Jun 30, 2020 (Kyodo) - Two universities in Osaka Prefecture evacuated their campuses on Monday after a bomb threat was made criticizing the English name of their planned new merged school, the operator of the schools said.
A bomb threat against Osaka Prefecture University and Osaka City University was sent by email to the Sakai city office, saying it was "retribution against the English name" of the new university, according to University Public Corporation Osaka, which operates the schools. Osaka Prefecture University is located in Sakai.
The email said the bombs will detonate at noon on Wednesday and sarin gas will be released on their campuses.
Last Friday, the operator said the two universities will merge in fiscal 2022 and the new school will be named the University of Osaka.
However, the decision came under criticism from Osaka University, a national university in the same prefecture, saying the new name is "confusing."
"The name is incredibly similar to our university, which is already well-established abroad, and can become a hindrance to both schools' futures," Osaka University President Shojiro Nishio said in a statement following the announcement last week.
He added that "University of Osaka" was already recognized abroad as Osaka University, and could be confusing for overseas universities, as well as when citing for research papers.
Osaka University asked the operator, the prefecture and the city of Osaka to reconsider the name but Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura said the new name will not cause confusion and they would not consider changing it.
