A 20-year-old man was robbed of a bag containing approximately 14 million yen in cash after being sprayed with pepper gas inside the restroom of the Shinagawa Prince Hotel in Tokyo on Wednesday.
According to police, the incident occurred at around 6:30 p.m., Fuji TV reported. The victim told police he was coming out of a toilet cubicle in the second-floor restroom when he was sprayed in the face by a man who stole his bag containing about 14 million yen in cash.
The victim, who sustained burns to his face and hands, called 110 right after the robbery. Police said he told them he had been given the money by an acquaintance.
The suspect, who got away, is described as being in his 20s, approximately 170 cm tall and was wearing a black hat and white face mask.
© Japan Today
23 Comments
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spektral
How did the robber know there was a man there with that amount of money in his bag that day...someone must've told him...
J-Dake
Carrying 14 million cash around in a bag he was given by "an acquaintance"? And some "random" mugger just happened to hit the lottery in a public toilet? Nothing shady here.
scoey
This is a very believeable story and a warning for all of us next time an acquaintance gives us 14 million yen in a bag.
So much for safety Japan.
kurisupisu
And I thought Japan was safe?
Alistair Carnell
Smells of yak, both of them.
Thunderbird2
This is well-dodgy... "Here my friend, have 14 million yen in used notes in a handy bag. Ta-ta." Then after going to the loo he's suddenly mugged... doesn't take Poirot to figure this one out
DaDude
I have always wondered if pepper spray was available here especially for women facing molesters. I guess this answers my question but used in the wrong way.
Ex_Res
Japan has never really been as safe as many people seem to have portrayed it. (Although safer than most places). But even years ago I would never have walked around anywhere in Japan with such large sums of money in cash.
However, I definitely think that in the last 10 years, Japan has changed a lot, and is now no more, no less safe than most other places.
macv
he will still have to pay tax on it...
thepersoniamnow
Obviously the thief knew you had the money dingaling
Saine
If getting pepper sprayed is national news I would say Japan is a pretty safe place. Where I’m from in the us regular shootings barley get a mention in the paper.
AustPaul
Dodgy with a capital D
:)
Serrano
"The suspect, who got away"
No worries, the police will catch him - I mean, how many guys are in their 20s, approximately 170 cm tall and wear a black hat and white face mask?
Michael Machida
Wearing a White Face Mask. How do you know he or she was 20 something years old?
Strangerland
You aren't thinking this story somehow has some sort of correlation to whether or not Japan is safe, are you? That would be... entirely illogical.
Can you please show the numbers you've seen that brought you to this conclusion?
Or are you just going off a feeling, based on the number of news stories you've read? If so, see my above comment.
They don't. It's a description. They'll know if the person was actually the age given as a description if/when they catch the robber.
socrateos
kurisupisu:
I doubt anybody, including you, believed Japan was crime-less.
Yes, Japan is safe, safe relatively, in comparison to many other countries.
For example,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate
Ex_ResNov:
The data shows otherwise. See, for example, an article from Japan Times:
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/01/18/national/crime-legal/japans-crime-rate-hits-record-low-number-thefts-plummets/#.W9sbNJNKiUk
toshi
therougou
Do you know how much money that is? Nobody other than yakuza would walk around with that much.
Lol. OK....
Jeff Huffman
Thunderbird2Nov. 1 05:08 pm JST This is well-dodgy... "Here my friend, have 14 million yen in used notes in a handy bag. Ta-ta." Then after going to the loo he's suddenly mugged... doesn't take Poirot to figure this one out
Really? This kind of thing happens almost monthly in Japan - someone is out in public with a large amount of cash and gets rolled. It may be an "inside job," but only in the sense that the perp has simply watched and noted cash handling patterns. This one has the added twist, because it happened in a nice hotel, of perhaps of being a case of a thief ripping off a criminal.
gogogo
Complete BS, some sort of insider job or insurance scam.
Chip Star
20 year olds can be mouthy. Perhaps the lad with the generous acquaintances was shooting his mouth off about the bag of cash he had.
At first blush it seems to have to be an inside job, but that fades the more consideration you give it.
Strangerland
Robbery: where victim blaming is still social acceptable!
sensei258
I wish I had acquaintances like that, but something smells fishy here.