News On Japan

Man used toy gun in 3 convenience store robberies

Sep 10, 2019 (tokyoreporter.com) - Tokyo Metropolitan Police are hunting for a man who used what was likely a toy gun to rob three convenience stores in the capital early Sunday, reports NHK (Sept. 8).

At around 4 a.m., the man entered an outlet of FamilyMart in the Asagaya area of Suginami Ward and threatened a male clerk with the gun.

“Hand over the money,” the man reportedly said before fleeing by bicycle with 100,000 yen in cash.

According to police, the suspect told the clerk that the gun was a Walther P38. An examination of security camera footage, however, revealed that it was probably an air gun.

A man with an air gun robbed an outlet of FamilyMart in Suginami Ward early Sunday (NHK)

Standing around 180 centimeters tall, the man was wearing a blue suit and sunglasses. He is believed to be in his 30s, police said.

About five minutes after the incident, the same man is believed to have wielded the same air gun in the robbery of an outlet of Lawson located near the Suginami Ward office.

At around 12:30 a.m., he is also believed to have used the toy to rob another outlet of FamilyMart in the Nishi Shinjuku area of Shinjuku Ward.

There were no injuries in the robberies, police said.

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

Typhoon Nos. 28 and 29 are expected to remain well away from Japan, but waves of 3 to 4 meters could reach parts of the country's Pacific coast from around October 10, with Typhoon No. 28 moving west near Minamitorishima at about 40 kilometers per hour as of 6 a.m. on October 8.

Tokyo University of Science professor emeritus Kenzo Soai has been awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with French chemist Henri B. Kagan for discoveries that transformed scientists' understanding of how chemical reactions can favor one of two mirror-image forms of a molecule.

The US military suspended activities by all forces stationed in Okinawa for 48 hours from noon on October 7, an unusual measure following the arrest of a US Marine in connection with a robbery and murder case that has renewed scrutiny of crimes involving American service members.

A core member of the international ransomware group Qilin was detained in Japan and handed over to German authorities, according to people familiar with the case, as Japanese companies and institutions face a growing wave of cyberattacks that has exposed nearly 15 million pieces of personal information this month alone.

New Year postcards for 2027 arrived at post offices across Hokkaido on October 6, with designs featuring sheep for the upcoming Year of the Sheep as Japan's traditional New Year card market continues to shrink.

MEDIA CHANNELS
         

MORE Society NEWS

A former dog breeder accused of failing to provide veterinary treatment to injured dogs at a facility in Neyagawa, Osaka Prefecture, pleaded not guilty as her trial opened on October 7, saying she had raised the animals with affection.

Twin brothers have been arrested on suspicion of stealing copper roofing from a remote shrine in Kochi Prefecture, as police investigate a series of similar thefts reported at about 10 shrines across the prefecture since around September 2025.

New Year postcards for 2027 arrived at post offices across Hokkaido on October 6, with designs featuring sheep for the upcoming Year of the Sheep as Japan's traditional New Year card market continues to shrink.

The Tokyo District Court on October 6 fined television personality Dewi Sukarno, widely known in Japan as Dewi Fujin, 200,000 yen after finding the 86-year-old guilty of assaulting two women who worked for her agency, including a former manager.

A 20-year-old US Marine arrested over the robbery and killing of a woman at a hotel in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, may have strangled her with the cord of a telephone installed in the room, investigators said.

Five boys aged 15 to 17 have been arrested on suspicion of robbing and confining a 17-year-old high school student in Akishima, Tokyo, after allegedly beating him with a baton, taking his cash and forcing him to travel around on motorcycles.

A 36-year-old Tokyo bar owner was arrested on October 5 on suspicion of abandoning the body of his 25-year-old girlfriend in a mountainous area of Miyagi Prefecture, with police also investigating whether he was involved in her death.

Eleven men were injured when a traditional danjiri festival float overturned while attempting to make a sharp left turn at an intersection in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on the evening of October 3, with all victims conscious when transported to hospitals and none suffering life-threatening injuries.