50,000 Crank Calls Later, Rejected Grad Student Is Caught

TOKYO — A man upset over failing to gain admission to a graduate school program 14 years ago has been arrested for making more than 50,000 harassing phone calls to a professor since then, police said today.

Yoshikazu Hayashi, 39, a forestry office employee in western Kyoto, was arrested on charges of intimidation after he admitted making the calls.

Every night between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m., he made about 10 calls to Tsunahide Shitei, a former professor at Kyoto University, a police official said.

In some calls, Hayashi made such remarks as “I’ll set fire to your house,” or “How could you stand (my calls) for 14 years?” police said.

Shitei, 77, finally asked police to investigate in March.

In 1974, Hayashi failed to gain admission to a graduate program of Kyoto University’s Agriculture Department, where Shitei taught.