Police said Friday they have arrested a 46-year-old company employee on suspicion of cutting seats on Keisei line trains on at least 50 occasions.
According to police, the suspect, identified as Kuniyuki Yokomori, was arrested at around 8:45 p.m. on Thursday after making a 27-cm-long cut in a seat on the train between Tsudanuma and Funabashikeibajo stations in Chiba Prefecture, TBS reported. A company security officer on the train detained Yokomori after noticing that he was acting suspiciously.
Police quoted Yokomori as saying he had also been responsible for at least 50 similar acts of vandalism on train seats since April because he was stressed out, TBS reported.
© Japan Today
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Dennis Bauer
Although this is bad, better cutting up seats than cutting up people.
Pandabelle
Well, Knox, that's lovely of you to think that but you have not a single shred of evidence to lead you to that conclusion. The facts are that this person has apparently confessed, and that's all that is known based on this article.
Feel free to provide some actual evidence to your claim, else it is contradicted by known facts.
Jonathan Prin
Happens in France probably everyday. And by youngsters or young adults. Punish and make pay the culprit.
Serrano
I wouldn't be surprised if this same nutter sliced a bunch of car or bicycle tires too.
Mirai Hayashi
Go cut up your own sofa then...idiot!
commanteer
Cutting seats is a compulsive action, especially for a grown man. I'd be surprised if he hadn't done it habitually. I think it is routine for police to tell someone "Tell us all the other crimes you've committed and we'll go easier on you. If you hold back and we connect you with others crimes, you'll get the full charges on those as well."
I am certain there are cases where people are pushed to confess to crimes they haven't committed (so the cops can "solve" more cases), but this is not likely to be one of them.
khulifi
Cutting seats are better than slashing people at random ...
mikihouse
now he has no job, no more stress
nath
Really slow news day! It's stories like these that allow me to breath a sigh of relief and relax knowing a violent crime had not been committed or another Japanese politician put us one notch closer to war with a country who tired of the historical BS insults!
Knox Harrington
Sorry Panda, but you would have to be a lot more specific than that... Where overseas, for example? And in which examples do we observe people spilling the beans like the Japanese supposedly do?
No, I don't believe, not for a sec, that these are somehow voulantary confessions. They are... Hm, shall we say extracted? It just doesn't add up that all criminals somehow want to get caught. My guess is that the police try to pin unsolved crimes to the ones caught in many cases. And, since social stigma is a big thing in Japan, they succeed in getting these "confessions".
On top of this, how come a suspect for such a relatively minor crime gets named and shamed without being convicted?
Pandabelle
Once someone is caught red-handed, they frequently confess to doing the same or similar thing multiple times. You see this all the time overseas with violent criminals.
MyJT2014
Damages to public property is a major issue, the government must acts urgently and give harsh punishment to make an example out of it before it is become an epidemic. This is a major problem facing many Western countries.
Knox Harrington
Forgive me, but I cannot drink this particular Kool-Aid. How many times have I read that police quotes a suspect "confessing", like magic, to plenty of other crimes? 20 times? 30 perhaps. Japan must be the only place in the world where suspects willfully incriminate themselves and admit to crimes of which the police have no evidence. Any critcally thinking person can see that there is something weird with all these "confessions".
Pandabelle
Those Keisei trains in that part of Chiba are old. I can't seen Keisei spending money to upgrade their seating.
CrazyJoe
This man's mental balance sheet needs an overhaul.
GalapagosnoGairaishu
Or stainless steel seats, like the Hong Kong subway.
gokai_wo_maneku
I hope they do not change to the hard plastic seats like the New York City subway.
avigator
That is a lot of money in damages. I wonder if he is ready to pay for it. Now you really have issues if that is really what you were looking for.
Disillusioned
46 years old? Really? I reckon he must have a few screws loose as well.
torosushi
"society pest"