NAGOYA -- A suspicious man with a gun reported on a Tokyo-bound Shinkansen bullet train on the morning of Oct. 22 turned out to be a plainclothes police officer, train operator Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Central) said.

The Shinkansen General Control Center made an emergency call around 9:20 a.m. on Oct. 22, after a passenger reported seeing a suspicious man with a gun riding on the Nozomi No. 114 bound for Tokyo from Hiroshima on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line.

"A person near the No. 3 car is holding a gun," the passenger was quoted as telling a conductor at around 8:35 a.m. when the train was running between Shin-Osaka and Kyoto stations.

Officers from Nakamura Police Station, under the jurisdiction of the Aichi Prefectural Police in central Japan, rushed to the bullet train when it stopped at Nagoya Station. Inspections revealed that a male police officer from the Osaka Prefectural Police had been mistaken by the passenger as a suspicious figure. The police officer, who was on his way to Tokyo, was wearing plain clothes.

The Nozomi No. 114 departed from Nagoya Station 36 minutes behind schedule after safety was confirmed.

(Japanese original by Atsuko Ota, Nagoya News Center)