There are tons of offbeat crimes. Stuff that is puzzling. Stuff that is odd. Few crimes this year are bound to top this recent arrest in Japan—or, for that matter, involve as many potato chips.
You might know voice actress Nana Mizuki from her roles as Colette Brunel from Tales of Symphonia or as Fate Testarossa from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, among many other well-known parts. Mizuki is also a popular singer, and thus, Japanese snack company Calbee has been offering ten lucky potato chip eaters the chance to win a backstage pass to her August 3 concert in Yokohama. One fan, 25 year-old Kazuki Fukumoto, apparently really, really wanted one of those backstage passes—so much so that he allegedly purchased one thousand bags of Calbee potato chips.
According to Mainichi News, Fukumoto supposedly clipped the raffle numbers (see below, courtesy Rakuten) on each bag to enter the contest without actually eating the chips.
The result was 89 cardboard boxes, weighting a total of 458 pounds. Asahi reports that all the chips cost around the equivalent of US$3,000. Between May 4 and May 23, Fukumoto supposedly dumped these boxes of chips at six different locations around Kobe and the city of Akashi.
Police picked him up for unlawful dumping, and Mainichi News reports that Fukumoto has confessed to his crime, saying that he was getting rid of all the potato chips he bought. Asahi quotes him as saying he wanted to meet Mizuki—hence all the potato chips. And no, it doesn't look like he'll be getting that backstage pass.
[Photo: arasyndrome]
Online in Japan, commenters have been calling the suspect wasteful and this alleged crime ridiculous. "Just throw that away for the trash collector where you live," wrote one commenter on Japanese forum 2ch. "This is totally stupid." Others belatedly offered their potato chip eating skills.
不法投棄:応募券欲しさにポテチ１０００袋…容疑の男逮捕 [Mainichi]
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