The “arrested” part probably goes without saying though.

A daring robbery attempt took place in broad daylight at the popular Asakusa area of Tokyo. “Daring” is perhaps an understatement in this case because the intended victim was none other than the Tokyo Metropolitan Police themselves.

The incident took place right outside the iconic Kaminarimon with its giant red lantern outside Senso Temple, pictured below behind the iconic SoraNews24 writer Mr. Sato.

Near the gate is a “koban” which is a type of small police outpost that can be found all over cites in Japan. One such koban is pictured below, with two other SoraNews24 writers who were being detained inside on suspicion of public indecency.

At approximately five o’clock in the afternoon, a 63-year-old man entered the koban located right outside Kaminarimon and brandished a fruit knife at the officer on duty, demanding “Gimme money!”

The officer then warned him to put down the knife. This, for some reason, prompted the suspect to walk out of the box where he was swiftly arrested with the help of another officer who was obviously nearby.

Since the attempted robbery took place in a major sightseeing spot in the middle of a holiday, the area was very crowded and there was no shortage of people with cameras to capture the incident.

In a subsequent investigation, the suspect is said to have admitted to the charges, claiming that, “Not having any money on me, I wanted money.”

The suspect’s motive was perhaps the only thing that made sense in this whole debacle and netizens struggled to understand what was going through his head.

“Maybe he just wanted to experience getting arrested once in his life.”
“Poor guy. Didn’t anyone tell him the police don’t have any money?”
“I guess he was trying to get arrested.”
“It’s sad that some people can have a better life in prison. There should be another way. Maybe by donating blood or volunteering for medical experiments.”
“I also was going through a rough time once and went to the police asking them to arrest me. That was about five years ago.”

Many people assumed this was a case of a broke person trying to get arrested in order to take advantage of the food and shelter that prison provides. 

But if that were the case, why would he do it at a police box at one of Tokyo’s most popular sightseeing spots on one of the busiest days of the year? He could have just as easily waltzed into a more out-of-the-way koban, waved a knife around, and been discreetly arrested. 

▼ Or you could do it in front of a thousand people with cameras. There’s no one way to go about this kind of thing.

I wonder if perhaps the guy had the foresight to realize that despite food and a bed, prison is still a rough place to be. However, if every time you were asked “Waddaya in for?” you could answer with, “I mugged a cop,” and have the news reports along with a slew of video evidence to back you up, you’d probably be seen as a bit of a live wire and not one to be easily messed with.

Then again, I’m probably ascribing way too much rationality to the kind of person that would try and rob a police officer.

Source: NHK News Web, Hachima Kiko
Top image: Pakutaso
Inset images: SoraNews24
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