crime

Wallets, cell phones of 170 students stolen at Nagano hotel

44 Comments

Wallets and cell phones belonging to 170 students were stolen from the hotel they were staying at in Shiga Kogen in Nagano Prefecture, police said Saturday.

Police said about 800,000 yen in cash in wallets and purses, cell phones and train passes were stolen from a locked room where they had been stored for safekeeping, Fuji TV reported.

The Hotel Sunny Shiga in Yamanouchi is the same hotel where 340 students from the Waseda Academy in Tokyo had their wallets stolen, along with about 100 smartphones, during a summer training camp last August. Those items were never recovered and the thieves not caught.

In the latest incident, the students were girls from a high school in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, on a ski trip to Nagano. They had arrived for a three-night stay on Jan 6.

After the August incident, the hotel installed security cameras in the lobby and near the front desk. The students' valuables were kept in a locked room behind the front desk. Police said the valuables were still in the office when a hotel employee checked them at 11:30 p.m. on Jan 7. However, they were gone at 7:30 a.m. the next morning.

The surveillance cameras showed nothing suspicious, police said, adding that the office had not been ransacked.

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

44 Comments
Login to comment

The hotel should be held responsible and should replace what was stolen.

26 ( +28 / -3 )

well, so much for Japan having low crime. each day there is something going on. just because it isnt reported doesnt mean that crime is lower there than anywhere else. look at the mental health over there....they have no help for that. crime continues to happen.

-11 ( +11 / -21 )

Obviously a hotel employee if its a locked room then they are the only ones with access come on

18 ( +19 / -1 )

She's right, especially since it's happened before at the same place.

9 ( +11 / -2 )

Inside work ... probably by stressed over worked staff

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Pachinko addiction

1 ( +3 / -2 )

See what protocol can do. I would refuse to give up my position because protocol. This has nothing to do with the hotel. Why were the protocol enforce on this outing to this Hotel were it has happen before. Students will one day have to face the world on their own and taking away responsibilities will not serve them well.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Where is the proof that they were still there after they were supposedly checked, as no one else was seen on the cam. Weird.

Those 100 kids without their smart phones must have had severe withdrawal at not being able to take selfies on the slopes.

0 ( +7 / -7 )

Shut the place down until they find the culprit! Obviously, an inside job!

10 ( +11 / -1 )

After the August incident, the hotel installed security cameras in the lobby and near the front desk. The students’ valuables were kept in a locked room behind the front desk. Police said the valuables were still in the office when a hotel employee checked them at 11:30 p.m. on Jan 7. However, they were gone at 7:30 a.m. the next morning.

How much does anyone want to bet that there is a second door to this room, and the hotel forgot to put a camera on it?

6 ( +7 / -1 )

The armchair detective/psychologist in me reckons that the culprit is obviously a hotel employee/manager/owner who is very trusted, appears completely normal on the outside and seems like the last person on earth that would do such a thing, but has uncontrollable kleptomaniac urges — similar to the case with Japanese swimmer Naoya Tomita who was accused of stealing a camera.

The kleptomania could be sparked by a pachinko/gambling addiction, as @sensei infers, and/or the need to pay off substantial debt

4 ( +7 / -2 )

Police said about 800,000 yen in cash in wallets and purses, cell phones and train passes were stolen from a locked room where they had been stored for safekeeping, Fuji TV reported.

From my own experiences this sounds like a really low amount of cash and sounds like it's being under reported big time.

170 HS kids? That total by simple division gives each kid around 4,700 yen each. Not a lot by any standards. If these where JHS students I might say ok, but not HS kids and especially after New Year's where many if not most of these kids would be getting at least 10,000 to 30,000 or more in otoshidama.

I hope there is a follow up.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

"Sunny Shiga", remember that name and find out the name of the manager and owner. Bet there are yaks there.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Can't use GPS to locate the cell phones? Clowns.

6 ( +7 / -2 )

Funny, but when I went on class trips as a student, the hotels refused to store valuables in one place. We were told to use our in-room safes, or simply hold onto our valuables. The hotels said that keeping a large number of valuables in one place was very risky. I guess they were right.

11 ( +11 / -1 )

From my own experiences this sounds like a really low amount of cash and sounds like it's being under reported big time.

@Yubaru

The amount seems very likely to me. In my experience with school trips for Japanese high school students, the whole event is highly structured and painstakingly organized with every minute of the day scheduled and accounted for.

As part of that, the students are given a strict limit on the amount of money they are likely to bring, which is usually just enough to cover a few snacks and omiyage (souvenirs) to buy at expressway rest stop or hotel souvenir shops for the folks back home.

Because whenever even relatively small amounts of money are lost or stolen teachers here are expected to spend countless hours playing detective, limiting the amount of money students are allowed to bring reduces the likelihood of that sort of situation. I have seen situations at schools here in Japan where the theft (but possibly loss) of 1,000 yen (US$10) resulted in hours of meetings, detective work and finger pointing.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

well, so much for Japan having low crime.

One incident does not make a high crime rate.

just because it isnt reported doesnt mean that crime is lower there than anywhere else.

Unreported crime rates are the same as everywhere else in the world. So that means that Japan still has low crime rates. You can't just count the unreported crimes in Japan, and not in other countries.

4 ( +8 / -5 )

As part of that, the students are given a strict limit on the amount of money they are likely to bring, which is usually just enough to cover a few snacks and omiyage (souvenirs) to buy at expressway rest stop or hotel souvenir shops for the folks back home.

Typically for JHS I would agree, but not HS kids. HS kids have more freedom on trips likes these and they do spend money on lots of things. I've been on a trip with a HS class, from Okinawa to Hokkaido for skiing, then to Disneyland, these kids carried more cash than many of the teachers.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Install security cams in the lockers too

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

It seems that someone who knew this very well planed the theft and did it quickly

1 ( +2 / -1 )

inside job

2 ( +3 / -1 )

According to news sources, the girls are from Toko Gakuen HS (桐光学園) in Kawasaki. They have posted pictures on Facebook of their ski camp.

https://www.facebook.com/tokogakuen.hs.jhs/

Typically for JHS I would agree, but not HS kids. HS kids have more freedom on trips likes these and they do spend money on lots of things. I've been on a trip with a HS class, from Okinawa to Hokkaido for skiing, then to Disneyland, these kids carried more cash than many of the teachers.

@Yubaru

The amount of money the HS kids are allowed to bring depends on the school, personality of the teachers in charge of the trip/camp, and what destinations are planned during the trip. For instance, school trips to Disneyland usually involve a much higher spending money limit than ski and other sports camps. So, in this case the 800,000 yen amount mentioned in this article doesn't seem all that unlikely to me.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Seeing that this happened twice, this must've been an inside job

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Fool me once...

5 ( +5 / -0 )

" Safety Japan " strikes again.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It must be their part of hotel business.Such a hard lesson for young girls and boys to learn on holiday.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The amount of money the HS kids are allowed to bring depends on the school, personality of the teachers in charge of the trip/camp, and what destinations are planned during the trip. For instance, school trips to Disneyland usually involve a much higher spending money limit than ski and other sports camps. So, in this case the 800,000 yen amount mentioned in this article doesn't seem all that unlikely to me.

There is no blanket "amount" and 4,700 or so per student is way too low and extremely unlikely. The teachers, in many cases, do nothing, during these trips, (Again HIGH SCHOOL) as travel agencies will often send their own staff to take care of the details and watch over the kids during the trip.

And btw, this was a private school not a prefectural school, that makes the odds even higher that the amount of money the students brought is much, much, higher.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

this was a private school not a prefectural school, that makes the odds even higher that the amount of money the students brought is much, much, higher.

It depends on the school. Being a private school doesn't necessarily mean the kids are allowed to have lots of pocket money. My son's private school was very strict about how much money the kids were allowed to take with them on school trips. It was certainly never a lot of money; enough to buy a few omiyage, and a bit more for transport, entrance fees etc., if the trip included free time.

