On either July 6 or 7 of this year, 21-year-old Koichi Akashi spent time at a Kobe City video game arcade. Akashi, who's unemployed, was apparently waiting for someone.
When the man he was waiting for, a 19-year-old college student, showed up at the arcade, Akashi told him, "I've spent ¥200,000 waiting for you. One way or another, you better do something about that ¥200,000."
In U.S. dollars ¥200,000 is roughly $2,600. Since Japanese arcade games cost around ¥100 ($1.30) per play, spending that sort of money while waiting is unheard of.
The 19-year-old was apparently forced to sign up for a credit card and sell off his game console and home electronics to raise the cash. In total, Akashi supposedly extorted ¥207,000—meaning he turned a profit.
According to a report, when the student first met Akashi in late June, oddly, he forced the student to take ¥100 from him.
When asked about the charges, Akashi told authorities, "I don't know that anything about that college student." Does he know anything about forcing him to fork over ¥200,000?
大学生から２０万円恐喝容疑 [MSN産経ニュース]
(Top photo: Shizuo Kambayashi | AP)
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