Would-be store robber gets yelled at by employee; calls police himself

Wednesday 30th September, 10:34 AM JST

FUKUSHIMA —

A would-be convenience store robber called police and turned himself in after being reprimanded by an employee in Fukushima on Tuesday morning. According to police, Takashi Owata entered a Sunkus convenience store and demanded cash from a 59-year-old female employee. The woman told police she glared at the man and yelled, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

According to police, Owata threatened the woman with a wooden stick, but left the store without any money after she yelled at him. He then called police from his mobile phone and confessed to trying to rob the store. The nearest police station was a mere 400 meters from the convenience store, and Owata turned himself in. The wooden stick was found in a flower bed in front of the store. At the time of the incident, there were three customers in the store in addition to the manager and one employee.

On Sept 25, police held a seminar teaching convenience store employees how to deal with robberies. One official said, “The woman’s calm demeanor during the incident was likely highly effective.”

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Latest 15 of 43 Total Comments Show All

cactusJack at 05:38 PM JST - 30th September

That so-called "wooden stick" was half of a pair of chopsticks.
hellhound at 05:55 PM JST - 30th September

Japan is full of dumb news
stirfry at 06:24 PM JST - 30th September

what a pussy
BlackOut at 06:25 PM JST - 30th September

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

yeah lol
Shaolin7 at 07:38 PM JST - 30th September

Whatever he was thinking, I'm glad to not be reading about yet another senseless stabbing. That's one tough old lady!!
Sarge at 10:08 PM JST - 30th September

"she glared at the man and yelled, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"The woman's calm demeanor during the incident was likely highly effective"

That was her calm demeanor? I'd hate to see her pissed off.
Mexicanish at 10:42 PM JST - 30th September

"Japan is full of dumb news" ... Hahahah. Yes, but hilarious.
usaexpat at 12:26 AM JST - 1st October

Epic Failure of the grandest sort. Good on the clerk who yelled at him.
mnemosyne23 at 12:39 AM JST - 1st October

Good on the clerk! Though yelling at a potential robber is a pretty dangerous thing to do. My guess is this guy really didn't want to rob the store in the first place, gave up at the first sign of resistance, then turned himself in because he couldn't fight his guilty conscience anymore. Glad no one was injured, and now the oba-san has a neat story to tell her grandkids someday.
bushlover at 01:14 AM JST - 1st October

He threatened her with a wooden stick. What a chopstick? No wonder she yelled at him in a calm demeanor.
PepinGalarga at 08:28 AM JST - 1st October

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” is not part of Japanese vernacular as far as i know.
bdiego at 11:13 AM JST - 1st October

It never said she yelled. That's simply the translator's personal interpretation.

"What in the world do you think you're doing" is part of Japanese vernacular, so that's probably what she was saying. Which can be translated correctly as "What the hell" depending on the context and tone of voice.
bdiego at 11:14 AM JST - 1st October

This was a 59 year old guy with a stick and 4 people who could have each taken him on single handedly. I doubt you'd be intimidated in this situation knowing he obviously didn't have any other weapon and just hatched this plan on a whim. Some robbers are pretty half hearted these days and you can tell. Some of them get shot by the clerk.
mindovermatter at 11:23 AM JST - 1st October

Not only moral-less, but just plain stupid!
RandomTask at 12:27 PM JST - 1st October

Right now teaching in Japan can be interesting, but its not a career. Do it on the side and start your own business doing something else to keep you going in the future. There are a lot of other things you can do.