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Foreign shoplifters in Japan

foreign-shoplifter

Last week, NTV’s “Real Time News” aired a special hidden camera report on shoplifting. Most of the shoplifters featured were Japanese, but one foreigner was caught in the act:

The shoplifter in this clip was a Chinese student, apparently stealing some food he wanted to eat. After he is taken away by police, the narrator announces that in the case of foreign criminals, there are “many” instances of groups working together to shoplift from Japanese stores.

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17 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - July 29, 2009 at 8:39 am

Categories: Foreigners in Japan, Japanese TV Tags: crime, foreigners, gaijin, japan, news, shoplifting

http://dreamingartemis.blogspot.com dreamingArtemis

many cases? Do they have a number or are just speculating? Like I can say that Japan has many cases of cannibalism? Seriously, a little more numbers here.

I get the feeling Japan is rather xenophobic. Looking for a greater enemy of some sort. Reminds me of a bunch of people call Amish.
Ken Aston

Sadly, this is probably true. There are foreign gangs who take advantage of Japan’s low security measures against theft.

Eddie

Foreign gangs who hit up supermarkets to steal low value items?
Really?

Ken Aston

>cases of foreigners acting together

This is what I was referring to. There is organized crime to steal valuable goods from stores, especially jewelry. Of course not food in a supermarket.

me

Damn fer’ners stealin’ our shit ‘n takin’ our jerbs!
HamachiMan

I agree Ken. No doubt the “all Japanese are xenophobes” crowd will use this as yet another example of how “racist” all Japanese are. Never mind that most of the people captured on video are Japanese. And of course, these same people quick to jump on the racist Japanese bandwagon couldn’t care less about questioning facts and actual hard numbers if some media outlet said that foreigners/immigrants were committing crimes in great numbers in their home countries.

Hypocrisy at its finest as per usual.
The Overthinker

What is most annoying is that it’s often the Chinese that get into trouble, but because it is publicised as “foreigher crime” it’s the foreign-looking people that get targeted as sercurity threats based on looks (eg those infamous bank security ads with an evil white guy).
cake

I saw some chinese students shoplifting, even a store clerk when she was finished her shift, they pay so low and they cant afford to shop at the very store they work…grat now as said earlier foreiner means whats different so chinese etc blend in then us caucasians, ill be sure to wary of vigilant nihonjins
Sieth

Man, I dont know what you guys are thinking, but seriously when I was in school in japan, the foriegners freakin stole everything they could get there hands on. I can recall countless times my friends would walk out with stuff from stores, and I would be pissed. Most of the time they were drunk, but I know several people that did it regularly. Maybe it is a college student thing, I dont know. But I would say dont take this as *xenophobic* by japanese because foreign students ( at least at my school) do steal a ton of stuff.
http://1000thingsaboutjapan.blogspot.com/ Orchid64

There was an article several months ago on Japan Today which said that cases of elderly Japanese people shoplifting (and assaulting people) have greatly accelerated. Most of them have money, but they steal because they don’t want to use it. Some of them have had over a 100,000 yen on hand and stolen food items.

I don’t watch much Japanese T.V. (or much T.V., period), but I wonder if that has been reported as a similar boost in crime in Japan. Perhaps someone who regularly watches the news could chime in to let us know if there is equal coverage of increased Japanese crime. I would be curious to know.
pixel_bomber

Ya know they could have said any random thing they wanted to end that report. I didn’t see the whole report but it says in the description that most people shown were Japanese. So wouldn’t it have been more fair to end it by saying it is rare to catch a foreigner stealing since that is what they observed?

The media will say whatever it needs to get people watching. I’d like to end my post by saying many Japanese news sources make up facts and create staged “news” stories.
weirdo

I don’t know if your translation is an honest mistake or you’re trying to make the narrator sound bad, but…
「外国人の場合数人のグループで犯行に及ぶケースがよくある」
Is NOT the same as “there are “many” cases of foreigners acting together to shoplift from Japanese stores.” It would be more correct to say that “When foreigners are involved, they often shoplift in groups rather than alone”. Nowhere did the narrator say that foreign shoplifting itself is a common occurrence.

http://www.japanprobe.com James

I am not a native speaker, and my quick translation was probably not as literal as it should have been.

When I hear the phrase “よくある” being used at the end of that sentence, I get a sense that shoplifting by foreigners would have to occur many times for them to even be able to make a meaningful distinction between the frequency of group and individual shoplifting.

(And thanks for pointing out the English error in the post.)

Level3

Racial profiling and crime stat biases aside.

Let’s all remember the visa regulations.
Full time college students are only allowed to work 28 hours per week, while vocational students and language school students are only allowed to work 14 hours per week.
A Chinese student is probably lucky to get a job that pays 800/hr. This means the typical student who works the maximum allowed by law has to live on about 90,000 yen a month. 45,000 a month if he’s in language school or the like.

Basically, the Chinese students who aren’t getting cash from Mommy and Daddy back in Shanghai are legally bound into extreme poverty in one of the most expensive countries in the world.

For most it’s a simple choice, break the law by stealing, or break the law by working enough hours to be able to afford decent food. [Admittedly, the second option is more honorable.]

Japanese kids have no such restrictions and can usually get better-paying jobs, yet they still steal. What’s their excuse?

http://www.japanprobe.com James

Most language school students have “pre-college student” visas. They were allowed to work up to 4 hours a day (28 hours a week). I’ve known Chinese students who have supported themselves just fine working a legal number of hours a week at McDonald’s or Konbinis while attending language school.

Level3

I would submit that they either saved up a lot of money before coming to Japan, or they’re getting help from their parents, or they’re holding a second job late nights that pays under the table.

Of course, they SHOULD have such a plan before coming to Japan. Anyone who comes here with no finances and plans to live hand-to-mouth just shouldn’t come in the first place.

But, shit happens. Maybe you get soaked for a reikin, maybe it takes you a few weeks to land a job (maybe Immigration takes a few weeks to process the permit that allows you to work), maybe you have to take a sudden airline flight home for a dead relative, maybe you get sick.

Foe example the government used to help foreign students with medical expenses, paying 80% of the 30% medical deductible. The whole program was scaled back last year, and totally eliminated this year. Now, even poor students are having to pay 30% of their medical bills like everyone else (except of course, senior citizens), even though they are restricted to 28 hour workweeks.

Does this info ever make it into the mass media?

http://througheyesfromafar.blogspot.com/ The Envoy

Reminds me of the Shinjuku Incident.

Foreign shoplifters in Japan

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