A group of eight youths has been detained in Yokohama after they allegedly assaulted a 40-year-old businessman and stole his wallet, police said Tuesday. According to police, the attack took place on Jan 6 at around 4:20 a.m. on a street in Nishi Ward where the group approached the man, punched him in the face and stole his wallet containing 10,000 yen.
The group consisted of six junior high school students, one high school boy and a 20-year-old construction worker named Isamu Kudo. The youths are believed to have become acquainted at school and at a local games arcade. All members of the group have admitted the charges of assault and theft.
One boy was quoted by police as saying, "We wanted money to have fun, so we went hunting for old men."
© Compiled from news reports
37 Comments
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sengoku38
Okay, where are the parents of the six junior high school kids?
How come crimes like this almost always involve construction workers?
whiskeysour
It's a Hard Knock Life ! ! ! I feel the need to sing the " Annie Song "
Street Urchins !!!!! In every country, low lives target tourists, idiot sh!t faced businessmen, and so on !!!! Nothing new here !!!!
maplegend
It's called the income gap.
DentShop
Heck, American women been doing this fo 200 years and they dont get no arrest - they get a reality show.
ratpack
'hunting old men' ........ a 40-year-old businessman
Is 40 classed as an old man???
Kebizo
Since when have 40 year olds been deemed "old men"? Wouldn't "midde-age men" be more accurate? I guess that "middle-age men" doesn't give as much pizazz to the headline.
mirin
why was the OLD man was out on the street at 04:20am ?
Cynicarc
ratpack, these are just stupid kids that are calling 40-year olds 'old'. Junior highs, etc, of that age brackett think of anyone more than 10 years older as 'old'. Still a despicable act.
tokyochris
Might have been heading home after a shinnenkai... they can drag on until the early hours sometimes
goddog
40 is a kid. He should have whipped their butts
gaijinfo
How exactly did they catch these guys?
southsakai
And why does it matter ?
thekeykeeper
He had 8 different youths attacking him it would have been hard to fight back but he could have gave them a good butt-kicking. The other factor is this, have you seen how out of shape most salarymen are these days? These are kids that have nothing better to do with their time than to terrorize salarymen and take their money to play freaking games.
Some of the construction workers that I have known here were once my students that didn't go to High School or they dropped out and found themselves a job in construction.
Billgates
why was the OLD man was out on the street at 04:20am ?
Because he is an adult. And of course, they say life starts at fourty! Simply enjoying life while it lasts.
Zenny11
Maybe he was on the way to catch an early train/flight to a business meeting, etc.
Who knows and it don't really matter.
borscht
Editors, I believe it should either be:
• six junior high schools or
• six junior high school students.Moderator: It has been corrected, thank you.
Youdontknow
A good public flogging with a long bamboo cane is what these little buggers need! 10 lashes each for assault, 10 for robbing someone and another 10 for being out at 4:20AM. And their parents should receive 20 lashes for not making sure their CHILDREN are at home at that time of the morning!!
Laguna
I'm guessing the original used the term おやじ狩り. "Oyaji" can refer to one's own father or as a derogatory term for a middle-aged man. Using the phrase 'old men' was simply sloppy translation.
dasyhard
8 against 1, how can these thugs live with themselves and be proud of what they do? The JP should harass all raunchy looking gangs as they travel or congregate in packs.
smithinjapan
Well, glad one of them is 20 -- I guess he can be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and watch as the side-kicks he no doubt recruited get off with a slap on the wrist. I hope he goes to prison for a little while to 'reflect' on what he did.
ExportExpert
mirin why was the OLD man was out on the street at 04:20am
Hah What?
WHAT WERE THESE BRATS doing out ont he streets at 04:20am, why didnt the parents make sure the kids were at home. sheeeez...........
TheTim
I would try very hard to take at least 4 of these punks out out before they got me. I'm not above groin kicking and throat punching if that's what it takes. I guess I'll start to think twice about walking around Yokohama at that hour.
toguro
At 40, he should've kicked the ringleaders butt, then the rest most likely would've taken off like a bat out of hell!!
borscht
Actually, if he tried to kick the ringleader's butt, the other seven would have ganged up on him with sticks and feet. A fair fight among some people means my group of 8 against you alone.
smithinjapan
toguro: "At 40, he should've kicked the ringleaders butt, then the rest most likely would've taken off like a bat out of hell!!"
Knowing such cowards, the 20 year old probably stood back and cajoled the youngin's into attacking the guy.
ikkochan
Oh yes blame the victim and not the ones doing the beating. Oh so JT posters. I can sleep well knowing a majority that comment here will blame the victim all the time.
Forget the fact he was actually going to work, catching the first train, or left the office to change clothes and go back to work a few hours later. Just blame the victim. Yet never ask why junior high and high school kids were out at 4:20 am.
No just blame the JAPANESE salaryman for being an innocent victim. Some of you should be ashamed for posting what you do, but you won't, you'll always just blame Japanese for being Japanese and thinking we have the right to be where we are even if it is 4:20 am.
Sarge
That businessman had no business being on the street at 4:20am, serves him right, lol.
"hunting old men"
A 40-year-old is old? LOL!
I'm glad the kids were arrested. Now, could we have some jail terms, say, 6 months, to give them some time to think about what they've done? Also, make them pay, say, 500,000 yen to the businessman? Nah...
BurakuminDes
"Man hunting"? Look, I'm not being homophobic, but when I was their age I was out hunting girls... Between this mob and the "herbivore boys", Japan's future is in safe hands.
URO
Our world is becoming increasingly worrying :(
Fadamor
They could very well have said "old men". To teenagers, anyone over 25 is "old". Once you've reached that quarter-century mark, you're ancient!
hapybrian
But the original Japanese did not likely say, "おじいさん" (ojiisan) ("gramps", "old man"). I agree with Laguna.
It used to be you could walk the streets of Japan with impunity, regardless of the time. ~sigh~.
OssanAmerica
I agree with many posters in that almost all 40 year olds I know would've taken down most of these brats. But of course the victim could have been drunk, especially at that hour, and taken completely off guard. On the other hand maybe incidentrs like this will put an end to the ridiculous habit of Japanese businessmen passed out drunk all over the place including train station stairs at night.
MrDog
I have mental pictures of that old Kids in the Hall sketch. With the trappers canoeing around an office hunting businessmen for their pelts (suits).
I'm suprised that this still happens. I haven't heard of any oyaji-gari in years. Preying on drunk middle-aged men at 4 in the morning doesn't sound all that hard though.
MiniAiko
Hunting old men? Really? They only hunt old men because they know someone around their age will kick their ass. I agree with ikkochan. Who cares if the man could've fought back or was drunk off his rocker, he was still assaulted. Thats a crime no matter what age you are. I'm just suprised to see a headline that isn't "40 year old man rapes teenager" or "Child gets stabbed in parking lot". Every headline I see on JT is usually some crazy Japanese man assaulting an innocent child or young adult. Its strange to see that the children were the attackers this time. I don't think its refreshing, but more or less disappointing.
Zenny11
MiniAiko.
Got to disagree, 8vs1 is a BAAAD odds for anyone at any age.
But good that they caught them and I seriously doubt that it was the 2st ocurence they were involved in.
Raymasaki
he wasn't that old But he must have been small. those kids are cowards ganging up on another guy. "old man Hunting"? yeah that sounds messed up, shouldn't they be Looking for Girls? Good thing it wasn't Gaijin, when it is they play the Race card. & gives nationlists a reason to protest.
Zenny11
Raymasaki.
"Gaijin(hate the term) hunting" been going on for many years, just don't make the news normally.