Rip-off 1,000+ bikes?

[Taro Toporific]

[Caustic Saint]

A 67-year-old man sent to prosecutors on suspicion of stealing about 20 bicycles has admitted stealing and selling more than 1,000 bicycles over a 3!-year period, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Tuesday.

Is that ! after the three a mis-displayed digit, or is it just showing shock that he stole 1,000+ bikes in 3 years.

If it's in 3 years, that's nearly a bike a day. Quite busy for an unemployed guy.

[Taro Toporific]

A 67-year-old ...admitted stealing and selling more than 1,000 bicycles over a 3!-year period, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Tuesday.

Is that ! after the three a mis-displayed digit, or is it just showing shock that he stole 1,000+ bikes in 3 years.
If it's in 3 years, that's nearly a bike a day. Quite busy for an unemployed guy.

Yep, that "! after the three" is cut-n-paste glitch. That three-a-day rate is easy work since there are few real bike locks in Japan. My household has had 4 bikes ripped off in 15 years...the last two were padlocked with logging chains.

** Panasonic Uses GPS to Catch Those (Electric) Bike Thieves

In Brief: Panasonic says it will be first to market with an electric bike that uses a GPS system which connects to Secom's security service to track the bike when it is lost or stolen. The bike, produced by Matsushita affiliate National Bicycle Industrial, can be tracked in real time via Secom's Web site or by calling a company operator.

Source: As many long-term Japan residents know, the host country's low crime rate doesn't apply to bike theft. Bikes can disappear at an alarming rate, and they're usually just ridden somewhere and abandoned. If Matsushita can produce a low-cost version of this GPS system for mama-charis (those bikes with baskets that housewives ride), it would have a nationwide hit.

J@pan Inc Magazine Presents:
T H E J @ P A N I N C N E W S L E T T E R
Commentary on the Week's Business and Technology News
Issue No. 231 / http://www.japaninc.net/mag/
Wednesday, June 18, 2003

[Iambobo]

Isn't the digital age great Taro Toporific? They are going to use the same system to stop paedophiles from going near schools and stuff.

But 1000 bikes? What was he planning to do with them all? Didin't the people living ext door find it strange that everyday, this guy was comming home with a new bike under his arm?

[Caustic Saint]

Yep, that "! after the three" is cut-n-paste glitch. That three-a-day rate is easy work since there are few real bike locks in Japan. My household has had 4 bikes ripped off in 15 years...the last two were padlocked with logging chains.

Wow. I didn't have a bike while I was in Korea, but everybody there used these flimsy-looking cable locks that were nothing more than a 12" diameter hoop with a lock built in. The cable was maybe 1/2" thick, but I never saw or heard of any instances of bike theft. (I'm sure SOME bike theft exists.) People just lock the front wheel to the public rack and go on their way. I was surprised the first time I saw this, since I figured a thief would just take off the front wheel, leaving it locked to the rack, and make off with the more costly part of the bike. Pick up a cheap wheel and he's got a whole bike to sell. Never saw any abandoned wheels though, even on bikes thay were left at one rack for several days.

Taro, the thing with logging chains surprsies me. The only thing I ever locked up that securely was my motorcycle when I lived in a bad part of town (in the US, not in Korea).

[gomichild]

The trick is to have a large agressive looking bicycle - no-one looks at stealing it and people scramble out of the way when they see a crazed gaijin bearing down on them on a large powder blue bike.

To steal mine the thief would need to make sure their feet can reach the peddles

[Caustic Saint]

The trick is to have a large agressive looking bicycle - no-one looks at stealing it and people scramble out of the way when they see a crazed gaijin bearing down on them on a large powder blue bike.

To steal mine the thief would need to make sure their feet can reach the peddles

Hmmmm. Good points. I may have to bring mine with me then - red, black, white and chrome, Y-frame, full-suspension bike. It looks pretty aggressive. And at 6' tall with long legs, it'd be a challenge for somebody shorter to make off with.

OT: This does raise the question (for me, anyways), how much would a half-decent, full-suspension bike set one back? I don't do too much off roading, but am fairly tough on my bikes and the shocks help them live longer.

[GomiGirl]

I have a shopping bike with a basket on the front. I think it is pretty cool as it is blue with straight handle-bars - a mama-chari rather than a baba-chari.

I wanted to put flowers on the basket like the one I had in primary school, but I can't find them anywhere.