crime

Man arrested after taking taxi from Tokyo to Fukuoka and refusing to pay Y359,230 fare

63 Comments

A man who took a taxi from Tokyo to Fukuoka was arrested Monday for failure to pay the fare which totaled 359,230 yen, police said Tuesday. According to police, the suspect, identified as Takeshi Utsunomiya, 49, got into the taxi near Shinagawa station in Tokyo and asked the driver to take him to his hometown, Kagoshima, on Saturday March 28. The driver told police he was dubious, but decided to set off on the 1,100-km drive to Kagoshima anyway.

On the following day, when the taxi stopped at a gas station, the driver got suspicious and called the police to report the incident. Police caught up with the taxi driver and his passenger at Dazaifu in Fukuoka Prefecture, and took Utsunomiya in for questioning.

At the time of his arrest, Utsunomiya, who is unemployed, had a bag, two broken cell phones and roughly 500 yen in his possession. The driver told police the 500 yen in loose change was his because he had loaned Utsunomiya some money to buy snacks along the way.

While on the road, Utsunomiya borrowed the driver's cell phone and asked his relatives to pay the fare. Although all of his relatives said no, he pretended that he could manage to borrow the money from one of his relatives once they got to Kagoshima, police said.

© Wire reports

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

63 Comments
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This HAS to be a joke. No taxi driver would be so stupid, would he?

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It only took him one day to become suspicious

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hoserfella-I wish you were right, but this story says otherwise. At least he called the cops...I guess...

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Another one like this? Dumbass cabbies...

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hilarious. dude even needed snack money.

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i hope this starts a trend in cab hobo-ing

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You would be surprised how often this happens. I have heard about Osaka-Tokyo and Nagoya-Tokyo, but never Fukuoka-Tokyo. By degrees, of course, both parties in this little trek are guilty. The chap who was arrested is guilty of not paying the taxi fare, the driver, is guilty of gross stupidity in not being suspicious from the start (at Shinagawa Station rather than some gas station in the boonies). I ask you, which is the greater crime? Welching on a cab fair or being a citizen of planet Zog?

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Stupid cabbie will have a long drive back to think about his mistake.

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they keep doing this stuff in this country. i want them to try this with yellow cab in NY. Take me to Miami at once!

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Yakuza or in trouble, talk to any taxi driver they get these fairs all the time when someone gets in trouble and wants to avoid the police at the train stations.

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Should have hitch hiked.

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Might have worked if he'd asked his family for 359,000 yen for cab fare OUT of Fukuoka.

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hoserfella at 03:23 PM JST - 31st March

This HAS to be a joke. No taxi driver would be so stupid, would he?

Being a regular user of taxis in Tokyo, this is hardly surprising. I guess most of them have to ask their wife's to tie their shoe-laces before they leave for work.

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Funny stuff! What an idiot!

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I once had a problem catching a taxi in Ginza at 2AM. So I asked taxi driver much the fare was to Narita Airport who waiting in a long queue Japansese only customers. He opened the taxi door, I got in and said Shibuya please. He wasn't very happy.

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Why didn't the guy take the Shinkansen. It's only about 10,000Y. I think that is fairly reasonable and a heck of a lot faster.

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Wow

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I'd say the twat is the taxi driver, he should have smelt something fishy there. Or at least told the customer that he could fly the same distance for a tenth of the amount he was going to charge him...

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Both were stupid, but anyway, is it logical that a job like taxi driving allows anybody to get 360000 yen in 2-3 days?

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That is one of these "only in Japan" stories. The taxi driver got suspicious after the guy had to borrow 1000 yen from him. A classic!

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Why didn't the guy take the Shinkansen. It's only about 10,000Y. I think that is fairly reasonable and a heck of a lot faster.

uhm, because they don't accept IOUs.

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There was one of these stories a few months back. Still can't beleive it happens! Anything as far as say Shizuoka should be suspicious enough but Kagoshima? Was there a robot driving the cab or something?

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He could have asked his relatives for 3man for the Shinkansen and some snacks instead. They may have been more willing to oblige.

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What a stupid driver. I bet he will be fired immediately upon return to Tokyo.

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Taxi drivers are back on the spot light. There was a silence for a while. Again another unemployed 'BUM' involved with crime. Will he get suspended sentence? Have mercy he is out of job. Did he ever worked before?

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Why didn't the guy take the Shinkansen. It's only about 10,000Y. I think that is fairly reasonable and a heck of a lot faster.

Simple : he had no money at all !

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Taxi driver probably wasn't able to pay for gas for his return trip as he didn't have any money haha.

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I love how he kept the meter running. I would have asked for a flat rate.

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Why didn't the guy take the Shinkansen

Because in shinkansen u have to pay first. And he got only 500yen in possesion. He couldnt do such a thing with sinkansen what he did with the taxi and its driver.

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Why didn't the guy take the Shinkansen. It's only about 10,000Y.

If you can find a Tokyo-Fukuoka shinkansen ticket for 10,000 yen, I'll give you the money myself.

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in english terms what is a shinkansen? sorry im not japanese i just like your news

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Otaru: Tokyo to Fukuoka on the shinkansen is more than 20000 yen.

I think the taxi driver is a little dim. The taxi drivers here(canada) wont drive you that far without a negotiated price before hand and paid upfront.

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Taxi should not drive for such a long distance first. He should ask money before go or he should make sure if customer has money in his pocket before go.

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Whilst everyone of you condemn this dude, I congratulate him. If the taxi driver was this stupid, the guy should be set free. He was just smart in times of economic hardship

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shinkansen is the bullet train

did this driver just get incredibly greedy? or just dumb?!

