crime

'Raincoat Man' arrested for stealing 360 women’s raincoats; says it's 'as exciting as lingerie'

31 Comments
By Casey Baseel, SoraNews24

Upon hearing “A man was arrested in Japan for stealing a staggering number of women’s…,” a lot of people’s brains would auto-finish the sentence with “panties.” Maybe some people’s minds would jump to “bras,” but in any case there’s a pretty good chance that if a theft’s summary starts like that, it’s going to involve some sort of lingerie.

So it’s surprising, in multiple ways, to hear that police in Osaka have arrested a man and are charging him for stealing not undergarments, but the very outermost layer of clothing.

Officers from the Osaka Prefectural Police’s Abeno Precinct have placed Yoshio Yoda, a 51-year-old newspaper deliveryman, under arrest for a series of thefts of women’s raincoats. Specifically, Yoda went after what are called kappa in Japanese, plastic or vinyl ponchos worn over one’s clothing when going out on rainy days.

According to investigators, Yoda would follow women whom he saw riding bicycles, or look for bicycles in parking lots with attached additional child seats or frames with traditionally feminine colors, under the logic that their riders were more likely to be women. He’d then check to see if the owner had left a raincoat in the basket, and if they had, he’d swipe it. As for why, well, in Yoda’s own words:

While this might at first seem to be connected to the dubious folk wisdom in Japan that the color of a woman’s umbrella matches the color of her underwear, Yoda explained that it’s the clinginess of the wet kappa that piques his peculiar interest.

His modus operandi of taking unattended rain coats out of bicycle baskets would seem to indicate that he was only able to steal them when the weather had cleared up after raining earlier in the day, or perhaps from covered lots attached to train stations, office buildings, or shopping centers. Even with those limiting factors, though, a search of Yoda’s home turned up roughly 360 raincoats, as Yoda says that he has been doing this since “around 2009.”

▼ There’s a surprisingly large number of duplicate patterns, which could be the result of victims having bought their raincoats at the same stores in the Higashi Sumiyoshi ward where Yoda operated.

The police believe that around 320 of those were taken during a span from December 2013 to May of this year, during which stymied investigators took to calling the then-unidentified perpetrator “Raincoat Man.” As another shocking element of the case, based on an average estimated cost of 3,500 yen, investigators calculated the total damage from Yoda’s crimes during that period at 1.12 million yen.

Sources: Sankei News via Livedoor News via Otakomu, YouTube/MBS NEWS, YouTube/関西テレビNEWS

Read more stories from SoraNews24.

-- Panty-predicting protocol: Debate ensues over whether a woman’s lingerie matches her umbrella

-- Japanese man arrested for stealing women’s shoes and replacing them with new ones

-- Nagoya man arrested for stealing piano covers from schools for reasons unknown to all

© SoraNews24

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

31 Comments
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To the dark side, Yoda has gone.

13 ( +14 / -1 )

that the color of a woman’s umbrella matches the color of her underwear

wish I didn’t read this. I’m happily married but now can never look in eye of a woman with an umbrella.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

"While this might at first seem to be connected to the dubious folk wisdom in Japan that the color of a woman’s umbrella matches the color of her underwear"

An aspect of Japanese culture I wasn't taught about at university.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

I am going to chalk this guy up for having one of the weirder interests JT has reported so far. I've read people collecting tennis rackets, work boots and bicycle seats. This guy is definitely up there. I wonder what's next.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

“Once you start down the dark path of stealing raincoats, forever it will dominate your destiny” - was apparently his statement to the arresting officer.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Raincoat man's reign of terror has ended.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Yeah, the guy needs mental help

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Once they charge him with a hefty fine for the amount of the stolen property, he is gonna wish he never held on to them.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

This raincoat thief needs hospital treatment. Not just any hospital. But a special hospital for the mentally ill. He suffers from an curiously unknown form of kleptomania. And if he cannot be cured, he should be freed and puiblicly name and, women in the city cautioned to take extra care their raincoats are safe from his hands.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Sicko. Needs to be in the loony bin.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Mackintoshed.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Certainly easier to remove the inevitable stains.....

1 ( +2 / -1 )

What do the police do with all the raincoats/panties/bras/rackets/slippers etc l

Put in a bid if you’re interested.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Only in japan...

3 ( +5 / -2 )

You name it and there's some weirdo out there who fits the fetish. Possibly many of them.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

However bad and weird, compared with all other countries what’s happening there against women in numbers, this is all still very harmless, not hurting, violence free and peaceful.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

As a man who rides a shopping bike and often leaves his kappa raincoat in the basket, I wish he'd stolen mine - then who'd have the last laugh.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Well, I'm sure researchers into various fetishes will have a field day with this. I've never heard of this obsession before...

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Raincoat man's reign of terror has ended.

Don't you mean rain of terror?

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

What about fabric?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

This Yoda is neither wise nor sane.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

What do the police do with all the raincoats/panties/bras/rackets/slippers etc l

I'll just bet some of the more salacious items get secretly pocketed by the boys in blue.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Another ‘Oh, aren’t sex offenders funny’ article. He needs to be on a register.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

What do the police do with all the raincoats/panties/bras/rackets/slippers etc l

An old Ronnie Corbett line comes to mind.

Osaka police announced tonight that they wish to interview a man wearing high heels and frilly knickers, but the Chief Constable said they must wear their normal uniforms.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

As a man who rides a shopping bike and often leaves his kappa raincoat in the basket, I wish he'd stolen mine

And what if it rained ? He'd be one up on ya.

then who'd have the last laugh.

See comment above.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Bizarre to say the least , but I am sure there is more to it than he just likes to collect them.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@Lamilly They use it to cross dress themselves or go undercover!

What do the police do with all the raincoats/panties/bras/rackets/slippers etc l

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I don't care what anyone says. Yoda is a legendary name.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Strange, this is

0 ( +0 / -0 )

folk wisdom in Japan that the color of a woman’s umbrella matches the color of her underwear,

Guess what that says about the women with no umbrella!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

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