Japanese man arrested after pretending to be foreigner while trying to rob convenience store
Attempt to pass himself off as a foreigner reveals possible link to another crime too. In the early morning hours of August 18, at around 2:30 a.m., a lone man walked into the Oizumi Yoshida branch of Japanese convenience store chain Lawson in the town of Oizumi, Gunma Prefecture. The only other person in the […]
On August 18, at approximately 2:30 a.m., a man entered the Lawson convenience store in Oizumi, Gunma Prefecture. The store, managed by a 50-something-year-old individual, had only one customer at the time. Instead of making a purchase, the man pulled out a knife and demanded the manager give him the money from the register. He said "Okane wo kudasai," which while technically polite, made the situation seem even more threatening due to the juxtaposition of knife and the seemingly gentle "please."
His pronunciation of the words was unnatural and stiff. When the manager refused to comply, the man fled the scene.
However, using forensic evidence and security camera footage, police were able to identify the man as 32-year-old Atsushi Goto, a resident of Isesaki, another town in Gunma. On the previous day, another convenience store in Isesaki had been robbed using the same method, with the robber saying "Okane wo kudasai." Goto was arrested near his home and has already admitted to the attempted robbery in Oizumi.
He explained that he spoke in an unnatural way to sound like a foreigner and mask his identity. This incident echoes a similar case in Aichi Prefecture a few years ago, where a Japanese man attempted to rob a convenience store while saying, with unnatural vocabulary, "I'm a Vietnamese. Money! Money!" The punishment Goto will face is yet to be determined, but it is hoped that this case will deter others from committing similar acts of crime.
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