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You would think this cabby would have learned from the story a couple months back of the same thing happening from Osaka to Chiba or wherever it was (for roughly the same amount). Stupid idiots, the lot of them. I realize it's rude to question the customer, but come on.

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Why didn't this guy just take the Shinkansen it's about 1o% the cost of his taxi ride. As others have questioned, what the hell was the driver thinking?

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Sorry, I think you can only take the Shinkansen as far as Fukuoka, didn't read he was going to Kagoshima.

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I think partly the taxi driver was greedy in the first place. He accepted to provide the service knowing the fact that the ride would potentially earn him buck loads.

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Although I think the driver was a bit dim for not asking to see (or even get hold of) some of the money up-front, I've been in a somewhat similar position and was grateful to a Chinese taxi driver for taking a chance. Mr Zaichik and I had to go to Beijing in September 2006, for our interview for permanent residence in NZ (since the NZ embassy in Japan doesn't do residence visas). We couldn't get a flight from Niigata to Beijing via Incheon and had to fly Incheon - Tianjin instead. Since Tianjin is an "international airport", we thought we'd be able to change money when we got there. We were wrong. We couldn't even change money at a nearby hotel unless we paid for a room there. Fortunately, we were able to get a taxi driver to drive us from Tianjin to Beijing, where we were staying with friends, who paid the taxi fare in RMB and who we repaid in yen. Mind you, Tianjin to Beijing is only a couple of hours by road and a damn sight cheaper than 35 man!

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happens all the time and its always hilarious. These Taxi drivers never learn, who the hell takes a taxi from Tokyo to Fukuoka? LOL

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He should have asked for a deposit before taking off. The driver made an expensive mistake.

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They need to put the cabbies name out there...he's a dumbass

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a taxi driver gave a near-homeless man back home from Tokyo. the government should foot the bill, because of their bad investments probably led to the guy's poverty.

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Happy April Fools Day everyone!

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I'm sorry, but the driver is a complete idiot. He was "dubious".. but went anyway.. and loaned the guy money for snacks. Please, tell us which company he works for. I want to take that cab.. say, Tokyo to Chicago?

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how dumb is this taxi driver?? what a numbnut to think he was ever going to pay.

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Just a couple nuts and bolts questions; A) Where did the taxi driver fill up? Those things don't run on actual gas and I'm not sure but I don't think most highway gas stations have the natural gas they need. B) Taxi meters go up to 359,230 yen?!?

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I think its all a misunderstanding. He`s really Takeshi Fukuoka and wanted to got to Utsonomiya.

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I can see some character asking a New York taxi driver to take him to Florida. The response would be "GET OUTTA MY CAB!"

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Someone was right: we maybe fooled by numbers. It maybe not that uncommon at all. People who wants to disappear really fast, they use taxi to go far away. It also make sense that he may not have money with him but supposedly can got at the destination. And the taxi driver makes a try: high risk, but probably high profit. I guess we just don't read in the news the successful escape stories, so all we see that failed ones.

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Taxi driver shoudl have insurancee against such fellow. Of course in this case, the driver was stupid to agree to go up to kagoshima.

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"Kagoshima? I said Kawasaki! Is that why it took so long? Im not paying this, should cost 770, tops! Does that meter say 300,000?"

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Okay, I definitely think the driver should have asked for some kind of down payment before starting off on the trek, but hindsight is 20/20. But as soon as the guy BORROWED THE DRIVER'S PHONE and started phoning his family to LEND HIM MONEY to PAY THE FARE, the driver should have pulled over and dumped him. Especially when the first call didn't net him the cash and he had to call additional relatives. The driver certainly shouldn't have loaned him money for snacks! I wasn't there, so I can't account for the situation -- maybe the guy gave the driver a really heartwrenching sob story. But it sure feels WEIRD.

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They need to put the cabbies name out there...he's a dumbass

That's an insult to dumbasses.

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Kitty - Har!

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Now that I have stopped laughing after 30 min

Your telling me this Dumbass (Sorry the regular Dumbasses) actually drove all the way to Fukuoka and then became suspicious and it cost ¥359,230 which means it will cost ¥359,230 to get the dam taxi back to Tokyo.

A Plane or train would have been cheaper, was Utsonomiya dressed in a suit or something?

I kind of hope this guy is no longer a Taxi driver.

Also he must have driven throughout the night, which is also illegal because of Max driving hours.

When he became suspicious he called the police, How long did it take for them to stop laughing or where did they find the spare time fro bike checking to investigate this serious missjudgement of a taxi driver.

This should be a new movie the police against the taxi driver called (Yes its been made before) Dumb and Dumber. Im surprised the police believed him.

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Did the taxi driver call his wife and say....I won`t be home tonight hon

Hahahahaha

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What is the equivalent of the fare in dollars?

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So many seem to blame the cab driver. However, some may forget to acknowledge that it’s Japan where the natives are supposed to be upstanding citizens. Perhaps that was the cause of the driver’s delayed suspicions. As some of us know, that will never happen in the States.

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"What is the equivalent of the fare in dollars?"

Lessee... currently the almighty U.S. dollar buys about 100 yen... 359,230 divided by 100... I now apply my powerful brain to the problem...

It's a fist full of dollars!

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From the cab companies I know of and how bad they are at driving safely and living up to accidents they cause I don't feel sorry for this dolt one bit. I may try this myself next time in Tokyo. Hey I need a lift to Seattle. Wonder if they'll tell me to get in and start driving...

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i dont believe this story. if so i guess the movie dumb and dumber was also largely based on a true story? even if the taxi driver had a very low IQ, he still would not have agreed to this trip. where did JT get this info.?

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