Nubius

Nubius

bugbread

Not that I carry lots of money since I use most ATM and credit cards but for the occasional $50 or $60 I might have on me I can say its not worth the wounds and possible death.

For the people that think it take balls to knife people in the face or chest thats true but I always think this way:

I work extra fucking hard for my money. I DESERVE the money I have on me to spend it any way I please and if you want my money the easy way, well tough luck, there is no easy way to get it. There is always a price to pay either an eye or stitches or anything goes.

Plus butterfly knifes are very Double Dragon/ The Warriors hehehe.

Señor Cagon

ビッグ ボス

A: It's easier to steal money from otaku than my dad or others on the street."

That guy sounds like a very sad person.

PurpleMonkey

Totally defeats the purpose of Visa and Mastercards international image eh?

WTG Japan.

Witzbold

I wonder about that micronutrient theory. I think it's definitely part of the theory, but not the whole thing.

My Asian friends who live off an American diet tend to have two builds: the average slightly smaller Asian build, or they're freakin' huge. So even with all the meat, milk, and potatoes they can eat, some Asians stay smaller, while others blow up to American proportions. Odd.

knulpm

Random J

Now that has changed, however, because of that previous system, people are still retaliating to use a Credit Card.

djricekcn

ergo as I previously said, most people probably don't have the training nor galls to really knife someone in the face. Unlike shotting someone, you actually have to get dirty to knife someone in the face and it is much harder to do.

angry_gamer

angry_gamer

Not so much on the debit cards. Big chains take credit cards, but it's still very much a cash society. I saw a lot of places taking those SUICA cards, which are prepaid debit like cards for trains and such.

As for the brown hair, in Japan w/ all the social norms and what not, to dye your hair at all is a ballsy move. Anyone w/ at least that level of attitude is a more difficult target.

Truth is, Japan is still INSANELY safe by anyone's standards, even for Otaku. Bummer these dudes are getting mugged and all, but it's not exactly the downfall of society.

burgerdog

I'll remember that.

SanjiX

And as to the idea that 'fat' or 'thin' kids can't defend themselves, there are a large variety of martial arts that don't require you to be very strong. Anyone can easily knock another to the ground and run with little to no training at all. I think that these people don't fight back, because they're afraid of the consequences if they do so (consequences being either actually hurting someone, or getting hurt back after trying to hurt someone else).

I myself have never been mugged. I'm Asian, fairly thin, and don't have dyed hair. Having been to Japan a few times, and having made several trips to various places including Akihabara, I've never experienced anything similar to a mugging. Of course, I'm also a bit tall for an Asian, but not to the point I tower over other people. Closest thing to being mugged I've experienced be those people that hand out tissue paper in little packets... I can never say no and go home with 10 or so packs... In some ways, that's even more inconvenient than getting mugged, that little pile of tissue paper I get every time I go to Japan got rather big before I just threw them all out...

Shadowmist

Tsuruya-san

;D

Witzbold

Back in high school, when I dyed my hair, my mom complained that I looked like some Hong Kong hoodlum. I was like WTF.

Nekobo

Well I am Asian (Chinese background) and when my cousin went to Japan she complained of some groping (apparantly compared to Japanses girls her age, her "bresat" were considered big) but scarred them off when she actually started making a scene (and fighting back).

@Witzbold - Most people don't have the galls nor the training to actually knife someone in the face, besides I carry one too, living in Canada and subscribing to my beer drinking friends means going camping and carrying tools wherever you go for those just in case scenarios.

angry_gamer

Trust me, they use it as an insult.

Eville1 says SKUse me a sec.

edhe (xbl)

I don't know if they're knife or just fist, but I can pretty much guarantee they aren't gun stick ups. Guns are rare here, and can get you in a fuckload of trouble if you have one illegally, so if they're going to be used in a crime, they're going to be used in a bank robbery or kidnapping or something, not mugging a geek for his pocket change.

@adamcole: "The short stature of East Asians may be contributed by micronutrient deficiency [10] such as low calcium intake partially due to lactose intolerance in 90% of their adult population"

Interesting trivia: mammals generally become lactose intolerant when they mature. That was the default state in humans, too. However, with various little ice ages and cold winters in Europe, you had periods of very little food. People who were lactose intolerant had to kill their cattle to survive, and you can only pull that trick once. Next winter, you starve. Folks who were lactose tolerant, however, could get nutrients from milk (cow, goat, etc.) winter after winter, and thus survive. So after a while, the lactose intolerance trait, which is generally in the majority in nature, became a minority trait in Europeans. Asia didn't have the same starvation conditions at the time, so people didn't need to drink milk, so they stayed in their lactose intolerant default state.

bugbread

Witzbold

Do Kesubei

Otaku are the Emos of the video game world, and they need to have their cherry popped if they're ever going to wake up.

x999x

"The short stature of East Asians may be contributed by micronutrient deficiency [10] such as low calcium intake partially due to lactose intolerance in 90% of their adult population"

I had no clue.

