he most likely had to relieve himself) To whom should the passengers vent their anger? The guy who was drunk or the passenger who misunderstood.

-12 ( +5 / -17 )

The guy was drunk at 9 am?

-8 ( +4 / -12 )

Passengers must have been frustrated at the delay, especially after splashing out on bullet train tickets in order to slash their journey times. The eavesdroppers who leaked the conversation and were then needlessly delayed must have been peeved as well.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

The eavesdropper really should learn to mind his/her own business. There are tons of situations where the word "explode" can be used, in English and Japanese.... and frankly the LAST person who'll be using the word is a terrorist. A terrorist would be carefully avoiding the word, whereas some little kid who drank a big cola won't hesitate to yell out, "Mom! I need to go pee!! I'm gonna explode!!!".

-2 ( +7 / -9 )

Oh my, I think I can say that something like this could occur only in Japan.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

@Paul, Also considering that the language is context-based, you're probably correct.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

FAIL!

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

The guy was drunk at 9 am?

Man, I was on the 7am plane from Kansai to Okinawa a few weeks back and the guy next to me spilled his 7th beer all over my lap.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

“I was drunk and on the phone at the time. I may have said I felt like my bladder was going to explode.”

Easy answer. Establish a time in which alcohol is unavailable to be sold. Don't sell a guy enough to get drunk in the wee hours of the morning and expect there will be no problems.

-13 ( +1 / -14 )

Actually, it's convienient for me to get a little tipsy when on board to avoid motion sickness. I feel it helps.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

After a hard night of drinking until the sun comes up there is no way I'd be sober. Last train north leaves Tokyo at about 9pm, You can either get a hotel or stay in drinking establishments.

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

grins A big misunderstanding. I'm glad it was only that!

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

Yesterday morning I bought I beer at the local convenience store at about 8:30 a.m. and the cashier said to me, "A bit early, isn't it?" Truth be told I was buying it because where I was going for the day there are no stores nearby save a small grocery store and wanted to have it on me for a small tipple after lunch. Since the store staff and I are pretty friendly (hence she was emboldened to say what she said) I took no offense and explained it was for later and not the moment, but what I WANTED to say was, "You sell it in the morning, don't you?"

This guy on the train had access to booze, legally, in the morning, and so he got drunk and made a scene. They cannot complain about having to stop a train and putting many people off while they give the tools to do so to the customers.

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

I sometimes drink in the morning .... I work nights , but a loud drunk on a morning train with a cell phone causing inconvenience can be entertaining for foreign headbangers on this forum who have not been inconvenienced .

0 ( +2 / -2 )

There are toilets on bullet trains, aren't there?

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

No one is to blame. It is a reasonable thing to say, especially while drunk, and it is a reasonable thing to misunderstand when you aren’t listening in on conversations but then just catch that one word. 爆発.

I am sure I would be annoyed if I had missed an appointment etc. because of it, but life goes on.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

I blame the queue of women lining up in the mornings for the WC facilities just to put makeup on. Our man on the phone was just letting them know

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

It is a reasonable thing to say, especially while drunk,

Whilst I fully get the gist of what you are saying, is it really "reasonable" to be drunk at 9am?

-8 ( +0 / -8 )

hilarious

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

If you overheard someone saying there would be an explosion on the train what would you do? Ignore it? Pretend you never heard it? We are always being told to be more aware... and yet people are calling those who reported it stupid. Okay, it was inconvenient, but better to be safe than sorry.

When I was a kid we had bomb scares all the time thanks to the IRA... now we have different terrorists trying to kill us. I would rather people were vigilant than just saying forget it. Mistakes happen, but no-one was killed or injured...

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Luckily it was just a stupid drunk guy, going on about his bladder, likely some kind of looser alcoholic. He SHOULD NOT be drunk from the morning and if he has to go URINATE, get up and go to the bathroom, not go on about how bad you have to pee etc..on your cellphone! Pendejo!!

-12 ( +0 / -12 )

When I was a kid we had bomb scares all the time thanks to the IRA... now we have different terrorists trying to kill us. I would rather people were vigilant than just saying forget it. Mistakes happen, but no-one was killed or injured...

Agree. I had ir from when I was a kid, right through to adulthood, hence I think people should really be more in control of themselves in public. Otherwise the volume of false alarms would just rocket. Rather focus on the good people who are vigilant, lets baton down on the idiots who cause panic like this at 9am in the morning.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

The train conductor was right to make the emergency stop after receiving information of a threat of an explosion, as erroneous as it turned out to be.

"I was drunk and on the phone at the time"

I'll bet he sounded real obnoxious.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

The train conductor was right to make the emergency stop after receiving information of a threat of an explosion, as erroneous as it turned out to be.

Yes, if he had actually followed up. I don't think an explosion would be more deadly if the train was moving or not, and the detail here doesn't suggest (yet) that the train was ever evacuated. Had he followed up, he would have soon realised, as would any of us, that the culprit was a total R's, and should have been ignored. You are absolutely spot on when you say you bet he sounded obnoxious, which is a league away from being dangerous!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I still blame Japanese women for the hold up in the mornings for the WC facilities just to put makeup on. Our man on the phone was just letting them know how hard it is for me to hold in a bladder explosion . Women in the UK just open a window

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I was going to post my opinion but I am more amused at how most of the posters got thumbs down! LOL

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

What's the deal with everyone saying him being drunk in the morning is the reason of the false alarm? There's no set time for consumption of alcohol, besides if you've been on an all nighter it's perfectly common to be still drunk in the morning. I'm sure we can also appreciate the hesitation to use a toilet while drunk in a vehicle moving close to 300 km/h. Would this taking place at night make it any different

1 ( +1 / -0 )

?? Assumptions galore. So here's another. A night shift worker may be having dinner and a drink while you are having breakfast and on your way to work, while they are on their way to bed.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

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