A man who tried to rob a convenience store in Toyohashi City, Aichi Prefecture, early Monday morning, fled without taking anything, after being told by the store owner to go find a job, prefectural police said.
According to police, the man entered Daily Yamazaki’s Higashi Waki store around 3 a.m. and threatened the owner, Hiroshi Yamaguchi, 59, at knifepoint, demanding money. Yamaguchi remained calm and told the man he had no moneyand advised him to find a job if he was in such dire financial need.
The man, who was approximately 180 cm tall and in his 30s, asked Yamaguchi not to report him to police and fled from the store immediately. At the time of the incident, there were no customers in the store and Yamaguchi was not hurt.
Police said the man wore a black sweater with a hood, a surgical mask and glasses.
© Compiled from news reports
28 Comments
Login to comment
cactusJack
and they call this news?
Maitake
a surgical mask! now that is quite suspicious!
lovejapan21
cactusJack, I actually enjoyed this article. News doesnt always have to be sad. In fact its nice to read funny stories such as this one. One thing I would agree on is that it shouldnt be on the main page
tokyochris
It's a story about a crime in the crime section. I think that qualifies as news.
YongYang
@Jack: It's Japan. Yes, WE call this news. Nice isn't it. No shots, no rampage. Just, some advice.
genjuro
This sounds like an ippatsu manzai gag lol.
gaijinfo
Mad props to this dude.
Zenny11
Got to agree with Patrick here.
It is a human interest story(granted in the crime section). Personally would like to see/feel that more robberies, etc could be foiled in a similar way as I see many of those are happening because people lost guidance and/or support and simply hit rock-bottom.
ihavegreatlegs
Funny story.
cactusJack
I hardly find armed robbery "comic".
whereismayhem
Maybe he fled in "search of a job" after getting some good advice!! Good luck on the job hunt!
the_odeman
hopefully the guy took a copy of one of the local job posts there while he was there, they are free.....
nath
I often follow news reports of "bozo criminals." This definitely qualifies. But, kudos, to the owner for his courage.
oikawa
They should just play the Offspring as the muzak to subconsciously deter this kind of crime.
Frungy
Maybe they should replace those cute little "The police are watching" signs with directions to the nearest Hello Work?
ironchef
i think that in the end, this "robber" just couldn't do anything physically violent, especially like stabbing a man. I think most people would be like that. In the US, however, there's not so much hesitancy.
Tom DeMicke
I wonder if he will mention this in his resume.
Gebeson
I'd love to see the CCTV video of this!!! It can make this dude famous, probably all the way to Hollywood!
fondofj
I bet this type of obedient robber can't be found in any other country. 日本は最高！ The crime reports are becoming funny these days, good!
ca1ic0cat
I wonder if threatening a potential employer with a knife is a good interviewing technique? Have to admit, this is the one bit of news that made me laugh.
Smythe
I guess he store owner made sense to the attemped robber, especially when he noted the shop did not have any customers.
TheBigRiceBowl
Good to see a happy ending for once. All the negativity in the news does nothing but drag the reader down into negativity.
shogun36
That owner must be a good boss. He cuts all the crap and just gives it to you straight. I bet his store is one of the most efficient in Japan.
goddog
No pants or shoes?
chuckbello
Only In Japan. I am pretty sure the guy robber bowed before leaving the store.
astrogaijin
This is why I read the crime section. Japan may not have alot of crime compared to the west but what they do have is the funniest I have ever seen. Stories like this make my day everytime I see them.
gogogo
hahah "get a job".... runs away
jonobugs
I think that what a few people are missing here is the fact that the owner told the criminal that he didn't have any money which is why the guy left without anything. It's interesting because the criminal seemed to believe him. I imagine that the thief just weighed his options. Stab, and possibly kill the owner over a few yen, or flee. Sounds like the man was a bit desperate to begin with and perhaps on the fence about committing armed robbery anyway. Hopefully the guy took the owner's advice!