Police in Tokyo have arrested a 44-year-old unemployed man on suspicion of stealing a backpack from a man who was sleeping after the last train at JR Osaki Station in Shinagawa Ward.
The incident occurred between 12:40 a.m. and 1:15 a.m. Friday, Kyodo News reported. Police said Kazuhiro Nemoto is suspected of stealing the backpack, containing the man’s wallet with 15,000 yen in it and cell phone, from the victim who was sleeping near the ticket gates.
Nemoto told police that when he saw the man sitting on the floor, he pretended to help him, tapping him on the shoulder and making sure he was asleep before removing the backpack.
A police officer patrolling the station detained Nemoto after seeing him pocket the cash and cell phone and discard the backpack.
Police said Nemoto has admitted to the allegation and quoted him as saying he “lived on stolen money" and "had committed around 100 similar thefts at train stations since October last year."
© Japan Today
11 Comments
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miss_oikawa
Where is this station?
Moderator: It is Osaki Station. Sorry for the typo.
Corey
(Regarding above observations)
I don’t think you can fault them for not saying more about “origin”. They refer to his name which obviously indicates he is a national. What more do you need to know?
spidersenses
spidersensesToday 06:54 pm JST
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Well, if they are going to have the same standard of reporting, then the ethics and geographical origin of ALL suspects should always be included, such as whether the person is from Kyushu, Hokkaido or Tokyo etc. And whether they are of Chinese origin, Ainu origin or Korean,, Yamato, Ryukyuans etc.
In reality, these things should be left out no matter where they are from unless there is a specific reason they should be included. JT and other Japanese news organisations include the geographical orgin and eternity only when it is a foreingerr and even when it is of no significance/
This is considered unethical and poor social responsibility and accountability in journalism in most nations unless your Fox news or the NY Post which are hardly upsetting modules of journalism.
Corey
Regarding comments on JT today, the comments on the article about Biden appearing on stage with Elton John have been stopped after a mere 11 comments! (Probably my comment here will be deleted as “off topic”. But I’m just saying wow, that’s all)
3RENSHO
The suspected thief, Nemoto, was taking in nearly two hundred thousand per month, if this particular theft is average...
Gene Hennigh
I can guess why he is unemployed. All the things that went missing from his last job were traced to him. Either way, he's done a whole lot of stealing since becoming unemployed. I wonder how many people recovered their losses.
MarkX
Every time I read about an unemployed person committing crimes I think they must be a career criminal, because in this economy with the lack of workers and companies always looking for workers, they don't need to be unemployed. Are the wages great, no but there is work out there.
garypen
"had committed around 100 similar thefts at train stations since October last year."
That is just by one man in one area. This really speaks to the bigger problem of alcoholism and binge drinking in Japan.
I still remember my first visit to Japan back in the 80's when my Japanese host explained the train platform "vomit sinks" to me after I erroneously assumed they were for janitorial use.
Systemic acceptance of drinking behavior has led directly to the infrastructure that helps to enable it. And, Nemoto-san takes advantage of it.
garypen
Not including mobile phones and other valuables.
factchecker
train station
Wouldn't have happened if he slept at a railway station.
BB
Man, hangovers are miserable enough without having to also deal with missing money and phone!