A 37-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of making about 2,600 prank calls to Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp's phone number directory service, obstructing its business, police said Wednesday. Takahiro Fujinuma, an unemployed man from Ota Ward, Tokyo, admitted to the allegations. He was quoted as telling the police, "Being single, I did it as a distraction from my loneliness."

According to the investigation, Fujinuma made a total of about 2,600 crank calls between June 1, 2007 and Nov 17, 2007, interfering with operators' duties. The 104 directory service is provided by NTT Solco Corp. The operators dubbed him the "don't hang up on me" man because he often pleaded with them to stay on the line and talk, not even asking them to find a number. Police also said he dialed the service because he knew he would not be charged unless a number was found and given to him.