Adam In Texas

Witzbold

Eville1 says SKUse me a sec.

For the record, I hate pokemon and with good reason (no, I won't get into it).

NYCJason

plus too these are convo man. We mostly talk about the news not report it. If you actauly went to other places you would know that kotaku is actualy a few hours to like weeks behind most people on the intertoobs

Runna

Same damn story. Kinda sick too, that people would do something like that...And stupid to carry a stack of money like that.

RagingTowers

Hmm, too bad my natural build is quite big, though short. I always wanted to be robbed by a single person.. I want to know how it feels like.. but then I'd probably be the one robbing if such event happen.

zutto

haha and Wogsy, you're totally right. When you're in Japan long enough, though, I think you stop making the distinction...

DefenderShip

It always comes out looking a bit burnt orange to me..
Every time I show my sister pictures of me in japan with my friends she always says "Why do they all have orange hair" (which she is right, they do)

I suppose them self-dye jobs never work out right eh..

wogsy

@DefenderShip: Its "Ashcraft".

Yeah the guy is just basically looking for the easiest prey.

Cant wait till he messes with the wrong guy and winds up in the hospital or dead.

Witzbold

Maybe I'll go visit Japan XD

angry_gamer

Second part still applies, though.

DefenderShip

On brown-haired otaku, I think there is something to say of the hair color. In Japan there is a definite stereotype associated with having a bit of hair color, and while in the States or elsewhere it's not really a big deal, dyeing your hair is kind of a bigger statement here. There are a lot of automatic associations that can be made, albeit much more so with guys than with women. If you're a true shut-in otaku (the kind this guy is sniping for), it's kind of unlikely you'll do something to bring attention to yourself.

DefenderShip

Mecharine

It happens quite a lot to the older people. They usually get hit after leaving the bank or post office.

But yeah, your other points are very true and I think if its one thing Japan needs is more education on these types of situations. Then again its not like most people here really care about the Otakus anyways, since in a sense they are still looked down upon in general. The funny thing is that they run a good portion of the economy, buying all sorts of crap in excessive amounts.

If it wasnt for them I seriously think the DVD and CD industry would be a lot more dead than it already is.

Witzbold

I wish all news sites did this. The criminals need to be heard from as to why they do what they do as part of their sentencing. This way the public can learn or expose the real problems in society instead of just locking up more and more people.

Jails don't prevent crime, people that are proactive do. You can't be proactive if you don't realise what is causing the crime.

So basicly otaku should get together and discuss security messures or at least buy temporay bank cards that hold your money for you. Most people want cash so if you only have plastic then thats a lot harder to get money off of. Plus too it makes the whole thing much more of a hassel for the robber as it's not easy money any more.

Runna

Ashcraft - don't insult the readers! Not even the slower ones. He's entitled to his mis-informed opinion.

Spoffoth

Although, when theres drunk business men they will just pick fights with anyone, but hey its the same in any country with that right? :D

Most Yakuza arent stupid to go bugging normal people anyways, unless provoked of course.

Its not like the old movies or in games.

Ive walked around areas infested with Yakuza and those types of people, and you act like you belong there and mind your own biz, they do the same.

Witzbold

r0xtarninja

@bugbread: I know they are geeks but over here if you get robbed your going to get shot too if your in the right "wrong" places. Also too are these gun point stick ups or knife stick ups or trading card power deck stick ups?

Runna

Just who was that masked man? ;D

Witzbold

This is what I'm doing: linking to an article that linked to an interview with a hooligan whom I've never meet and whose identity I don't know.

This is what you are doing: being irrational and immature. Oh, and a tool.

Brian Ashcraft

badasscat

Witzbold

hondo

@Havok154: Yes, the Dragon Quest reference is comedy gold. :) Well, it's a bit less funny if he did it on purpose (or if the entire interview was made up, for that matter), but...

quen

Regarding credit cards: Japan has two things which have traditionally made credit cards less popular than in the US: 1) People save more, thus are less likely to spend money they don't have (don't get me wrong, there are plenty of folks who use credit, just witness the proliferation of Promise and Honobono Lake and other small-credit shops, but it's not near the level of credit use as America), and 2) Traditionally there is very, very little mugging, so it isn't problematic to carry cash. Since this "Akiba Crime Wave" isn't really being reported over here, most people wouldn't think that Akiba is so dangerous they should avoid carrying cash, so they don't.

