A homeless man was arrested on suspicion of shoplifting four mobile phone charms this
past Monday at Yamagata station, located about 200kms or 140 miles from Tokyo.
According to the clerk, the suspect had been seen wandering in and out the waiting room
for around 2 weeks.
He would spend all day there as he had nowhere else to go.
He allegedly stole three charms shaped like Dadacha-mame, a soybean grown in Yamagata
prefecture, as well as one charm modeled after Yokan, a jellied Japanese dessert, all of
which totaled 2,400 Yen (US$ 24).
The old man was apparently so hungry, he was about to eat the plastic trinkets, but not
before a clerk busted him red-handed for shoplifting.
According to police, he was flat broke and had nothing to eat.
He was starving to the point that he thought those charms were sweets that could satisfy
his hunger.
What do you think of the poor old man?