Jilted man arrested after refusing to pay for 500-km taxi ride

Saturday 15th November, 07:46 AM JST

IBARAKI —

A man depressed after his girlfriend dumped him was arrested for failing to pay for a 500-kilometer taxi ride back to his home town, police said Friday. Kazuhisa Mashiko, 23, unemployed, was arrested after he refused to cough up the 367,000-yen fare for the eight-hour ride across Japan.

“I wanted to go back to my home town, because my heart was broken by my girlfriend,” he told officers in his home town in Ibaraki prefecture, according to a police official. But police were skeptical. “He said he took the free ride because he was dumped by his girlfriend but it just seems like an excuse to defend himself,” the official said.

He got in the taxi Sunday evening in the western city of Himeji in Hyogo Prefecture and went all the way to Ibaraki, northeast of Tokyo.

He eventually agreed to make amends after the taxi driver went to police, who took Mashiko into custody.

“I will borrow money from my friends to pay the fare,” he said tearfully, according to police.

Wire reports

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Latest 15 of 41 Total Comments Show All

pandachan at 11:32 PM JST - 15th November

wow..... it's almost like Japan doesn't have any worse problems than some guy who tried to skip out on his cab fare.
PepinGalarga at 01:40 AM JST - 16th November

the driver is an idiot for accepting the fare, but still he is entitled to the money.

the outlandishness of this story does merit mention here. I'm waiting for it to show up on the western sites.

reminds me of the movie Splash when Tom Hanks wanted to go to Cape Cod. In that case he showed the money up front! He ended up quite well too.
letstalk at 02:56 AM JST - 16th November

another sad story of an unemployed jilted by a lover.., my goodness!
letstalk at 02:58 AM JST - 16th November

He said he took the free ride because he was dumped by his girlfriend

lame excuse.., geez can't you think of a better reason? this is as old as your grandmother, loser!
Sarge at 08:22 AM JST - 16th November

"the driver is an idiot for accepting the fare"

Huh? He didn't get the fare.
But, hey, 367,000 yen for 8 hours' work is pretty darn tootin' good if you ask me. That's 45,000 yen an hour!
Puff_the_Magic at 12:02 PM JST - 16th November

How come he didn't take a bus or the train? Much cheaper. I don't think I could ride that far with a stranger feeling depressed anyway.
moonbeams at 04:17 PM JST - 16th November

Something is wrong with the taxi driver as well.

If there were no trains available, hotel for the night plus bullet train would be under 30,000 yen. Same cost for flying or even renting a car and driving yourself.

The driver should have realized that we would be screwed.
PepinGalarga at 05:18 PM JST - 16th November

"fare" is taxi lingo for "customer", at least in the US.
bible36 at 10:12 PM JST - 16th November

Nice to see taxi drivers get screwed for a change.
Sarge at 10:22 PM JST - 16th November

"the driver is an idiot for accapting the fare"

Oh, I get it now - you mean the driver is an idiot for believing the guy would pay the 367,000 yen fare!
I dunno... I think there are probably cases every week where rich people, with money to burn and don't want to get on a train or bus with other people or who don't want to/can't drive themselves, take long, expensive taxi rides.
PepinGalarga at 12:50 AM JST - 17th November

in this economic situation in Japan, there are probably 5 people in all of Japan that could afford to do that. its common sense for any taxi driver to ask the customer the method of payment before accepting a 8 hour ride, especially since the driver has to drive back for 8 hours without anyone in the back seat!

Try taking a taxi in Manhattan and telling the guy you want to even go accross the river to New Jersey, they'll pull a Danny Glover move on you, they wont even let you get in the taxi.
techall at 09:58 AM JST - 17th November

Dudes, read the last line of the story, The cabbie IS getting his money. So it was a good deal for him, he can take the vacation to Hawaii.
Sarge at 10:08 AM JST - 17th November

techall - Dude, read the last line of the story again. The cabbie will get his money ONLY if the guy's friends are dumb enough to give him the money!
techall at 10:20 AM JST - 17th November

Sarge:

I think he will find a way to come up with the dough to stay out of jail. My guess is that the hack driver will not let this rest.
TheguyNextdoor at 03:06 PM JST - 19th November

you just don't hear about this anywhere else., 8 hour cab fare? seriously...the taxi driver should have asked for money prior to even taken the damn trip. Like another poster stated, reminds me of splash, but in this case; the kid was not tom hanks or had money. Luckily, they arrest people in japan for not paying cab fare, taxi driver will make out regardless.