U.S. Marine arrested for attempting to rob pharmacy in Okinawa

Tuesday 21st April, 01:53 PM JST

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Nessie at 12:36 AM JST - 22nd April

Semper pharm.
viewer at 12:57 AM JST - 22nd April

It must have been some kind of miscommunication on the shop guy's part. It's not like a 70 year-old shopkeeper would have any experience dealing with customers or anything.
Nessie at 01:15 AM JST - 22nd April

No handgun was found, they said.

So he's also a damn liar!
grafton at 02:22 AM JST - 22nd April

Come on let’s have a little balance here. Here we have some of you asking that the rest of us don’t generalise about these poor misunderstood marines while at the same time making the most sweeping statements about the Japanese people. Do the math, how many millions of Japanese are there & how many thousands of marines? If we are going to generalise & get close to a truth it has got to be much easier done working with thousands rather than millions.

The story above says that the marine pretended to have a gun, now that’s mime in any language. Picking up the phone to call the police might also be seen as mime too. And then the guy does a runner. Why would he do that if he wasn’t pretending to have a gun & trying to rob the store? Could it be that at 10-15 at night this cretin had had a little too much to drink & was being a total idiot? Not a real robber just a drunken fool who thought it was funny?

I bet he isn’t laughing now.
Stanley50 at 06:05 AM JST - 22nd April

Question him in jail for 23 days and he won`t be denying anything. Punk Marine.
elbudamexicano at 06:15 AM JST - 22nd April

Who knows, this idiot marine, may have just been drunk and stupid to know what he was doing?? RIP old dude!
CryoSnipe at 08:17 AM JST - 22nd April

I think that this Marine was simply being 'stupid'. This doesn't sound like he was there to rob the store. I mean, if I were to rob a store knowing that I could go to jail for it, I'd be demanding a lot more than 20 bucks. But I'm not stupid enough to throw my life away for a few bucks so I do what the rest of civil society does, WORK FOR MY MONEY. In the end, when he's experienced a few days in Japanese jail, I'm certain that he'll be out there disuading others from going down that path.
CMEANDU26 at 11:39 AM JST - 22nd April

I don't believe the story. Know what can happen he tried to rob a pharmacy for $20? Why would he ask for $? Wouldn't he try to get all the money that he could? It doesn't make any sense
JoeBigs at 12:08 PM JST - 22nd April

Another Marine staining America's image here in Japan. This guy needs to pay heavy for his crime. He needs to be made an example of by his Command and by the Japanese courts.
Yelnats at 05:45 PM JST - 22nd April

$20 bucks? I would assume he was misinterpreted. He meant $20,000
Seawhiz at 10:00 PM JST - 22nd April

I don't think this guy attempted to rob this pharmacy for only $20.00. Either there was some miscommunication between the reports and pharmacy owner or between the alleged robber and the store owner. First of all I think if he was going to rob this place he would have taking drugs and money not just one or the other. How do we really know what happen maybe this guy was looking for some meds and the store owner misunderstood what he was asking for and maybe he was getting angry because maybe the owner was trying blow him off and the other workers called the cops and reported a attempted robbery because he or she was not aware of the situation or really didn't care to resolve the situation in a proper manner. Just trying to throw a new spin on the story, JToday is not always right...
FreeInJapan at 10:41 PM JST - 22nd April

I'm sorry... you expect me to believe there was a Pharmacy in Japan OPEN at 10:15 at night? Hahahaha...
Squally at 02:27 AM JST - 24th April

Stanley50: Yeah because coerced confessions are the way to go right?

elbudamexicano: Not enough details on this story to call him stupid yet. If he really tried to rob the pharmacy then yeah, he's a moron. Oh, and I don't think anyone died.

FreeInJapan: Many late night pharmacies in Okinawa, several near my place that were open until midnight.

Everyone's so quick to call him guilty despite the lack of information. Personally I don't think he'd be that dumb and that it was probably a misunderstanding. Or maybe he was just drunk and said it in a "joking" manner thinking that the pharmacy guy wouldn't understand him. Too many "what if" questions to call him guilty for sure. But if he is, throw the book at him.
zaboomba at 01:53 PM JST - 21st May

he was trying to stock up tamiflu/relenza for the mexswinefluthingie...
USARonin at 02:07 PM JST - 21st May

Japanese jail time, dummy.

Gohan and ume. Enjoy.