The foreign angle
The Japan Times: May 18, 2004
.... Russians, who entered Japan on temporary visas and described themselves as car importers, were arrested in Akita on suspicion of the theft of a motor from a small boat. The arrest came hot on the heels of new figures showing a grand total of 31 cases of outboard-motor robbery in the prefecture in 2003, compared to exactly no cases in 2001 and 2002....
... custom duties for Japanese import cars have recently been raised in Russia, foreign car-dealers have been faced with dwindling returns in the used motor market. However, demand for outboard motors has apparently been increasing in Russia over the past few years, providing Russian robbers with what one police investigator calls a "fruity sideline" to car theft and export.
