Police in Tokyo’s Suginami Ward have arrested a 23-year-old unemployed man after he threw sauce onto the kimono of a young woman who was preparing for her Coming-of-Age Day ceremony on Monday.
According to police, the incident occurred near JR Ogikubo Station at around 7:35 a.m. Monday. Police said the suspect, Taku Saito, who lives in Warabi, Saitama Prefecture, has admitted to the charge and quoted him as saying he was stressed out about his future and wanted to "escape from it all," Fuji TV reported.
Police said Saito walked up behind the 19-year-old woman, who had just come out of a beauty salon, and was wearing a furisode, sash and tabi. He said to her “That’s a pretty kimono,” and then walked away.
The woman returned home and her mother noticed the sauce on the back of her kimono and notified police. Saito was found lurking near Ogikubo Station at around 9 a.m., carrying a bottle of sauce with him.
The young woman was able to find another kimono and make it to her Coming-of-Age ceremony in time.
Police said there were three other reports of women having sauce splashed on their kimonos on Monday morning and are questioning Saito about his involvement in those incidents.
© Japan Today
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Brian Wheway
"Police said there were three other reports of women having sauce splashed on their kimonos on Monday" WTF what going on here? what wrong with this guy? why spoil a young woman very special day? selfish ( expletive ) give this bozo the cleaning bill for the damage he's done!, and since he's unemployed and probably can't pay give hime a sweeping broom and make him sweep and clean the streets!
thepersoniamnow
Wow, police for sauce splashes and the police actually found the saucer lurking near the station. Quite something else....and what a naughty boy man.
Wakarimasen
Saito was found lurking near Ogikubo Station at around 9 a.m., carrying a bottle of sauce with him.
Excellent sentence. Creates exactly the right atmosphere of menace and at the same time pathos. and stupidity.
what kind of sauce was it?
Bintaro
The guy may actually be in big trouble.
Not only did he throw sauce on these women, which in itself can be considered as some kind of assault, he damaged a kimono, which is very certainly a rental, therefore is damage to property of a company. Property which happens to be freaking expensive !
Being unemployed, he will never be able to pay the cleaning bill anyway, so I wouldn't be surprised if he got a prison sentence. Just what he wants.
The Original Wing
LOL! This is one of the funniest sentences I've read in a long time. How, exactly, was he lurking, I wonder? Perhaps dramatically tiptoeing from hiding place to hiding place, behind a tree, behind a street sign, ducking behind a parked bicycle?
As for the kind of sauce, I'm imagining a nice tonkatsu sauce, or maybe a spicy Mexican salsa.
gogogo
Pretty sad individual.
Disillusioned
Yeah, it relieves his stress by picking on someone who won't fight back. There are far too many of these cowardly creeps around.
sakurasuki
Now he can escape to pay things since from now on it will be provided by tax payer.
Jenna Mary Ellen Kelly
Absolutely disgusting the things men here do to women/girls to “relieve their stress” first the guy cutting girls skirts with scissors, now this?
HARRYO
So somebody tell me - How does throwing sauce on the Kimono of a few girls relief a persons stress ?? I would think it would add stress when you get caught. He was worried about his future, Now he has more to worry about. Voted - Idiot of the Month !!!
HARRYO
Maybe it was Nut sauce so they kept that info out of the article.
Moderator
Readers, no more flippant remarks about what kind of sauce it was.
Toasted Heretic
Probably a bit of both. Similar to any story that provokes some people to demonize the unemployed.
His employment status has no bearing on his stupid actions.
Toshihiro
I really don't get why people do stuff like this. Is it a fetish, hatred towards society or just plain boredom?
Bugle Boy of Company B
"sauce"
Somebody should have pummeled his face into sauce for ruining the girls' day!
Ah_so
I'd be speculating but I'd reckon it was Bulldog sauce.
It would make the story even more interesting if it was a rare imported sauce, such as 'Gentleman's Relish' from Britain. You wouldn't want that thrown at you.
darknuts
How could they not include the type of sauce? Details people!
Slickdrifter
I can not express the level of anger and frustation I feel after reading this.
I can not express and use the language I want to type with out getting flagged.
So I will just say Bugle Boy of Company B has made me feel better by reading the comment written.
Some real stinkers and losers out there. For real!
Serrano
According to police, the incident occurred near JR Ogikubo Station at around 7:35 a.m. Monday. Police said the suspect, Taku Saito, who lives in Warabi, Saitama Prefecture, has admitted to the charge and quoted him as saying he was stressed out about his future and wanted to "escape from it all," Fuji TV reported. Police said Saito walked up behind the 19-year-old woman, who had just come out of a beauty salon..."
The beauty salon was open before 7:35am? I'm guessing this is just once a year on Coming of Age Day.
Police said there were three other reports of women having sauce splashed on their kimonos on Monday morning and are questioning Saito about his involvement in those incidents.
I bet it was him!
yoshisan88
About two years ago while I was holidaying in Osaka, one day I was waiting for my wife outside a shop near Shinsaibashi in the morning, I suddenly felt someone tapped on my shoulder. I turned and found nobody behind me. I looked around and did not find anyone suspicious. I was a little bit surprised that someone would do a silly prank like this in Japan. But I guess I was lucky that I did not get thrown 'sauce'.
JenniSchiebel
Maybe not directly, but perhaps indirectly.
In this economy with it seems there are more job postings than people to fill them, it is likely that a 23-year-old man with no job "has issues," as you say in English.
We don't know this as a fact, of course, but it is a strong possibility.
mmwkdw
If the Kimono had been rented, would this type of situation been covered by insurance ? I understand "proper" Kimono's can cost several Millions of yen.
buzzyboy
He came from.Saitama to Tokyo at that early morning time.... with a bottle of sauce? Here's hoping he had a good night in Roppongi the night before, and got 'sauced'. Not that he woke up at 5 am in his parents house in Saitama, and said to himself...."I'm gonna go to Tokyo and throw sauce on girl's kimonos. Cuz I'm a loser." Sheesh!!!!!
englisc aspyrgend
The man is a blighter and a bounder, and very probably a cad as well!
BackpackingNepal
Whatever the sauce is i.e. Ketchup, Mayonnaise, Mustard, Chilli or Homemade.....she sure gonna remember the 'Sauce Story' for many years and probably will have even good laugh about it telling to her friends or her kids, grand kids...
And the guy...will he laugh too? Or regret when his family put the sauce on his plate? But we don't care, however this can be made into Japanese drama, Only in Japan.
Chottobaka
This is the type of bizarre behavior that is remarkably common in Japan. So weird.
sir_bentley28
Was he dubbed "the serial saucer"?
Toasted Heretic
Yes, it is. But it's not just confined to Japan. It's universal and all over the internet.
It needs to change. Be it through education, dialogue - whatever it takes.
buzzyboy
I can't even imagine commuting from Saitama at that time......oh, wait...!!!!!!! :--)