crime

Man with only Y42 on him runs up bar tab of Y137,000

61 Comments

Police in Kyoto have arrested an unemployed 35-year-old man on a fraud charge after he was unable to pay the 137,000 yen bill at a hostess bar where he was eating and drinking for four hours.

According to police, Koichi Eguchi, who has no fixed address, entered the bar in Kiyamachi at around 9:15 p.m. on Monday, Sankei Shimbun reported. Eguchi sat in a lounge with a hostess and ordered beer, champagne and food until about 1:15 a.m. Tuesday. He also treated other guests in the bar and some staff to drinks.

When he was presented with the bill, Eguchi reportedly said he only had 42 yen on him. He said he didn't have any credit cards with him and that he had left his money in his hotel room, police said. However, staff prevented him from leaving and called police.

When police arrived, Eguchi admitted he had no money. He was quoted as saying he really wanted to drink that night and couldn't help himself.

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

61 Comments
Login to comment

What? I swear that reasoning works every time.

Yes, Koichi obviously could not help himself.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Wow I'm amazed he wasn't found all roughed up in an alley behind the bar.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

This is just an effort to go to jail and get free food, shelter, medical. These people should be punished with hard physical labors.

-2 ( +13 / -15 )

This is just an effort to go to jail and get free food, shelter, medical. These people should be punished with hard physical labors.

Probably not, just a lonely guy who wanted some companionship and have his ego stroked and figured that the people would let him off or let him pay it in installments.

6 ( +11 / -5 )

Ha ha, if you are going to commit a crime, you might as well do it with a little flair!

25 ( +25 / -2 )

This might be one of the few times where the old excuse of "I was drunk and don't remember anything" might actually have a grain of truth to it.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

I have no sympathy WHATSOEVER with this hostess bar. And good on him. A Y137,000 bill for 1 evening in some dodgy hostess bar in Kyoto? I'm glad this homeless guy showed them for what they really are. Let him off.

16 ( +24 / -8 )

I have no sympathy WHATSOEVER with this hostess bar. And good on him. A Y137,000 bill for 1 evening in some dodgy hostess bar in Kyoto?

This is a pretty ridiculous comment. The bar sets the price. If the customer doesn't like that price, no one is forcing them to go. You can't decide after the fact that it's too expensive, it's up to you to confirm the price before you consume.

-7 ( +11 / -18 )

He decided to go to jail, but in style. Somehow I like the guy.

13 ( +14 / -2 )

Stranger, we all know the law about not having money and running up a tab/ the bar sets the prices blah, blah, blahdy blah etc. I'll say it again. Y137,000 on one night out - good on him for ripping them off. There is no way it was a reputable club of any sort nor a private members club. He is homeless and got in which tells you what kind of slummy joint it was. And there is nothing to justify a hostess bar charging Y137,000 on 1 night. Which is more ridiculous than my comment.

9 ( +13 / -4 )

That restaurant should implement a $50 dollar drink limit. You have to pay $50 upfront to continue service of drinks? I have seen this too many times.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Must have been decently dressed, and not too bad smelling for the establishment to let him in the door.

What are places to do, run a financial background check?

4 ( +5 / -1 )

I have no sympathy WHATSOEVER with this hostess bar. And good on him. A Y137,000 bill for 1 evening in some dodgy hostess bar in Kyoto?

So should be apply this logic to everything that we feel is too expensive?

2 ( +7 / -5 )

I have absolutely no acrimonious feeling towards this bloke. In fact, good on him for getting one over on this type of establishment who make their living ripping people off and exploiting their naivety/desperation.

They probably thought "here is another loser who's going to waste all his hard earned cash here hehe". Not this time folks.

5 ( +11 / -6 )

That's pretty cheap for 4 hours boozing and eating in that type of establishment.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

I'll say it again. Y137,000 on one night out - good on him for ripping them off.

No, it's not at all. There is nothing wrong whatsoever with the bar charging that price. You are victim blaming.

There is no way it was a reputable club of any sort nor a private members club.

So?

there is nothing to justify a hostess bar charging Y137,000 on 1 night.

They don't need to justify it - they are allowed to set whatever prices they want, same as a potential customer is allowed to not go there and not pay that price.

Your entire premise is absolutely ridiculous.

good on him for getting one over on this type of establishment who make their living ripping people off

They don't rip people off. Anyone who doesn't know the types of prices they charge before going in is stupid to not find out before participating.

