<i>Man takes hostages, asks Japan PM to go</i>
A man armed with a knife took five people hostage at a Japanese bank yesterday, police said, with local media reporting he was demanding Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's cabinet resign.
The man began the siege at the Zoshi branch of the Toyokawa Shinkin Bank in central Aichi prefecture around 2:20pm, a police spokesman said without elaborating.
Wielding a survival knife, he took four employees and a female customer captive and was demanding the Noda cabinet step down, as well as asking to speak to journalists, local media said.
The hostage-taker was in his 50s.
Public broadcaster NHK said there was no report of injuries among the hostages more than four hours after they were taken captive, and the man had made no demands for money.
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