Firecracker blasts restaurant window

PHUKET TOWN: A firecracker planted outside the Tokyo House Japanese restaurant exploded yesterday at 2 am, making a hole in the restaurant’s front window. A second firecracker failed to detonate. Tanongsak Vongsanikul, the owner and manager of the restaurant on Phang Nga Rd, played down the incident. He told the Gazette, “I’m not taking the matter too seriously, and I don’t want to waste police time by having them rush around to find out who did it. “My restaurant is in an entertainment area where there are a lot of teenagers,” K. Tanongsak added. The firecracker used was a “look kai”, or “baby egg” – a home-made fuse-lit firework the size of a small egg. Such firecrackers are popular during the Vegetarian Festival. Police officers found fragments of the exploded firecracker in the tree that decorates the inside of the restaurant. Outside, they found the second firecracker that had failed to explode. K. Tanongsak denied being involved in any conflict that might have resulted in the incident. “I don’t have any problems with anyone and I’m confident that it was just a firecracker, not a bomb,” he said. The window was swiftly replaced and the restaurant was open as normal yesterday.