Your premise is just as ridiculous as the other poster's.

-1 ( +12 / -13 )

Jeez, can we all put away our Judge Dredd badges for a bit? I mean, yeah, the guy has to go to jail for this, but I'd tip my cap to him as he walks the police walk him by. There is something satisfying in seeing someone who has so little and likely gets treated so terribly every day of their life pulling a fast one on a luxury business that offers nothing of real value to society and which is apparently run so carelessly that they'll let someone ring up a bill that is for many people half a month's salary without bothering to check if they're good for it.

9 ( +12 / -3 )

@Joeintojyo I'm pretty sure he just reads the news.

@Strangerland Well said!

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

I remember going to snack bars way back when and when the bill arrived it was a big mystery. nobody had any idea how much it would be

5 ( +6 / -1 )

So, four hours in a hostess bar costs 1400 bucks? What a complete and utter rip off! I think this guy is lucky they called the cops and he didn't end up being another set of bones in a pond.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

I remember going to snack bars way back when and when the bill arrived it was a big mystery. nobody had any idea how much it would be.

"If you have to ask the price, you can't afford it."

2 ( +7 / -5 )

Obviously he's going to be running for election in the Tokyo governor race and he's just practicing.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

So, four hours in a hostess bar costs 1400 bucks?

It can - it depends on what you are doing, drinking and eating. You'll notice that he was drinking champagne - that usually is around 30,000 yen/bottle in a hostess bar. Drink 2-3 bottles of that, order food, choose the girls you want, get multiple girls, and the bill is easily that much.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

I wouldn't trust anyone who didn't at least smile when reading this.

8 ( +10 / -3 )

It isn't right for a bar to charge 137,000 yen for a bar tab-this isn't the bubble era.....,,

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Well done ! Great one

2 ( +4 / -2 )

It isn't right for a bar to charge 137,000 yen for a bar tab-this isn't the bubble era.....,,

They can charge whatever they want. It isn't right to go to a bar if you don't have the means to pay.

-4 ( +4 / -8 )

The real crime is what the bar charged the man!

8 ( +10 / -2 )

I'm referring to morality not the right to practice blind Capitalism.....

1 ( +2 / -1 )

He treated other guests too. Share the love, especially when it is free.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

The first time I went to Japan, about 25 years ago, I was walking around and fancied a drink. So I walked into a "Snack" and ordered a cup of coffee. It seemed a little bit odd as this glamorous waitress brought my coffee over then sat down next to me. I thought, this is very attentive service. The place was strangely quiet as I drank my coffee, and I was getting some rather curious looks. I think they were as puzzled as I was. My bill was 500 yen, which I thought was a little dear but, oh well, this is Tokyo. It was only later that I discovered how lucky I'd been to escape without leaving an arm and a leg behind. They must have sussed that I was a fish out of water, and felt sorry for me. You see, in my country, England, a "snack" bar is like a cheap, greasy spoon, caff. And in my innocence abroad that's what I'd expected. A valuable lesson learnt. And fortunately I had more than 42 yen on me.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

@Strangerland you have a very good gfit for gab and seems to be very well experienced!! Very worldly, I only assume you are speaking on experience!!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@Strangerland you have a very good gfit for gab and seems to be very well experienced!! Very worldly, I only assume you are speaking on experience!!

Yeah, I've been a number of times. Almost never on my dime though, all those snack/hostess bars are a waste of money in my mind. There are a million other things I'd rather spend my money on.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

kurisupisuJUN. 23, 2016 - 09:14PM JST

It isn't right for a bar to charge 137,000 yen for a bar tab-this isn't the bubble era.....,,

If that's what the stuff costs then that's what it costs. Besides there are still people around who can throw that kind of money about without breaking a sweat, e.g. either in bars like that, luxury car dealerships or Louis Vuitton stores.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Good for him.... too many "hostess" bars rip off customers.... heck, hostess bars might be why he's homeless in the first place. Maybe he figured they owed him a night out.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

Tokyo Tiger:

" There is no way it was a reputable club of any sort nor a private members club. He is homeless and got in which tells you what kind of slummy joint it was. And there is nothing to justify a hostess bar charging Y137,000 on 1 night. "

To the contrary. I have think you have never been invited by friends with expense accounts to a night out. I say it is quite easy to run up that kind of tab, ESPECIALLY if you (as was mentioned in the article) start to invite other patrons in the place. And no, I bet they were up front about the prices, and it was not slummy.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

For his sake, I'm glad that the man chose this route to address his despair and didn't choose to leap in front of a train instead.

