TOKYO: A death threat has been sent to the election office of Renho, a candidate in the July 7 Tokyo gubernatorial poll, it was learned Monday.

A lawyer for Renho, a former member of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of Japan’s parliament, filed a report on the death threat to police on Sunday. The Akasaka police station of Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the incident as suspected intimidation.

According to sources including the police station, a fax message was sent to Renho’s election office in the Kita-aoyama district of Minato Ward in the Japanese capital on Sunday morning.

The message included threats such as “I have obtained sulfuric acid, and I will attack lawmakers of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and their families,” “I will repeatedly stab Renho to death with a knife” and “I will set up explosives and detonate them on June 24.”

Renho left the CDP, Japan’s largest opposition party, earlier this month to run in the Tokyo gubernatorial election.

A fax message containing similar threats was sent to a Tokyo building that houses the party’s headquarters also on Sunday morning.

According to investigative sources, the fax messages were sent via an overseas route. They did not include any references to the Tokyo election.

JIJI Press