Sometimes even all the nuggets and hot dogs in the world can’t absolve an evil deed.
On 8 August in Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture, 73-year-old Kazuyuki Fujimoto reportedly entered a convenience store and approached the counter to inquire about the case of deep-fried foods next to the register.
All major convenience stores in Japan have a deep-fried food case on the counter. The one pictured below, however, was set-up for a special all-you-can-eat event. Cases in normal stores would be about one-tenth as stocked as this one.
The clerk, a 16-year-old freshman in high school, leaned over to explain the contents of the case to Fujimoto. However, as she did so, Fujimoto is accused of reaching at her from behind and touching her in the vicinity of her right breast.
Immediately after the contact occured, Fujimoto allegedly bought every single item in the deep-fried case. After what is a surely among the most uncomfortable convenience store transactions ever, he reportedly ran away from the shop with his heap of greasy foods and shame in tow.
Sadly, like with many victims of sexual assault, it wasn’t until a later date that the student finally came forward and mentioned the incident to her boss. She then filed a report to the police who eventually tracked the suspect down and made an arrest on 20 January.
Readers of the news were understandably confused by Fujimoto’s decision to buy all of the chicken, corn dogs, and spring rolls between committing the assault and fleeing the scene.
“Wait, he paid for everything, and then ran? That’s just weird.”
“Maybe he was stocking up since he knew he could never go back there.”
“Did he buy all that because he felt guilty?”
“I wanna try that! The buying all fried food thing, not the molesting thing.”
“Poor girl. It’s jerks like that that make it harder for women to find decent work. They can’t even work a convenience store without getting sexually harassed.”
According to the victim, the suspect smelled of liquor during their encounter. Meanwhile, Fujimoto is denying the charges of violating the prefectural ordinance on “obscene behavior” claiming that he doesn’t remember the incident.
The bulk purchase also remains mystery. The theory that it was some sort of penance seems off, because buying up a entire case of deep-fried food isn’t punishment — it’s awesome.
It certainly wasn’t doing the young woman any favors either, considering she would have had to place each item into a separate paper wrapper and then ask her assailant if he wanted mustard or ketchup throughout what must have been an excruciatingly long purchase.
However, while an argument can be made that the purchase was intended to be a twisted way of adding insult to injury, it was more likely a poorly thought out attempt at compensation. Sadly, there is a deeply-entrenched concept in this society that one can simply pay-off their crimes with money that has a lot of precedent to back it up.
Source: Sankei News West, Hachima Kiko, My Game News Flash
Images: SoraNews24