I hope that now that he's in the system, social workers or family members are able to help him find some work and a roof over his head.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Most of these comments here praising the man for "sticking it to the man". The hostess bar did nothing wrong. You wouldn't go to a restaurant, order a bunch of food, then refuse to pay because you thought it was too expensive. That's called stealing. Instead, you look at the prices first, then go "hmm, too rich for my blood" and then leave. These bars exist because there is a market for them. No one is putting a gun to anyone's head forcing them to patronize these establishments.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

I like hostess clubs. I like spending big money. Yeehaw.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

In the 1990's I knew a Japanese bar owner and went out drinking with him and his staff at another bar nearby. The bill was shockingly large, Y125,000 or so, for what little we got. I could see the bar owner's face tighten as he silently paid. Later I asked him about the bill and he told me he went back to the bar the next day, renegotiated the price and got a hefty refund. According to him these bar bills are negotiable but seldom does anyone ask and even rarer is the person who knows how to go about it.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Last year, I found a wallet on the train in Hachioji station. It had $1500 worth of yen in it (yes I turned it in). At the time, I wondered why an old guy would need that much cash on a Friday Nite in sleepy Hachioji. Maybe he was clubbin.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

According to him these bar bills are negotiable

I can attest to the accuracy of that.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

he targeted a good place, these bars exploit others every night, so this is one night for them

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Michael ClementeJUN. 24, 2016 - 12:55AM JST Most of these comments here praising the man for "sticking it to the man". The hostess bar did nothing wrong. You wouldn't go to a restaurant, order a bunch of food, then refuse to pay because you thought it was too expensive. That's called stealing.

Strictly speaking...

Police in Kyoto have arrested an unemployed 35-year-old man on a fraud charge

... it's not stealing, it's fraud. He didn't refuse to pay, rather, he portrayed himself as able to pay when he couldn't. So let's compare apples to apples by looking at another fraud case, the frequent "ore ore" scams that come up here. Whenever some elderly person falls for the old ore-ore, we give token condemnation to the fraudster but we always attribute a little bit of blame to the victim. "How could you be so stupid as to not confirm they are who they say they are?!" we always ask incredulously.

So why the double-standard? Why is it okay to scorn the elderly as gullible but not business owners? I suspect because more of us here are business owners than elderly, so those who are so vehement that no one should applaud this guy are doing so not because they genuinely think we don't understand the legal principles at play, but more because they see a bit of themselves in the hostess bar owner and don't want the same thing to be done to them by their customers.

The thing is, the motto of these hostess bars is practically "Let the buyer beware." Their whole business model revolves around surprising the customer at the end of the night with a bill, because they know that if the customer wasn't carefully paying attention to every item on the bill they probably wouldn't rack up anything near so high. So I can applaud someone turns the tables.

Besides, the ore-ore scam is run by parasites, people who have no marketable skills other than the ability to swindle old folks and who use their ill-got gains to live the kind of life the rest of us work hard to achieve. This guy is already living a pretty terrible life, and he used most of his ill-got gains to give other people a good time. If this bar was smart, they'd play the criminal prosecution as quietly as they could, implement new policies to learn from this experience, and then subtly appropriate the mythology of this event. "I'm sorry I have to ask for a deposit up front. You see, once way back in 2016 a homeless man gave this bar the wildest night you could possibly imagine when he couldn't afford it. Oh yes, he was buying champagne for everyone and had the ladies playing games you wouldn't believe. Anyway, here is the champagne menu. Have a good time."

1 ( +3 / -2 )

we always attribute a little bit of blame to the victim. "How could you be so stupid as to not confirm they are who they say they are?!" we always ask incredulously.

Speak for yourself. I find it despicable when people blame the victim.

Their whole business model revolves around surprising the customer at the end of the night with a bill, because they know that if the customer wasn't carefully paying attention to every item on the bill they probably wouldn't rack up anything near so high.

This is where you're incorrect. This may be true for foreigners, who don't know how these places work, but Japanese people know how they work, and have a rough idea of what the bill will be, and expect to pay it when it comes.

If this bar was smart, they'd play the criminal prosecution as quietly as they could

I disagree. They should play it as loudly as possible, so that when the guy is found guilty, others will know that actions like this have consequences.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Were the prices clearly displayed and known by the customer before ordering? If not, then I don't agree that the bar can charge what it likes. If the charges are way out of proportion to the costs the bar incurred then it's nothing but extortion. A court can decide what a reasonable bill should be.

