crime

Man questioned over more than 100 bag thefts on trains in Tokyo area

9 Comments

An unemployed 41-year-old man arrested for stealing the bag of a college student who was sleeping aboard a train waiting to depart from JR Tokyo Station is being questioned over 100 similar thefts on trains, police said.

The suspect, Tomoharu Yoshida, allegedly grabbed the bag of a 22-year-old woman at around 6 a.m. on March 25 on a train on the JR Chuo Line. Fuji TV reported that the woman was sleeping but woke up when she felt her bag being pulled away. Yoshida dropped the bag and managed to flee a few hundred meters within the station premises until he was apprehended.

Police said they have beefed up patrols at stations to deal with cases of thefts and pickpocketing that tend to increase this time of year as people return home inebriated from cherry blossom and job retirement parties. A police officer saw Yoshida run off the train and thought something was suspicious. He called out to Yoshida who took off his shoes and ran a few hundred meters while barefoot. He was detained at a nearby ticket gate and arrested on the spot.

Yoshida has denied the charge and was quoted as saying, "I was only trying to return the bag to the woman after it had fallen off her lap in the train."

Police said that since the beginning of this year, more than 100 similar thefts of bags have been reported on Chuo Line trains, and police are questioning Yoshida about his involvement in those cases.

© Japan Today

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9 Comments
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scumbag

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Well, don't sleep on the flipping trains! And, if you do feel you 'have to' sleep, secure your valuables around your arm.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Well, don't sleep on the flipping trains!

We should be able to sleep on trains without having to worry that belongings are stolen. But yeah better be safe than sorry.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Why did he remove his shoes??

0 ( +1 / -1 )

He was probably wearing ill fitting stolen ones.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I was only trying to return the bag to the woman after it had fallen off her lap in the train.

Ha-ha. He was feasibly making a lame excuse. I don't think it would have worked, though.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

We should be able to sleep on trains without having to worry that belongings are stolen. But yeah better be safe than sorry.

There is one very important word in this statement, 'should'. Trains are for transport. They are not mobile hotels. Possibly they should introduce specific cars for the sleeping masses. Sleeping on trains is a very Japanese thing. However, many of the supposed 'dozers' are just pretending to be asleep in order to avoid any eye contact with someone who may be more needy of their seat. This is especially true in the priority seats. Then, you have the scenario of the dozers with their heads leant back against the window with their mouth wide open blowing their swamp breath throughout the carriage. I've often wanted to drop a breath mint into one of the cavernous snoring mouths. Sleeping on long distance trains is understandable, but not on the local commuter trains. I've seen them many times. The doors open, they run into the train to get the first seat, knocking any lady over who may be in their way, drop down into the seat with a thud and immediately drop their heads and pretend to sleep. Then, they get of the train less than ten minutes later after three or four stops. I am not at all surprised someone has starting taking advantage of this narcoleptic carelessness and started taking their stuff.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Disillusioned

People do not deserve to have their things stolen if they fall asleep on a train. Victim blaming is not appropriate for crime done to them. Or did you have a point in your rant of those with bad breath?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

People do not deserve to have their things stolen if they fall asleep on a train. Victim blaming is not appropriate for crime done to them. Or did you have a point in your rant of those with bad breath?

I see you stopped reading after the word trains..... He has a point, if you are going to nod off, make sure your stuff is secure, we don't live in Utopia and it's just being naive to think that nothing is going to happen to you because you live in Japan.

People don't deserve anything bad to happen to them, but it does, and it's wasn't victim blaming either, it's telling people to educate yourselves and quit with the damn heiwa boke syndrome. Japan is safer in many ways than other countries, but there is a shit-load of crime here, more of which gets posted here to JT on a daily basis than the average newspaper.

Well, don't sleep on the flipping trains! And, if you do feel you 'have to' sleep, secure your valuables around your arm.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

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