Police in Sano, Tochigi Prefecture, have indicted a man for stealing more than 200 items of women's underwear in three prefectures.
The man, identified as Tsutomu Kashiwase, 44, is suspected of having stolen a total of 217 items on 27 occasions in Tochigi, Gunma and Saitama prefectures, TV Asahi reported. He was arrested last November after he was caught in the act of stealing underwear from a house in Sano.
© Japan Today
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Novenachama
It's unfortunate but people who develop fetishes have often been victims of sexual trauma earlier in life. Usually when someone has a bizarre arousal pattern there has been something in the past that has made them susceptible to something deviant, or something unusual occurred. When such a person gets treated a psychologist will revisit the original trauma that triggered the fetish and change the core arousal pattern. A fetish is much like an addiction to a drug where the person with the fetish has to understand the value of intimate sex so that it will fit into the reality of his life. This man needs to go to a qualified, licensed professional. A good psychologist or psychiatrist who is trusted and is well-referred.
tamanegi
JT: You forgot the obligatory photo of all the underwear!
WealthBuilderBiz
Last time, high heels. Before that, underwears. Back to underwears :)
Magnus Roe
You forgot the bicycle seats guy. :)
It's nice you have such high opinions of therapists, but I doubt you'd find someone capable of reprogramming this guy to not get a rush from panties. The only problem is that he steals underwear, collecting it is in itself harmless.
Rainbow_Demon
Mumbo jumbo. In psychology, this would not be considered a fetish unless it led directly to mental distress. In other words, I doubt his passion for panties ever caused him anguish. Indirectly though, I bet his arrest for stealing the panties is.
But what I think you are getting at is something entirely different, and that would be the great variety of things people find sexually stimulating. No, no trauma is required for people to take a fancy to things you many find "unconventional". People of all ages have sexual epiphanies, and where they lead, no one can guess. But of course when people cannot accept just how sexual humans are, they start seeing trauma as the cause for everything.
Nessie
It's under there.
albaleo
I misread the headline at first.
Serial underwear thief operated on three premises. Firstly, actions toward physical objects ascribe meaning to those objects. Secondly, the ascribed meaning is a product of social interactions and heuristic objectivity. Thirdly, social encounters are an interpretative process expressed in actions.
An interesting defense.
SenseNotSoCommon
Unusually, we're not given his profession. Is he a cop?
Lowly
novenachama is imo closest to a likely explanation.
what rainbowdemon says sounds nice and I believe to be true in its way, but clear uncontrollable obsession is what this article says to me. this is not "exploration" or leading to some deep place in the human psyche where he can feel a greater connection and love with other people (which is what good sex is, and what rainbowdemon's postulations about extreme or whatever sex should lead to if for real).
no, this guy's behavior reminds me of that sea otter I saw in the aquarium that was swimming in frantic circles over and over again, an obvious reaction to being kept cooped up and stared at in a small cage. whether this guy has trauma or not I wouldn't know, but he has some obssessive compulsive thing going on and I doubt it is bringing him any happiness, much less anyone else.
CrisGerSan
Sick is sick. We have way to much support for the jargon of specalists who make their money and gain ;power by complex focus on things that are simple. the guy is sick and cannot control his urges. He is a threat to decency and needs to be either locked up or punished enough to make him stop.
Rainbow_Demon
Psychoanalysis through newspaper articles is bound to fail. There are lots of possibilities as to why he got to this, why he continues, and where this obsession might have taken him.
We cannot even say for sure what his motives are. Even he himself might be unaware of them all. His primary joy in all of this might simply be imagining the distress of his victims in finding their undergarments stolen. Or, it might have started out as a desire for underwear, but only continues as he discovered the thrill of the act of stealing, or avoiding getting caught. This may have struck him as a reason to travel, and got him out of the house.
A girlfriend could have cured him perhaps. Or a new hobby. Why it had to be underwear is anyone's guess. Some people can be pretty obsessive about stamps. Don't ask me why.
Lowly
rainbowdemon-
ya, I know all that, and said as much.
But an action that is repeated indefinitely that involves stealing/ causing damage/ threatening/ fear to others and especially if it is related to sexuality, is generally not bringing real satisfaction or growth to the individual doing it. Nor to anyone else. Hence the very same scenario must be revisited and revisited. No change, no growth.
Sure people can be obssessed with stamps and trains etc. But unless it is at the level where uncontrollable impulses are compelling the person to steal stamps, especially invading others' personal space/ property to do so, then I would not personally compare it to this guy in this article.
Ya, I know that it's possible that he's totally sane. It's also possible that it is some odd minor affliction or glitch that can be easily fixed. It's possible too that someone framed him, and he didn't do it. It is also possible that aliens made him do it as a part of a brain control experiment. A million possibilities and far be it from me to say I know the truth. But having an opinion based on the info here, and my own life observations and research, that I can do. Take it or leave it.