Elderly shoplifters in Japan

You’ve probably seen one of the many articles in the international press about the problem of elderly criminals in Japan, but have you seen video of them in action?

Japanese evening news programs are regularly air feature reports about shoplifting that contain sad cases like this old woman:

The woman, who looks to be about eighty, can be seen slipping items into her bag. When confronted and brought back into the store by security, she confesses that she stole the food because her granddaughter was coming to visit her and she wanted to serve the girl some food she likes. She asks for forgiveness, but the store security summons the police to take her away.
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16 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - January 23, 2009 at 8:02 am

Categories: General Japan Tags:

me

“She asks for forgiveness, but the store security summons the police to take her away.”

Lol. SO Japan.
Space Cowboy

This footage looks so fabricated.
http://www.reallyjapan.com Ruben

Pretty sad to see an elderly who stole 2 juices and some tomatoes taken away from the police.. I wonder if this news program talked only about this kind of “crimes” or tried to think about why this kind of crimes are increasing (some background info, recession, lost pension records… you know this kind of “boring” stuff)..
However, it’s highly probable that this footage is completely fabricated..

hl

Sounds like Les Misérables

Life

I’ve seen first hand elderly people lifting on a daily basis, usually bento’s, I don’t say anything to the store, they look like they really need it’s Cos of low pensions etc. as long as it’s food and not alcohol etc. and greedy people, I just say “abunai”, If I spoke better Japanese I really want to pay for their items this time so it’s one less time for them. I think the stores charge much and throw alot of the food away anyway like best befores and soon to be expired foods in the trash. I saw one elderly lady who works in the store as a cashier doing it, what do you expect with the wages she get’s in Japan like 7 to 8 hundred yen an hour and prices are too high. In a country where people take care and respect the elderly, Where are the children or help. They are not doing it for sport, they are hungry.
Bruce Smith

The sad thing was how pathetic were the items she had stolen. Juice, persimmons, a tomato, some noodles, pork, chicken etc. adding up to the enormous sum of Yen 1,174.
Level3

Yup seeing it first hand myself, too. Much more often this past year than before.
Usually it seems to be just pocketing some food.
But some pay for some stuff at the register and then grab a thing or two on the way out. Is he really straving to death? No. He’s paying for his OneCup then stealing the food.
Saw one lady just take some bottled tea, open it up, have a few sips and then put it back. Was she going to die of thirst? No.

Yes, the pension is ridiculously, almost unlivably (?) low, and I would never rat out someone for stealing food. But some of the older people are doing it just because they know they can get away with it even easier than most in non-confrontational Japan. The same shit wage of 750 yen an hour is not going to motivate most baiters to go through the hassle of catching grandma stealing a danish.

How many TV challenge shows have proven that you CAN eat on 10,000 yen a month? You just need the spare time to bargain shop and cook for yourself. I’d assume most elderly people DO have the spare time. It’d be a very rare case that would “ligitimize” stealing food. Medical expenses? Completely screwed out of pension by bureaucracy? House fire?

The Overthinker

“the pension is ridiculously, almost unlivably (?) low”

The pension is based on what you paid into it. I know a couple that are on six million a year in pensions alone. Another couple that is on a tenth of that.

http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

Geronkleptics! The latest threat to Japan’s perfect society!

If the J-officials hold the same stance for elderly shoplifters that they do for recreational drugs, then those old folks are going to the slammer!

Next, Jaywalkers. What will Japan do to stop these heinous villains from walking across the street at undesignated locations?
Level3

Still, I’d rather the media focus on this than more “reporting” exaggerating the “gaijin crime wave” [even though we commit crimes at the same or lower rate than native Japanese]

kabocha

So you bash the Japanese media and yet you give credit to those TV challenge shows? Hmmm… You actually think that these people are just being lazy, huh?

Level3

Japanese news media and the silly reality shows are the same thing?
I always thought they were just plumbing different depths, one specializing in pro-government nihonjinron propaganda, the other mere schlock with occasional useful or funny bits. Sometimes they unite into a perverse hybrid of unfunny anti-foreign propa-tainment.
As for lazy shoplifters, I think some are, and some aren’t. Please read more carefully.

http://www.zdwonline.de Haf

In Germany some media also happily report about those many crimes done by foreigners. In reality, also in Germany most crimes are committed by citizen.

Typical behaviour of the media.

Diego ROSSETTI

Well,this is a world problem and not only japan problem,
for exmple in italy cases of elderly theft are on the rise, because the pension is not enough for the whole month, but this is true even for people aged 30 years and over for a salary too low, not allowing them to get to the end of the month!
Sorry for my enghlish
Richard

So for the next wacky contest television program, dress up various talento and idoru as elderly people and see how much they can shoplift from a major department store before they are caught. I’d watch that!
mikeguest

This footage is quite well-known in Japan (a few such cases have been broadcast on TV). The responses in Japanese net forums where this footage was posted were not on the ‘poor old lady aspect’ but rather the problem of elderly people shoplifting.

I don’t know if the version above is the full version, but in the version I had seen previously the old woman is asked if she doesn’t have enough money to pay for these items and she answers that she has enough. She had also, immediately prior to shoplifting the items for her visiting daughter, spent almost 10,000 Yen on other items at the shop. She answers that she doesn’t know why she lifted those things.

Elderly shoplifters in Japan

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