Its no news that Japanese people can often catch some z's at any time or place, large examples being park benches, at desks, or on trains.
There's even this guy who lived above a toilet for years.
But what about homesteading it up at an arcade chock full of noise and lights?
Someone has done just that- in addition to stealing a good 1,230,000 yen ($11,184 USD) worth of various money and things.
Kobe Shimbun reports a 30-year-old who was recently arrested for living it up in an arcade suspected of trespassing.
Detectives say he lived there smooshed in-between arcade machines and hiding out. It was also revealed that the very same guy was breaking into various buildings, one being a local Junior High School where he stole P.E. kits, bags, and money.
Sad thing is, this guy was reported to actually have a part-time job. Terrible.
The report went on to explain that he was homeless due to a falling out with his mother, which lead him to rely on a 'friend' in Kobe city, Hyogo Prefecture- after which he ended up in 24-hour manga cafes and simple temporary lodging housing.
It always sucks when family doesn't get along and homelessness is a difficult thing to face- the stealing and causing misfortune to others is not something I condone and to me stories like this beg the question- isn't there something better he could have done?
This guy was even lucky enough to have a job which is much more than many thousands of homeless can say.
Arcade is a word that can generally mean at least 2 things in Japan. One is slang for what is usually referred to as Game Centres or Amusement Arcades like in the case of this article's subject. There's also shopping arcades which are often built in the fashion of a long hall-way or walkway of strip-mall-like portions with many types of vendors, restaurants, and stores.
The amusement arcades like many arcades around the world are not the most well-lit environments, some being dimmer than others- because well, video games need screens you can see without outside light causing glares and whatnot.
Dim but not like, super dark. Still they can be low-lit and often open all day and night- many 24-hour arcades exist.
Its been possible for folks to live in a variety of situations and places people wouldn't normally think of, so why not an arcade?
If it's cold the machines could provide some warmth, or good-sized crawl spaces in empty corners or behind large machines that don't often need maintenance would seem like the perfect spot for a relatively uncomfortable environment to stake your claim on.
You never know where someone could be hiding out sometimes, the toilet guy I mentioned earlier at the start of this post really took the cake for me. My heart goes out to the homeless, but stealing like that isn't going to help anything, and now he's got an upgrade to a nice cold cell.
Source: Kobe Shimbun, SoraNews24
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