World Scene: Japan

Four arrested for web hoax

Japanese police arrested four people for allegedly threatening copycat killings online after a man posted similar messages on websites before stabbing seven people to death, officials said yesterday.

"I'm sick of it all. I'm going to do it too," a jobless 29-year-old wrote on the hugely popular 2-Channel Web site. "I'm going to kill 100 people in Ikebukuro," he said, referring to a popular Tokyo shopping district, a Tokyo Metropolitan Police official said.