Lonely Japan prankster calls out firemen 388 times

TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese man arrested for making 388 prank phone calls to the local fire station between May 2006 and July this year said he did it because he was lonely.

"I live by myself and I was sad. I like the fire services and the police so I called them. I wanted them to come and look after me," the 58-year-old man was quoted as saying by the daily Yomiuri newspaper.

A police spokesman in Saitama prefecture, north of Tokyo, said the man had been arrested on suspicion of obstructing the emergency services.

The Yomiuri said the man would phone the fire station shouting: "Fire! Fire! I've set gasoline and kerosene alight!"

After one such call in early July, local emergency services dispatched 10 fire engines, one ambulance and 35 firemen to the man's house, the Yomiuri reported.