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Police on Monday charged a 25-year-old man over the theft of around 200 fan letters to popular all-girl group AKB48.
According to Urawa police, Shinjuku Ward resident Kota Shibukawa stole a total of around 200 pieces of mail, including letters and mobile phone bills, bound for the 11 members of AKB48 between September 2008 and August of this year. He was quoted as saying: "I'm a huge AKB48 fan, and I wanted to collect anything of theirs I could."
Police say Shibukawa had submitted fake change of address forms for the members to a post office in Shinjuku last September, having the mail redirected to his home. On the forms, he filled in the reason for moving as "Because we moved in together." He found the girls' addresses by exchanging information with other fans he met at events.
Urawa police received a call in May from one AKB48 member reporting that her mail was no longer being delivered, leading them to Shibukawa.
© Wire reports
14 Comments
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nath
How could he get all those addresses changed. Weirdo
nath
You know... he could just buy their CDs, magazines, and pay to got ot their concerts... and who the heck is AKB48?
thepro
Haha, nice scam
ablestmage
Someone over there at JapanToday needs to go back to journalism school. There aren't just 11 members of AKB48. They're divided up into team A, team B and team K. One team alone may have 11 in it -- with well over thirty total. Also, the headline doesn't match the story. So was it 200 fan letters, or 200 letters and bills mixed?
bobobolinski
The whole thing is really weird. Leaving aside this nutcase's obsession, according to the story it took more than six months - from September last year to this May -- until one of the 11 pop idols noticed that she wasn't getting any mail. It then took the police another three months to find the perp, who had given his address to the post office. (Actually, maybe that bit isn't so strange.) And in the space of ten months, these 11 pop idols only get 200 pieces of mail between them, including bills. Odd, ne?
dcpoor
Police say Shibukawa had submitted fake change of address forms for the members to a post office in Shinjuku last September, having the mail redirected to his home. On the forms, he filled in the reason for moving as “Because we moved in together.”
smooth. lol
Synista
Talked about an obsessed fan....25 and crazy over a girl group? What are the ages of theses girls? They can't be over 16 ...I think once you hit 17 you are considered too old to be in a girl group...
LoveUSA
what kind of punishment will this guy get? I hope he will serve a prison term. I hope the guy who messes with my mail gets the same.
nath
"can't be over 16"! Hahaha! Wikipedia their real ages... I am a fan of Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, so by defualt, an AK fan!
zlin1828
Well give me his address, I need a die-hard fan for my piled up bills....
smithinjapan
Just goes to show you that a couple of things are still true in Japan:
a) they never adequately confirm anything before you can make MAJOR changes. Imagine these girls were having credit cards sent to them (for which the shops also do not check when you use them, or even ask you to sign in half the cases anymore), or other very important mail.
b) that nuts are still nuts. Why you would want someone else's fan mail is beyond me. It's not something they actually wrote themselves or touched, it's written by regular people who have little or no connection to the people being idolized.
smithinjapan
Sorry... the latter is not meant to be limited only to Japan.
Sephira
What the duck I mean why take the letters would you wish me to kill you
Sephira
I mean seriously I love AKB28 all together I'd protect them if need be