This case is different in that the guy clearly had no intention of paying and can be arrested for fraud.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

What some here forget to understand is that the billings of a majority of these snack bars are unscrupulous especially those with the underworld affiliation or backing and they can always makeup charges that aren't on the menu and there isn't much you can't do but pay. They can put tap water in 500ml bottle and claim it is mineral water and charge you 1,000 yen, you can be billed 3000yen for instant curry that cost just 198yen. In most cases they don't have a one-for-all billing but case-by-case depending on how they weigh or assess you and in some cases they have the same menu with different prices on them. There is no way anyone can understand the billings of joints that are unscrupulous. How many of us here fully understand the billing of cell phone companies not saying that phone companies are shady though.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

137,000 yen. So what? That's what they charge. Too expensive for you? Then don't go there. Apparently, a lot of guys still want the company of a hostess to go to these types of places and drop a lot more than 137,000.

You could say some fancy meal at some fancy restaurant is not worth it (take that 50,000 yen a meal restaurant in Kyoto), but if you think it's not worth it, don't go there.

I think these places should start running a tab (i.e., customers have to hand over a credit card) before the first drink is poured.

And why is it that a lot of these crimes are committed by unemployed dudes? I swear, get a job!

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

The issue with these types of places is the price they tell you at the beginning and the bill you get at the end are often completely different. I think that's why so many people are congratulating this guy, although without more details it's hard to know if this particular "bar" was one of those types of places.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

137,000 yen for 4 hours of eating and drinking? I know several places where you can do that for under 8,000 yen. Oh, but that doesn't include having hostesses tell you how handsome you are, lol.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I know several places where you can do that for under 8,000 yen. Oh, but that doesn't include having hostesses tell you how handsome you are

Or champagne.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

High prices at hostess clubs provide high-paying jobs and disposable income for the owners and workers. They spread that wealth around by empowering women who support businesses in their area, such as hair stylists, clothing boutiques, jewelry and accessory shops, expensive restaurants, champagne companies, car dealers, etc.

:)

2 ( +3 / -1 )

domtoidi - Har!

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Just think: If enough people did this, it would put the establishment out of business or maybe get them and similar establishments to lower their prices or possibly be more upfront about their pricing in order to protect themselves.

Effectively, what this guy did is 'vote with his wallet'. In a society which frowns upon public displays of protest and any appearance of deviating from the mainstream 'shoganai' attitude towards things which secretly piss people off, is what he did really so bad?

Perhaps it is exactly small individual protest like these which Japan needs in order to effect the change that will move this country forward.

One small step for a Japan-man. One giant leap for Japan-kind ?

Bravo, ganbatte, bon courage!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

maybe get them and similar establishments to lower their prices or possibly be more upfront about their pricing in order to protect themselves.

Pray tell, how would lower pricing or up-front pricing have prevented this incident?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Nothing but respect for this man. Would donate $1000 to him. Based.

-1 ( +1 / -1 )

I've been turned away from a snack bar because I was a foreigner. I didn't know it was a snack bar. I wanted to have a drink, so I thought I could just walk into a place at 10:23pm on a Friday night that served alcohol. As I opened the door, the lady behind the bar yelled "No No No!" as a man from the bar rushed towards the door and said "Gaijin, NO!" as he slammed the door in my face. Luckily he could enter freely and did as he pleased. I also, had much more than Y42.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Everyone whining about the "high" bar tab, are you all illiterate? He was in there for four hours buying other customers bottles of champagne! You can easily blow that amount on a single bottle if you're in the right kind of club, and the base fee for just sitting there could be past 10 000 an hour.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I don't know why so many people are criticizing the fact that the bar itself was expensive. I agree that these bars and clubs can charge ridiculous amounts but I'm sure the guy (if he had not wanted to do what he did), knew that going to such a place would cost him. If you don't pay, it's illegal. Why does it matter where it is that it took place? Are people now suggesting that just because these bars are charging high prices that it's okay for people to eat and drink and then not pay? If you think about it, with the amount of money he had on him at the time, charging him at the lowest possible prices would have resulted in the same thing, no? So, just because he's poor and that the bars are doing what they're doing, it's okay for people to just walk in to get free food? Where is the logic?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites