Silver Shoplifters Steal Bowls of Rice

[questionmark]

Fumio Kageyama was 67 when he first turned to crime, making an unsuccessful attempt to rob a drunk passenger on a train in March 2008.

Given a suspended jail sentence, Kageyama was caught two months later stealing a bowl of rice and pork from a supermarket. This time, he went to prison for two years.

Kageyama, who spent 40 years as a construction worker on projects including the Takashimaya Co. department store in Shinjuku, Tokyo, and a bicycle-racing track in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, is part of a growing number of silver shoplifters. After he became too old to work, he wound up on the streets and turned to petty theft. Released from detention, he was caught again in April 2011 stealing hot-dog buns and fried noodles.

Read more

As I always say: In the long run it is cheaper to keep Welfare.

[+Paranoid Android]

It's actually rather sad to see this. When you get to an age like these guys you should be enjoying your life and being revered as an "honoured elder". Instead these folk did years of service and are repaid with being ignored and cast aside. Even our tribal ancestors thought better of their elders. While these primitive tribes would stone adulterers and banish thieves from their tribe, they'd acknowledge the elders and give them the highest standings in their tribe.

It's just sad.

Edited July 16, 2013 by Paranoid Android

[Frank Merton]

Crime in general is so rare in Japan that an occasional incident gets a lot more publicity than other places. Also, a doubling sounds like a lot but from what sort of base?

The elderly are cared for and respected in Japan, so the whole story just doesn't fit; there has to be more to it. Perhaps some mental problem combined with an absence of any living relatives. Of course in some ways Japanese society is being Westernized, so maybe this is an unfortunate symptom.

I would far rather be old in almost anywhere in Asia than in America. People are patient with your foibles, they offer help, the elderly who are reduced to selling lottery tickets and similar things are given preference, even if you have no family you have neighbors, and the job of caring for the elderly is honorable and carries a lot of face.

[Purplos]

Why is he too old to work at 67?

I can understand if he was laid off from his job and can't find another one, but too old? I know plenty of people who work who are older than that.

Just my editor's brain picking. lol

It's a shame that someone has to steal one bowl of food and get two years instead of help.

[Frank Merton]

Yea I'm a little older than that and have a job, and I would lay money if the owner of a restaurant in VN caught me stealing a bowl of rice or phuh or something along those lines he would give it to me and throw in some veggies. It just don't make sense.

[Ashotep]

There is nothing like hunger to prompt one to steal.

There are a lot of people that won't hire you if you are older. If you are in your 60's and have a job better be glad.

[+Paranoid Android]

Why is he too old to work at 67?

Not everyone can be re-hired at 60+! If you are laid off from work at an old age, and a prospective employer has a choice between you and a 17-year old freshman, are you certain you'd be the obvious choice?

More than that, while what you say is true, some people that age are actually unable to restart work. My mother is 64 and she recently retired because her health problems prevented her from continuing. She LOVED her job, I saw it in her every time she came home and told me about her day. But it got to the point that she was literally unable to fulfil her obligations at work and therefore had to quit.

Of course, I can't see my mother gathering the strength to run away if she stole some food from the local store, either (another part of her invalid situation), but that's entirely beside the point. To be 100% honest, your post reads like you have no compassion for those in a situation you can't seem to visualise.

[questionmark]

You can

Why is he too old to work at 67?

I can understand if he was laid off from his job and can't find another one, but too old? I know plenty of people who work who are older than that.

Just my editor's brain picking. lol

It's a shame that someone has to steal one bowl of food and get two years instead of help.

You can only get a job if there is

a) nobody younger

b} nobody healthier

c) nobody better trained

in exactly that order.

Being the economy as it is, except in very few rare cases, in Japan there is no lack of category a

Edited July 16, 2013 by questionmark

[Bendy Demon]

Crime in general is so rare in Japan that an occasional incident gets a lot more publicity than other places. Also, a doubling sounds like a lot but from what sort of base?

The elderly are cared for and respected in Japan, so the whole story just doesn't fit; there has to be more to it. Perhaps some mental problem combined with an absence of any living relatives. Of course in some ways Japanese society is being Westernized, so maybe this is an unfortunate symptom.

I would far rather be old in almost anywhere in Asia than in America. People are patient with your foibles, they offer help, the elderly who are reduced to selling lottery tickets and similar things are given preference, even if you have no family you have neighbors, and the job of caring for the elderly is honorable and carries a lot of face.

Sounds like the elderly are treated, in general, a lot better than here in the U.S. Here it seems they they are drugged up until they're little more than drooling infants that stare blankly into space.

Either that or they have them playing baby games and call it "therapy".

When I was in Switzerland many years back, I was able to meet my grandmother from my dad's side...she was in an assisted living facility and it bore no resemblance to the bleakness we have here.

She had her own apartment which looked like an apartment and not a glorified hospital room. She could go, if she wanted, to the community room which was rich with plants and a wonderful aviary of birds. People actually spoke to one another both in the building or out. The entire place sat across from a animal farm that had banty hens, deer and all sorts of things to look at AND none of the rooms or anywhere smelled stale or of offices.

People were actually healthy, no drooling or spacing out. If you said hello to them they'd say hello back.

Old age shouldn't mean fearing of being locked away, treated like an infant and having people run your life. Dignity and independence (as much as possible) should be key.

Anyway, life has become more stressful and most have to run in place harder and harder and faster just to keep their heads above water even if they live as frugally as possible.

In a desperate moments most of us would probably resort to petty theft just to survive.

[Yamato]

This story made me curious to know whether elderly in Japan were not only stealing food but also killing themselves. Suicide among the elderly has been described as an epidemic in Japan in recent years.

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=F4DD4458D8FE3F0EB95B76791E4E152B.journals?fromPage=online&aid=274338

[Purplos]

Sigh. People didn't understand what I said, but no matter.

I'm quite aware older people aren't going to be hired before younger people. the phrase wasn't "too old to be hired over younger applicants," it was "too old to work." Sixty-seven is not "too old to work." It was merely a matter of English I commented on... and didn't really warrant this extra explanation. lol

[questionmark]

Sigh. People didn't understand what I said, but no matter.

I'm quite aware older people aren't going to be hired before younger people. the phrase wasn't "too old to be hired over younger applicants," it was "too old to work." Sixty-seven is not "too old to work." It was merely a matter of English I commented on... and didn't really warrant this extra explanation. lol

Could you explain to what kind of work an elderly Japanese, who would have to run two miles of red tape to get a business permit, could do if he/she can't be hired? One thing is the US where you always find something if you really look (not that you fare much better than the elderly Japanese with his retirement money with most of the jobs you can readily find), and something quite different is the economically controlled environment in Japan, where you can't even carry groceries (for a fee) without a permit allowing it.

The government has no interest in aiding the elderly to find jobs either as there are enough young ones unemployed, who could cause a bigger ruckus, and they are cutting the retirement pays... seeing things from our perspective does not apply everywhere.