crime

Couple suspected of over 150 cases of pickpocketing in game arcades

22 Comments

Police on Tuesday said they have arrested a 24-year-old man and his 17-year-old girlfriend on charges of pickpocketing at game arcades. Police said the couple are suspected of lifting purses and wallets from at least 150 people since last November.

According to police, the man, identified as Junya Kanemaru, met the girl who is a runaway, on an Internet site last November. NTV reported that Kanemaru, who is unemployed, and the girl were caught in the act at an arcade in Tokyo's Akihabara district on Jan 9. They had stolen a wallet containing 50,000 yen from the bag of a 22-year-old woman who was absorbed in playing a game.

Kanemaru was quoted by police as saying they needed the money for living expenses and having fun. Police said they have confessed to pickpocketing at least 150 times. Police said they have been living in a hotel in Ikebukuro.

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22 Comments
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Because you haven't heard about it in the news, doesn't make it rare.

Conversely, just because you have heard about it in the news, doesn't make it frequent.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

2 losers meet up on the internet and fall in love and go commit crimes?? Why am i not surprised?? Gosh! I will more careful I go play Mario Super Kart!!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

24 and dating a 17 y/o ? Shouldn't he be charged with more than pickpocketing? or is 16 the legal age in japan?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I've always been amazed at how little protection people give to their belongings where I live in Japan. It's semi-urban suburbs and very safe. People just leave their purses in unlocked cars, wallets sitting on shelves next to the arcade games, and sometimes even leave their laptops, tablets, bags, etc. on tables while going to the restroom in Starbucks and the like. Where I'm from in the US you would never, ever do anything like that unless you were trying to get robbed. It just goes to show that even if something is uncommon, you should be smart to protect yourself from crime. Most crimes are crimes of opportunity anyways, so if you lock your doors and keep your stuff safe you're preventing almost all crime before it happens.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

From Pachinko parlours is ok- they would have lost the money anyway.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Well it DOES rarely occur in Japan. That's why this is national news.

Because you haven't heard about it in the news, doesn't make it rare.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Leaving things in bike baskets to pop into a shop is definitely something you wouldn't do in the UK. If there was one thing that Japan does better than UK, low crime rate would be top of my list.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I've always respected Japan in terms of the relatively low rate of petty crimes like the couple engaged in here, and it's a shame to see it on the rise. It's simply BECAUSE of this low rate that these two clowns could get away with it so often, and just 'to have fun'. It's for that reason that, perhaps not wisely, some here or traveling abroad will carry heaps of money in cash without fear of being mugged, even to the point of (again, perhaps not wisely), leaving valuables in a basket in an unlocked bike while they run into a convenience store or what have you. I fear that as prices on food rise, wages do no increase as promised, but taxes do, this will be a little more common place, but I still place more trust in the people here than I would in most other places, in general.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The Japanese certainly do LOVE to make announcements!!!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

There are regular announcements about EVERYTHING in Japan.

I suppose you have never heard these announcements? They say specifically to "beware of pickpockets, please watch your bags and personal items". It's rather stupid to assume that these announcements are played just because the Japanese like to make announcements.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

they needed the money for living expenses and having fun"

Hey, I think I'll use that excuse if I get caught stealing -

"I needed the money for living expenses and having fun"

Good grief...

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The problem is bad enough that there are regular announcements in Japanese and English at large shopping areas warning people to beware of pickpockets.

There are regular announcements about EVERYTHING in Japan.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Well it DOES rarely occur in Japan. That's why this is national news.

Not really, the only reason it made the news s because they had picked so many pockets.

The problem is bad enough that there are regular announcements in Japanese and English at large shopping areas warning people to beware of pickpockets.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

They need to learn how to work. Too bad the only thing they'll learn in jail will be how to steal more efficiently.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The zombies in Game Centres and Pachinko parlours are probably easy-pickings.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Some comments then were that this type of thing was rampant there but rarely occurred in Japan.

Well it DOES rarely occur in Japan. That's why this is national news.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

"living expenses" - so she's 17 and living away from home with some deadbeat mid-twenty year old? Charming...

4 ( +4 / -0 )

@paulinusa agreed. i think pickpocketing happens more frenquently in japan than some people realize. but the only time it gets traction is when it's a foreign gang that's doing it.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Wasn't there a story in December about Anna Umemiya being pickpocketed in New York? Some comments then were that this type of thing was rampant there but rarely occurred in Japan.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

That is what is wrong with today's generation, always looking for an easy way of life in stead of working like others do to get it.

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

What about the person who earned that money and was having some fun with it, what if she and the others they've nabbed off of needed it for living expenses? It frustrates me that some people think they can just take what they want without ever working for it. I'm glad the police pinched these two good-for-nothing layabouts.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

Kanemaru was quoted by police as saying they needed the money for living expenses and having fun.

There's something called a JOB...get one, and you can pay your living expenses and maybe even have fun.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

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