It is tough to get weapons in Japan, so armed robbers often resort to large kitchen knives to intimidate employees who are laundering money.
Some of these people can’t seem to find one and must come up with their creative thought with “weapons,” such as scissors, nose hair clippers, or simply lighter.
Tomoharu Nakamura, 41 years old, Sapporo in Hokkaido, might have been the most bizarre robber. In addition to the attempted robbery with a lighter, the 41-year older adult was also charged with several other charges.
The whole incident took place at around 3:30 p.m. on August 21 in a Kiyota Ward convenience store.Nakamura is alleged to have entered the store, clicked the lighter, and pointed it at the manager.”Get out of the money, or I’ll light it for you!”
The manager was not a scarecrow and took the calculated risk to not comply with Nakamura’s demands. Instead, he ran into the back room and called the police.
It was mid-afternoon, and there were many customers in the store, but they also quickly fled the scene despite the possibility of being mildly singed.
It might appear that lighters are more at risk from people than vice versa.
Police arrived quickly on the scene and forced Nakamura, who was carrying a lighter, to switch to his lighter. The officers believed in their non-flammability, and they were able to defeat the attacker to arrest him.
Nakamura was taken into custody and allegedly confessed that he tried to steal a store. However, he was also accused of assaulting an officer, obstructing police business, and possibly damaging property as they crashed into the store’s walls during the incident.
And the idiotic robbery attempt was over. There were many ways to defeat the lighter threat. But also, Others were trying to figure what they were trying.
“The manager just had to go ‘Ffffooo!’ and it would be all over.”
“I would have said thanks and pulled out a cigarette.”
“How did he not burn his finger that whole time?”
“The manager was probably frying food and had oil on him, so it could have been dangerous.”
“Maybe he was trying to hypnotize the clerk.”
“He couldn’t even get an attempted arson charge.”
“He just wanted to go to prison.”
People will often try to sentence prison to survive the winter months in Hokkaido around this time. This would explain Nakamura’s unique weapon choice, but he wasn’t playing with fire in the attack against the police. He could have a more extended offer than he wanted if that were his absolute goal.
We don’t know his story, so we cannot be sure. Equally possible is that he was a seasoned criminal who became bored by his routine and decided to take on the challenge.
It’s almost like Resident Evil masters start by only using the knife to play through the game.
Source: FNN, Hachima Kiko
Photos ©SoraNews24