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Police have arrested a 68-year-old man for scattering dozens of thumb tacks throughout the grounds of a park in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward.
According to police, Takuji Onuma, on three separate occasions, placed more than 30 sharp thumb tacks throughout Toyama Park between March 4 and March 17, Fuji TV reported.
Park officials notified police who spotted Onuma in the park. He had a large number of thumb tacks on his person when he was arrested, police said. Surveillance camera footage also showed Onuma dropping the tacks.
Onuma was quoted by police as saying that he had scattered the tacks in an effort to keep people from approaching the birds and feeding them.
Police said that 14 injury cases were reported after unsuspecting park-goers were hurt by the tacks.
© Japan Today
16 Comments
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Disillusioned
Psych evaluation anyone? This old fellow has quite a few loose screws rattling around in his head.
Commodore Shmidlap (Retired)
I'd love to hear his reasoning for how the thumbtacks relate somehow to stopping people from feeding birds as opposed to, say, just injuring random people and making others avoid the park altogether while he gets his jollies from watching.
Amidalism
Lots of parks have signs up in them specifically saying not to feed the birds. If this one didn't have a sign like that, perhaps he could have gone to the local ward office and petitioned for one instead of leaving thumbtacks everywhere.
Somehow I doubt that his goal was to stop people from feeding birds. Probably another one of these geezers who are angry about all the "noise" children playing in the park were making.
FrancescoB
Its kind of amazing that he managed to injure 14 people with carefully placed thumbtacks. And those are the ones we know about.
DaDude
There are a lot of retirees who become volunteers to maintain parks in their town. One I have seen near my house is constantly yelling at kids who walk up the slide or shuffle through the sand box. Anyways I am glad they got this guy and pretty sure 99% of the people injured had nothing to do with birds any darn ways.
Steve Crichton
The strange things people do. Must be feeling lonely and alienated.
kyushubill
Another old man with too much hate and time.
smithinjapan
Well he got his moment of attention. Let's hope he gets a massive fine and a moment in lock-up, and maybe forced as community punishment to clean parks and feed animals somewhere where it's permitted?
Kobe White Bar Owner
thumb tacks = nasty p r i c k.
Disillusioned
The average person is on camera upwards of 40 times a day.
wowyz
"Scary how many surveillance cameras there are around Tokyo." "The average person is on camera upwards of 40 times a day." WOW.... lookout for those irascible, and waspish sanitation engineers in Tokyo.
Elbuda Mexicano
Sure we can COMPLAIN about our privacy and being caught by cameras at the bank, in elevators but they are there because of all the crazies like this old goat who has nothing better to do than to throw sharp thumb tacks in a public park. Imagine how many small children may have been hurt by these tacks and imagine if a small child, baby, or DOGS etc..would happen to end up putting a tack in their mouths and SWALLOWING one of these tacks.
arcieres
They should be asked to pick up all the thumb tacks, and be warned that is it not allowed. He will have to understand.
Elbuda Mexicano
It will be funny if the wise guys here who have nothing to thumb down decent comments end up sitting down on a few thumb tacks thrown down on a park bench, or on a train seat etc...and let us see how funny it will be then. Anyway, we should always be on the look out for crazies and the terrible things they can do (poison food, stick needles etc..in bread etc...)