Police in Tokyo said Sunday they have arrested a 27-year-old Vietnamese man on suspicion of stealing 35 kilograms of rice from a supermarket in January.
According to police, the suspect, who has pleaded not guilty, and another man entered a supermarket in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward in January, Sankei Shimbun reported. They placed seven five-kilogram bags of Koshihikari rice, worth about 15,000 yen, in a shopping trolley and took it outside to a car where an accomplice was waiting behind the wheel. They then went back into the store and took 11 bottles of whisky.
When a store employee spotted them leaving the store the second time, he called out to the pair who got into the waiting car which drove off.
Police said the car was identified through an analysis of surveillance camera footage. The same two men are suspected of stealing rice worth 800,000 yen from at least 17 supermarkets in Saitama and Chiba prefectures.
© Japan Today
27 Comments
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Garigarikun
Love how this article is completely focused on the 7 bags of rice and only mentions the 11 bottles of whiskey as almost an afterthought.
didou
How smart are you when you are back straight to the store for a second achievement ?
Yubaru
Wow, talk about nerves.
ebisen
Stealing rice to feed a hungry family - yeah - I'd let it pass or even offer support, etc. Not everyone is as lucky as those of us who don't have to go hungry.
But going back for whisky afterwards... nope - throw the book at them. They aren't that hungry afterall and are only in for the money.
Richard Gallagher
Apparently, it is their means of employ, as they have accumulated almost a million yen of rice - stealing from various supermarkets in other prefectures. It is a criminal activity. One may examine cultural, social and economic cause ad nauseum. Such behavior does not fit within Japanese social and cultural norms. It is anti-social and simply criminal. They are not living in a bandit society. From the known violations of existing law, in this particular case, prison and deportation would be an appropriate remedy.
dmhondz
Obviously not for personal consumption, must be part of a larger crime group.
Garthgoyle
Throw the entire book plus a few more kilograms at them.
Anthony 55
Pretty sure that they planned to sell the rice and booze.
Pukey2
Japanese rice is the last thing I'd want from a supermarket.
Namaste2You
Right point..... where did they get the car? Is the car theirs or borrowed or stolen.... each answer would lead to a different conclusion.
It may sound legit, but difficult to be legit. What exactly do you mean by 'underclass'. Please explain your thinking. And if one knows one would be treated as 'inequal' in a foreign land, then that person is taking a known risk of going to that foreign land, and should not 'feel bad' of being treated in that way, although it is wrong morally, ethically to treat anyone as 'different'.
Johansawada
rice makes me sleepy and causes high blood sugar so i avoid it completely but my wife and inlaws can't go a day without it.... maybe the whiskey is better for my body.....
ShinkansenCaboose
January 2021? This is mid October 2021.
Abe234
They will taint everyone else with the same brush. Probably a sign of how they were brought up. Lock them up and ship them out.
Kei Kurono
Soon they will be on flight home. ✈️
Mr Kipling
By "underclass" I mean a group specifically brought to Japan under the pretext of "training" to do jobs that the native population do not want to do. Most are not bad people, they want to make some money and better themselves. But, resentment will grow and crime in this community will become a problem. Just look at the UK for an example.
Sven Asai
Don’t be too harsh, VietNam is still a necessary strategic partner…lol
Tom San
Stealing is something a lot of Vietnamese do in our town.
Our small town even made the news when a group of them were arrested for stealing pears and pigs from a couple of local farms.
Kyo wa heiwa dayo ne
Took 8 months Haha how lame
Sheikh Yerboaby
35kgs of rice?! What was he, Superman?
itsonlyrocknroll
After a week in a Japanese prison all will wish they had taken there ill gotten gains back
Mr Kipling
I didn't come here to be a social underclass doing jobs that the native population don't want to do. People treated as an underclass will become and act just as expected.
Zaphod
I do not get how this works. There is no checkout counter in that supermarket?
ShinkansenCaboose
Come on everyone. We know they were here for training. Their check did not come through yet so they were hungry. The booze was to reduce the stress. Where did they get the car?