On May 17, in a park in Kasuga City, Fukuoka Prefecture, an 11-year-old girl was playing jump-rope in a park after school. For her security, she had been given an ID tag and a “crime prevention” whistle to blow in case of trouble.
On this particular day, however, it was initially hard to tell if trouble had arrived in the form of a 31-year-old man who approached the girl. “Blow your whistle,” requested the man, and when the girl refused, he grabbed it and the tag from around her neck and ran away.
The girl was unharmed but quickly reported the incident to police. Her description of the thief matched that of similar reports in the area of a strange man asking girls to blow their whistles and then running away.
Something in this latest report must have been a big tip off though, because on Friday, Fukuoka Prefectural Police announced the suspect’s arrest. In addition, upon searching his home, police discovered a collection of 12 similar whistles. They are currently investigating how each of these whistles came into his possession.
The whistles were put on display for the media along with a sign officially declaring this incident as a tokui setto or “unusual theft.” Adding to the peculiarity of it, the suspect reportedly admitted to the crime saying, “I like girls around elementary schools age. I wanted her to blow the whistle.”
Online comments were equally confused, but a significant number seem absolutely certain the suspect was an anime otaku.
“There are some messed-up guys out there.”
“I really want some news program to reenact this.”
“Unusual Theft Whistle V”
“When I read the sign that said ‘unusual theft,” I nodded and thought, ‘Indeed.'”
“This is the work of an anime otaku.”
“100% that’s an anime otaku.”
“Seems like he likes anime.”
“I have never been more sure of something than I am that this guy is an anime otaku.”
One comment also suggested a possible link to the web comic/anime "Made in Abyss" which features a 12-year-old heroine who is part of a group of cave explorers which uses different colored whistles to assign ranks.
Hopefully the suspect is just a really socially inept anime fan who’s totally into whistles and thinks little girls are simply “cool.” Tensions in Japan have been heightened following the murder of a seven-year-old girl in Niigata and an overall apparent spike in bizarre incidents involving adult men and adolescent girls.
Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but hopefully this time an “unusual theft” is really nothing more than your average run-of-the-mill unusual theft of whistles.
Sources: Sankei News, Hachima Kiko
Read more stories from SoraNews24.
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- External Link
- https://soranews24.com/2018/05/20/middle-aged-man-arrested-for-stealing-whistles-from-little-girls/
20 Comments
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Hubert Gulletchip
What a bizarre news story...
Steven Fennel
A 31 year old anime obsessed "man" stealing whistles from little girls... mind boggling. If he's caught he needs to be locked up
Toshihiro
Probably has a whistle fetish? Remember those creeps in high school that steals recorders from girls? that kind of creep.
gelendestrasse
weird, weird, weird. Hope this guy gets caught and tossed in a psych hospital before he does more harm.
savethegaijin
This reads like it's supposed to be a joke... the guy is an admitted pedophile and needs to be locked away before he moves on to something more sinister.
sir_bentley28
Nothing in that sentence is something anyone regardless of age should be saying! As a precaution for his peadophile-like comment, he should be off the streets!
Ganbare Japan!
This creep is definitely an animation obsessive. Who knows what he would have done next. Lock him up for a long time and put him on a register barring any contact or communication with any children.
Strangerland
No, he's admitted to thoughts of pedophilia. He hasn't done anything pedophilic yet.
If we make thoughts illegal, those that have these thoughts and wish to fix them are not able to do so, out of fair of being imprisoned for even admitting that they have a problem.
Pedophilia is a horrible crime. About as disgusting as it gets. But someone who thinks of pedophilia and never actually does it, has not committed a crime. We should be creating an environment where people like this can get help when they haven't committed a crime, so that they don't hide it and then end up committing the crime out of a lack of support.
Slickdrifter
I live across the street from the park. I think I have seen this weirdo talking to little girls. I take my one year old there all the time. Wow! This one hits a little close to home. Good on the police making the arrest. I can tell you there are some peculiar Japanese in my area (Kasuga) that has left me scratching my head in bewilderment. Like what the heck is that person doing?????
bones
Stories like this are becoming too common.
what is it with some Japanese men and their insane, disturbing and out of this world obsessions.
Aly Rustom
Y'know- Just when you think you've seen and read it all- along comes a whistle fetishist and...
Michael Jackson
Stranger is right (did I just say that?). You gotta draw the line at thought policing. Even criminals who are conspiring to commit a crime cannot be arrested until they have taken an overt step towards that end. Like conversing online then meeting the child someplace.
commanteer
While I agree with the last sentence, this guy has already gone way beyond thinking about it. He is assaulting schoolgirls and stealing their property, apparently with some sexual intent associated with those acts. And anyway, pedophilia is defined by sexual attraction to children, not by acting on it.
It certainly is OK to consider thoughts (intent) when sentencing someone for a physical crime on another person. People can have all kinds of deviant thoughts, and that's fine with me. But when they act on them by victimizing others they become a problem.
Meanwhile, I don't see how someone's interest in anime is of any relevance. Just glad this guy was picked up before he did real harm.
Jonathan Prin
Mentally disturbed guy. Plenty since no treatment to detect and prevent.
No one seeing him? Where are parents ?
There would be a man hunt in my neighborhood if so.
savethegaijin
@Strangerland
I get what you mean, but being attracted to prepubescent children is the definition of pedophilia regardless of whether or not they act upon it. He should be locked up for harassing and stealing from young girls and for whatever sexual gratification he gets from it should be assessed and treated by the proper medical/psychological professionals.
garypen
We need to give kids a 2nd whistle for when someone is trying to steal their 1st whistle.
100 CPM
@bonesToday 09:45 am JST
"Stories like this are becoming too common.
what is it with some Japanese men and their insane, disturbing and out of this world obsessions."
I had an upstairs neighbor who would make very loud stomping patterns ,banging furniture, and knocking things over at least 3 to 4 times a day. The management told me he already knew about this broken light-bulb, and shrugged his arms as to say nothing could be done about it.
Félix Lorenzo Martín Moro
We are doing something bad...
juminRhee
Despite having those thoughts, he only took her whistle, not her body. Sounds bad, but thankful he didn't go all the way.