Waving obscene amounts of money in front of drunken strangers: What could possibly go wrong?

On the evening of 16 January, an unemployed 68-year-old man was assaulted and robbed on the streets of Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, suffering light injuries to his face and left hand. The lone robber made off with a brown paper bag containing 20 million yen (US$180,000) which was reportedly an inheritance from his parents.

A surveillance camera caught a glimpse of the assailant running away from the scene, but as of this writing his identity is unknown. Police will have their work cut out for them too, because earlier that same evening the victim had gone to four separate bars and showed everyone there his large amount of cash.

According to staff at one bar, the victim would tell everyone that he was “holding a lot of money.” If they didn’t believe him he would then take it all out and show them. “He suddenly took two stacks out of a paper bag,” another witness said, “he was like ’10 million, 10 million.'”

▼ What one 10-million-yen stack of 10,000 yen bills looks like

Once the victim was alone on the street, the robber made their move. While most agree a senseless act occurred, there is debate over whether the victim or the criminal was the one who did it.

“That’s like a bad comedy sketch.”
“That doesn’t make any sense, but probably it was one of the customers, right?”
“Of course, you’re going to be a target if you show off like that.”
“I think there’s more to this than meets the eye.”

The relative safety of Japanese society sometimes lulls people into a false sense of security. I’ve occasionally seen little old ladies flipping through wads of 10,000 yen bills (equivalent to $100 bills) on subway platforms without a care in the world. However, regardless of country, when your cash gets into the tens of millions, your chances of getting home with it still in your possession begins to drop dramatically.

▼ The suspect is described as fast and blurry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvQXWhS6cds

Then again, a glass-half-full type person might point out the fact that it took four bar visits before the man was robbed, whereas in many other countries only one would suffice.

Moreover, as one comment mentioned, the victim’s utter lack of self-preservation is a tad suspicious in its own right. Could this be an elaborate money laundering scheme through insurance fraud to avoid Japan’s large inheritance taxes?

Perhaps the victim is actually a billionaire with a certain fetish for dangerous situations, or maybe he was just on the prowl for some drug-laced Valentine’s Day chocolates.

The possibilities are endless.

Source: Tokai Terebi News, FNN, My Game News Flash
Images: SoraNews24