Japanese convenience stores are packed not only with sweet and salty snacks, but also all sorts of tasty pre-made meals, making them a great choice for when you’re hungry but don’t want to cook. So the staff at a convenience store in the town of Kasuya, Fukuoka Prefecture, were surprised on Tuesday morning when a 38-year-old man rolled up to their parking lot, got out of his car, and started cooking right there in front of the store.
After parking, the man unloaded both an electric rice cooker and an IH hot plate, then plugged the two cooking appliances into an electrical outlet on an exterior wall of the store. He then started cooking a pot of rice, and also whipped out a frying pan and started stir-frying some yakisoba noodles, complete with a bottle of sauce for them, all just a few steps away from the entrance of the store, which was open for business. When employees asked him what he was doing, he gave no response.
▼ A photo of the man’s cooking set-up, taken by passerby and Twitter user @poppo_kai.

The man started cooking a little before 6 a.m., and had been at it for about 30 minutes when the police, who’d been called by one of the convenience store employees, showed up. The man then went back into his car, shut the door, and ignored calls to come out for the next several hours. Sometime after noon, he fired up his car’s engine and drove off, with police officers following. A little less than an hour later, after entering the Fukuoka city limits, the traffic got heavy enough that he had to stop his car, at which point he was apprehended by the police and taken into custody.
No injuries or accidents were reported in relation to the pursuit, but the man, who has no fixed address or place of employment, faces potential legal consequences for fleeing from police officers and unauthorized use of the store’s outlets. After all, if convenience stores want you to ask the staff before you use their bathrooms, they definitely don’t appreciate you using their electricity to cook breakfast.
Source: Mainichi Shimbun via Hachima Kiko
Read more stories from SoraNews24.
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© SoraNews24
41 Comments
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Jonathan Prin
So now he'll end up probably in prison where he will cost the taxpayers.
Poor guy but at least he should have asked politely to use the outlet for cooking.
Police being highly busy.
Cricky
Lives in his car has no address, having no address he is unable to access help, or be counted as a person by authorities. Once that spiral starts, and you need help, you are on your own. Pretty sad when to simply cook food involves arrest not help.
HoldingYouAccountable
They should have put spike stripels behind his car or janned his tires with a knofe while he was still in the parking lot. Then ise their metal stick they carry, break the window and pull him out. This could have been avoided if they just used a little non-lethal force. But no, they rather sit there for 6 hours asking the man nicely to please come out.
Hiro
@Cricky, that wasn't the issue. The issue was that he did it without consent and didn't even bother to say a word. How would you feel when someone just enter your house without saying anything and start to borrow your stuff? And worse was when he ignore the police and thinks he can drive away from them. If he had acted more as someone to take pity on, they would not have to go as far to even arrest him. Cases like his could be dangerous because they might have rage issue and suddenly come at you with a weapon once you try to talk to him. We had seen plenty of cases when someone suddenly attack a store employees when they get irritated of being told what they cannot do.
snowymountainhell
Tragically sad that Japan continues to turns ‘a blind eye’ to ‘it’s own’ obviously starving, homeless and economically struggling people.
James
@zichi
He is homeless, he might have gotten the rice and noodles from a food bank which makes it not for homeless since it is pointless when they can't cook it.
Cricky
I’m sure 7-11 holdings have a set monthly power bill, they are burning electricity day and night so their power plan will be very different from a households. I think it’s more about the store not wanting to have a homeless person cooking at the front door, not the theft. No business wants that.
I would imagine he has some issues and needs help. Really theft from a business that has A/C blasting with the doors open? Vs a homeless person wanting to feed themselves? It was a bad choice by him but he might not be capable of making better ones. Things really could of been handled much better.
Darius
You just can't make this stuff up.
Yubaru
When is the last time anyone had to ask an employee to use the bathroom at a convenience store?
Leastwise down here in Okinawa, never, well, there USED to be a time, like may 30 years ago, but then there werent any convenience stores either, just the Mom & Pop type!
I'll bet they wouldnt have said crap, if he was out of the view of the customers!
proxy
Was pretty sure the full headline was going to be "Man cooks rice, stir-fried noodles and wife passes out in shock."
Yukijin
He should have run an extension lead into his car and cooked inside his car.
starpunk
The headline at first looked like he was operating a food truck operation without a license. Personally owned food trucks are quite a thing in North America.