And regarding the "brown hair" thing, in the Japanese, he doesn't just say "The ones who seem to be wandering around - the weak ones.", but something more along the lines of "The ones walking alone, skinny, totally 'that type' of weak guys". By "that type" he means "stereotypical weak geek". So he's not avoiding brown haired folks because they're brown haired, but because he's targeting the absolute uber-geek type.

@The Pinny Parlour: "Hang your heads in shame Kotaku for reporting/publishing such rot. The thief should be reported and handed over all details of the crimes committed immediately to police."

"Shame on you for reporting. He should be reported."??

@The Pinny Parlour: "How does being in Japan, (or any country) automatically certify one to glorify criminal acts?"

How does reporting on a crime in Japan (or any country) automatically certify one as glorifying it?

bugbread

Darkest Daze

Or they can cast Haste or something and run away...I kiiid!

excaliburps

Infradead

Wow...stealing from nerds. I imagine they don't retaliate much do they?

interesting read nonetheless. I feel sorry for 'em I really do.

excaliburps

BTW, the bastard wasn't talking about stealing *his* father, from the context, he was using "oyaji" as "old man". This cowardly punk needs to get his ass beaten.

inu

Cirrus

Please grow up and be realistic.

nya-chama

Although its been changing a lot reciently, but there still are quite a few that dont accept cards.

Witzbold

Or at least it has been the case for my friends and I so far. Even a few who were Japanese.

Plus I think most people dont like the idea of going into debt with a credit care, so they use cash. Plus its been a cash society for quite some time too.

---

More importantly over the no credit card situation, is how the fuck do some of these otakus get that kind of cash. When you look at them, its sure as hell doesnt look like they could hold down some sort of job. Even more so, one that would pay them well enough to support themselves and their atrocious buying habits.

Witzbold

L_K_M

lol No I won't 'get off my high horse' because I'm not on one.
How does being in Japan, (or any country) automatically certify one to glorify criminal acts? Crime is crime and any victim of theft will tell you that the perpetrator deserve all they get.

Report the thief to the police as they are criminals.

The Pinny Parlour

Really, though, those otaku that are getting mugged are probably those that play eroge. I'm sure if any of them played MMOs they'd know that they shouldn't go out alone. Hell, their own major MMO, FFXI, it's impossible to do anything solo after level 5! (Not sure how accurate that statement is, no need to nick pick that).

Channing

In a sense we here are a different breed of Otakus, gamer otakus. Since an Otaku is pretty much a person who enjoys a certian hobby excessively. Since we all spend time sitting around on a gaming blog, we do "fit" into the category, since its not something a casual gamer would do.

Also since Ashcraft is in Japan, he has every write to post up such stories. Even more so since its related to Akiba, not to mention the (K)otaku you notice the word otaku in it? So its not like this is a totally unrelated subject.

Get the hell off your high horse and if you dont like it just dont read it. Nobody likes a pseudo good guy act.

Witzbold

The Pinny Parlour

JoeyOliver

JoeyOliver

Furious_Liver

And this, my friends, is why I never carry cash on me.

Ohnoes! Banned!

This is why I like being relatively physically fit, I could probably beat down a mugger, or at least make them regret their time.

Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.

Yes Im being a dick I know, but seriously if you look at most of the people there you will see its not that far off.

Witzbold

VakeroRokero

Irish.Exile

**No idea on how much that is worth

Duoae

modifiedbears

man, when i lived in texas, youd have this clientele at the local comic shop that'd pay hundreds upon hundreds in cash for that warhammer tabletop stuff...such an obvious mark its not even funny.

TheIrishNinja

Also, what's up with the cardboard girl on the left, the one holding up her skirt, she's wearing one hell of a skimpy pair of underpants.

HappyCakeOven

Lennin

Elroc

=O

So once I sat her down and had a talk *She is younger than me by about 2 years, so she looked up to me for advice*

I said to her

"Why do you steal?"

"As nobody stops me."

"Well why don't you think before you go into the store "Is this worth a criminal record?"

"Ok, i'll try."

We went into a store....She stole a snickers bar. I was like "You're not thinking are you?"

I mean, I think it was peer pressure as all her friends would shoplift people things for each other as gifts.

Luckily that was a LONG time ago, she got caught trying to shoplift a great deal of stuff once. The security guard let her off, said they only prosecute once per day. So she luckily didn't get a criminal record, but [b]SUPRISE SUPRISE, she stopped shoplifitng from then on[/b]

People just need a reality check, that seems to be what this kid is hoping for. Now if only I could steal some flight money and go and give it to him....Whoops!

The Boy Least Likely

Elroc

And didn't they arrest this guy or anything???!!!

Link_the_Collector

OuNin

NameYourCharacter

Icharius

hobob