In this case, it was a skiing trip: out on the slopes during the day, dinner in the hotel, hanseikai, bath and bed. No opportunity for the kids to wander around the town paying for entertainment, no need for lots of pocket money. The trip was for 3 nights, 4 days from the 6th: so by the 8th, when the theft was reported, the trip was more or less over; they would be going back the next day, so that average of a little less than ¥5,000 to buy omiyage actually sounds like quite a lot to be left over.

http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASJ187QRCJ18UOOB00P.html

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Unless the police did this, wouldn't you think the staff working that night is as we speak, sitting in an interrogation room being grilled to admit their guilt?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

theft is definitely on the rise in Japan. People need to start learning their street smarts.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Don't the rooms have small safes in the rooms for valuables? most hotels do.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

What is the law in Japan? In the U.S., if the innkeeper provides a security box in a guest room, the innkeeper will not be liable for loss to items deposited in the security box caused by theft or otherwise, for more than $1,000, provided that a notice to guests is posted indicating the limitations of the hotel’s liability. The notice must be conspicuously posted in each room of the hotel or inn. If the loss is caused by a fire or overwhelming force (e.g., weather related catastrophes), innkeepers are responsible to their guests only if they failed to exercise ordinary and reasonable care while the guest’s property was in their custody.

www.adjustersinternational.com

0 ( +1 / -1 )

No information about the security cameras footage mentioned here. Like cameras having been switched off. Info withheld due to a pending investigation?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

they relied on the tips

Not in a hotel in Japan, and certainly not in a hotel in Japan catering to school trips.

2 ( +2 / -1 )

Strangerland. YEs Tip, most client tip, I would say 90 % of wealthily Japanese included and that is about average for most nationalities except Americans "all Yank tip" When the bill is paid up most will tip then which never end up in the person hand it was intended for. It end up with management.But I found Aussies to be the worst tippers, Instead want to take you out for a feed, get you drunk and be your mate.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Pathetic thief.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I am very sorry for those kids, but cases like this make a refreshing change from mass panty-theft (which happens so often in resorts and onsens that nobody bothers even reporting it, at least if the stories my Japanese friends and students are anything to go by).

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"so much for Japan having low crime. each day there is something going on"... Really??? 4 or 5 "crime' news items get reported in JAPANTODAY for the whole of Japan. Perhaps you should read ANY USA city newspaper and you will see numerous crime reports just for that city! Japan is still a lot safer then a majority of other countries.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

"[only] 4 or 5 'crime' news items get reported in JapanToday for the whole of Japan"

Yes the UNDER-REPORTING of crime in Japan is a national disgrace. When was the last time you saw a RAPE reported on these pages? When? The murders, attempted double-suicides, baby-killings are only reported because there is a DEAD BODY that needs to be explained away.

But when was the last time you saw a RAPE reported on these pages?

It's a NATIONAL DISGRACE and I am here calling it and reporting it for what it is. And as for those few brave souls who do go to the police.

Well done to them for reporting it!!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"The surveillance cameras showed nothing suspicious, police said, adding that the office had not been ransacked."

Which means an employee may had done this. Employees would know where the money is and how the security was and could exploit any observed security weaknesses at will.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

The was on the news last night, there was only one entrance to the room, the students belongings were in large cloth type bags, then placed in cardboard boxes (5) and then sealed with tape. The room was locked. No one entered the room, but the next morning when the manager went to check on the belongings, he opened a box, and the bag that should have been there was gone. Same for all the boxes.

Nothing on the video camera either, and it was working.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

One incident does not make a high crime rate.

No, but TWO mass theft incidents in the same location in less than six months is going to make you wonder.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

When the hotel employee checked at 11:30pm did he actually look inside the boxes? I suspect not, therefore the theft could already have taken place. I wonder if the students actually knew what had happened at this hotel last August? New rule: no phones for the whole trip.

2 ( +2 / -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