Japanese high school students arrested for robbing pachinko parlour at knife-point

https://ift.tt/2XwcwLX Katie Pask

Surely there’s a better way to start 2021 than this.

Pachinko parlours are noisy, smoky and crowded, and while their deafening roar is off-putting to a lot of people, it was the ideal spot for six boys, all minors and under the age of 20, to commit a crime.

Just after midnight on January 3 in Nakatsu City, Oita Prefecture, the six boys threatened a male employee at the pachinko parlour with a knife-life object while he was closing. According to police reports, the group forced the employee to open the office safe and got away with three million yen (US$28,800), as well as two wallets from employees at the parlour. The threatened employee was uninjured.

The group was apprehended after police surveillance footage matched the car from the scene to a car in nearby Beppu City, and the gang was arrested less than a day after the crime took place.

▼ This certainly wasn’t one of their New Year’s Resolutions.

While the story has a happy end with the gang getting caught, Japanese netizens couldn’t overlook the fact that the culprits were all under 20.

As they were all minors, some of them high school students and others construction workers, their names have not been disclosed to the public, which rubbed some netizens the wrong way.

“Even if they’re minors, shouldn’t their names be made public in violent cases like robbery and murder?”
“They’re still so young, they have no idea how this will affect their future. Their names will remain on record for the rest of their lives.”
“The police did a good job catching them so fast!”
“The fact that they were driving means they’re at least 18. Isn’t it weird to refer to them as ‘boys’? If they have the right to vote, then they should have their names published too.”
“Third grade high school kids, about to take a university exam or start looking for jobs, to begin their new life. This is not a good way to start it.”

If your plan for the new year is to start saving money, this is absolutely not the way to go about it. And while it’s certainly shocking that this crime took place, for some it’s even more shocking that people are still going to pachinko parlours in the first place.

Source: Yahoo News via Otakomu
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