--- title: Japan Investigates Death Threats to U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy description: And a similar threat against another American envoy canonical: https://time.com/3748745/japan-investigates-death-threats-caroline-kennedy/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-18T12:13:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T05:14:33.635Z article:section: World og:title: Japan Investigates Death Threats to Caroline Kennedy og:description: The death threats came last month from a caller speaking in English. og:url: https://time.com/3748745/japan-investigates-death-threats-caroline-kennedy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt32ee4d3a44566cdb/6987840e428a9e15bacc7ae2/caroline-kennedy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy in Tokyo on March 17, 2015. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Japan Investigates Death Threats to Caroline Kennedy twitter:description: The death threats came last month from a caller speaking in English. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt32ee4d3a44566cdb/6987840e428a9e15bacc7ae2/caroline-kennedy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Japan Investigates Death Threats to Caroline Kennedy by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Mar 18, 2015 12:13 PM CUT  U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy in Tokyo on March 17, 2015 U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy in Tokyo on March 17, 2015Kimimasa Mayama—AFP/Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Mar 18, 2015 12:13 PM CUT Japanese police are [investigating phone calls](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/03/18/japan-investigates-death-threats/24946337/ "undefined") threatening to kill U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, authorities said Wednesday. The Associated Press, citing anonymous sources, reports that Tokyo police are looking into calls to the U.S. embassy threatening Kennedy and similar calls about Alfred Magleby, the U.S. consul general based on the southern island of Okinawa. The death threats came last month from a caller speaking in English, Japanese media reports, and police were looking into suspected blackmail. The U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Mark Lippert, was [knifed by an anti-U.S. activist](http://time.com/3732754/south-korean-american-ambassador-attack/ "undefined") in Seoul earlier this month and was hospitalized for several days. Michelle Obama is [planning a trip to Japan](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/19cfe1198b4e4673bc99c8708e7a945d/us-1st-lady-visits-japan-showcase-girls-education-aid "undefined") from March 18 to 20. \[[_AP_](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/03/18/japan-investigates-death-threats/24946337/ "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3748745/japan-investigates-death-threats-caroline-kennedy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3748745/japan-investigates-death-threats-caroline-kennedy/"},"headline":"Japan Investigates Death Threats to Caroline Kennedy","datePublished":"2015-03-18T12:13:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:14:33.635Z","description":"And a similar threat against another American envoy","url":"https://time.com/3748745/japan-investigates-death-threats-caroline-kennedy/","keywords":["police","Japan"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt32ee4d3a44566cdb/6987840e428a9e15bacc7ae2/caroline-kennedy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt32ee4d3a44566cdb/6987840e428a9e15bacc7ae2/caroline-kennedy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy in Tokyo on March 17, 2015.","caption":"US Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy in Tokyo on March 17, 2015.","creditText":"Kimimasa Mayama—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3748745/japan-investigates-death-threats-caroline-kennedy/","name":"Japan Investigates Death Threats to Caroline Kennedy"}}]}] ```