Apple Inc has denied a Japanese media report that its chief executive, Steve Jobs, was stopped at a local airport with ninja throwing stars in his carry-on luggage and had a heated exchange with security officials.
The tabloid Spa magazine report on Tuesday, widely circulated on the Internet, said an irritated Jobs told airport officials: “I’m hardly planning to hijack my own private jet. What a country. I’m not coming again.”
Apple shot down the report saying: “Steve did visit Japan this summer for a vacation in Kyoto, but the incidents described at the airport are pure fiction. Steve had a great time and hopes to visit Japan again soon.”
The ninja star or shuriken, a bladed weapon which Japan’s ancient stealth warriors threw at enemies, is restricted above a certain size under the Japanese arms control law and cannot be carried onto airplanes.
The Spa report said security officers also confiscated a container of face lotion from his wife’s carry-on luggage in the July incident, leading her to throw away the container, saying angrily: “You can have it if you want.”
A Japanese spokesman at Kansai International Airport near Osaka yesterday confirmed there had been an incident involving bladed items and a liquid container, but he did not confirm that Jobs or his wife were involved.
The official said the incident involved a local agency that handles airport travel arrangements for private jet travelers, and that it was a Japanese official for the agency who made the scene.
“We understand that it was the agency employee who yelled at the security officers to hurry up and let them pass,” the official said. “He had apparently failed to notify his clients of the carry-on luggage restrictions.”
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