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Shokotan Delayed at LA Airport by False Bomb Threat

Not-So-Daily Links of the Day: The Mainichi and Sankei newspapers are reporting that a false bomb threat led to delays for idol talent Shoko "Shokotan" Nakagawa at the Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday, the day before her appearance at Anime Expo 2008. The Bloomberg and Associated Press services report that a man dropped a bag in front of an officer on the upper-level road outside Tom Bradley International Terminal at 10:55 a.m. PT that day, and claimed he was a terrorist with a bomb. Police blocked the roads in front of that terminal and two others, which resulted in delays for passengers departing and arriving. The man's bag was eventually examined and declared harmless, and the airport cleared the threat by 1:02 p.m. PT. Police arrested the 27-year-old man and identified him as Scott Juhun Lee from Irvine, California.

Nakagawa herself posted a 12:09 a.m. PT blog entry that announced her arrival, but also noted her delay and the influx of police officers and dogs in the area. In the confusion immediately following the man's actions, Nakagawa had erroneously indicated that the incident was caused by a telephoned bomb threat. She joked that if Jackie Chan was there, it would have been like the Police Story movie, and that maybe the sentai team Dekaranger can save the day. She later posted two more blog entries to indicate she was on her way out, about the same time the threat was cleared.