Advertising agency
The threat against the head office was made as a posting on the company's website, Dentsu said. The message with a personal name said, that "a bad company that disturbs the world will be disciplined," an informed source said.
The message also said the bomb will detonate at
Dentsu has recently come under criticism for involvement in allegedly shady dealings in the government's cash benefit program for small companies hit by the new coronavirus outbreak.
"We alerted the customers in the shopping and restaurant area (of the building), as well as Dentsu employees around
The ad agency is based in the Shiodome business and leisure district near
Companies including
Dentsu said it has tightened security in the 48-story office building and around the area, with entry to the building and facilities around the area prohibited. About 20 percent of its employees at the headquarters currently work in the building while others are working from home as a measure to prevent further spread of the new coronavirus.
"I wanted to buy boxed lunch at the convenience store inside the building," a 49-year-old man working for an energy company in the Shiodome area said. "But I was told by a security guard that I could not go inside. I heard some people in my office talking about a bomb threat as they had seen the news on the internet."
An organization, believed to be set up by Dentsu and two other companies, won the bid for the government's cash benefit program for small and medium-sized companies hit by the coronavirus at
The board of the council of the organization,
Opposition parties criticized the process, as the work could have been directly consigned to Dentsu at a lower price.
Dentsu then consigned the work to temporary staffing service
The ad agency has told
==Kyodo
© Kyodo News International, Inc., source