And then did he even get to eat it all up before he drovee off or was arrested?
gaicuckojin
gotta get those priorities in order
Yubaru
For what? People here dont get tossed in to prison for crap like this. He may stay a few days in jail, but he isnt going to prison.
I will bet the convenience store does not press charges either, and even the article clearly states that "he faces potential legal consequences for fleeing from police officers" which was probably added here just to fill space, as he was non-violent, and if there is any "crime", it's a misdemeanor at best.
I dont get how people assume that any crime here automatically gets you tossed in prison, it doesnt!
virusrex
This seems like a problem better managed by mental health professionals, but I am not too optimistic this will be the approach that will be used.
Zaphod
Imagine living in a country where there is so little crime that nonsense like this makes it into a national story.
Danielsan
Now the homeless guy is on the hook for whatever they charge him with, plus his car is most likely impounded and will require payment of huge fees to get out of storage. And that car is also his only living quarters and contains everything he owns. He stands to lose what little he had simply because he had an overwhelming craving for a hot meal.
A little pity, compassion, and a sense of discretion is totally absent here. For the police to spend six hours watching him was just absolutely insane.
Antiquesaving
For those saying this is just theft.
Here are a few things to think about and learn about Japan.
The man has no address, no job but has a car, under the strict vehicle registration system you cannot buy a car without an address and first getting the needed paperwork from the police after they have confirmed you have a parking space.
So the logical conclusion is he once had a place to live and now no longer does but is mostly living in his car.
Doing what he did has basically two explanations, desperation of someone that is recently homeless and at a total loss as to how to deal with it.
Or has a serious mental health issue.
Either way this is far less a crime than a serious social issue where some form of metal or social help in needed.
Much of the above is speculation but based on simple logic taking into account the laws and behaviour.
thaonephil
Seems like a overreaction from both parts, but a car is a terrible weapon if a mentally stable person is at the wheel.
Spitfire
@zaphod,
'Imagine living in a country where there is so little crime that nonsense like this makes it into a national story.'
That's because the myriad of crimes committed by the elite are buried,the politicians are untouchable and the media over in Japan are a joke.
Anything nasty is brushed under the rug and puff pieces like this are highlighted to give the impression everything is hunky-dory in Japan,lol.
InspectorGadget
Reminds me of the guy who was arrested about 20 years ago for stealing 10 yen of electricity. He plugged into a electrical socket for a vending machine to charge his cellphone.
kurisupisu
He would have been welcome to use the power point in front of my house-no problem!
bakakuma
The world thinks it can save everyone and that everyone is the same. The world is rotting.
Dee
Lack of empathy here.
Cricky
The biggest problem he is not conforming to the rigid social norms of beautiful Japan.
8T
He was hungry, leave him alone. People are in survival mode when they are hungry.
CS
What is the crime? Using a power outlet? HE should have just gone to STARBUCKS, he could have stayed there all day, ordered water and cooked a bit of food, all in a smoke-free environment!
Mark
Poor Man, he is homeless, he is poor, he is unemployed, and he is HUNGRY, for heavens sake why not let the man eat and may be give him some handouts!!! why call the police, how much does it cost in electricity to cook a meal, 150jpy or so,
How selfish and heatless have people become, yAAA i know some of you will say well if we don't stop him he will do it again, yes he may or not you don't know that for sure, and if it happens again the try to talk again and see how you can solve this.
Kumagaijin
This is such a stereotypical Japanese "problem". Someone is caught doing something abnormal without really causing harm to anyone, but the individual is reported to police. The police in Japan have nothing better to do than go after harmless people because they have no authority to make their own decisions, but instead just think about what their bosses might do if they don't take strict measures.
Zaphod
Spitfire
That is a general statement about most countries. The elite tends to get away with all sorts of things that the hoi polloi is punished for. My comment was about ordinary crime.
Zaphod
Mark
Maybe, maybe not. We do not know from the article. He seems to have enough money for a car, for gasoline, and for those electric gadgets at least. What we know is that he has bad judgement.
Wolfpack
There is a lot about this incident that is not known to make such a judgment. The proprietors spoke with the man but there isn’t much in the way of details about what was said. You can feel bad about a person’s personal circumstances while also wanting to protect your business.
Jind
A bit harsh to call Police when he was just cooking breakfast and has probably no home to go to,
WilliB
Jind
The article says they called police after trying to talk to him and he did not respond. Sounds like it could have been avoided.