WIT Life #43: ひったくり
Article/Journalism, Japan Trends, Translating/Interpreting, WIT Life 
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WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Interpreter/Translator/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03). Recently she’s been watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese and sharing some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.
Japan’s status as a crime free haven is being further tarnished by an increase in a kind of petty thievery known as ひったくり (hittakuri) or bag snatching. The culprits make their moves while on motorbikes, bicycles or even on foot, and many times their distracted victims do not notice them until it is too late. According to a policeman, as they are often arrested holding little or no money of their own, it is thought that these crimes are committed out of economic need.
Hittakuri has a comparatively low arrest rate, primarily because it often takes place at night which makes it hard to identify the perpetrator. Out of Tokyo’s 961 cases 542 arrests were made, which comes out to a low 56.4%. From January to May of this year there were 1,140 cases overall, compared to the same time last year when there were only 738. A survey of those who had committed hittakuri found that slightly more than half had used motorbikes and a large part of the remainder were on bicycles. However, even walking toward your target seems to prove successful, the reason being our multitasking tendencies in this day and age.
Hittakuri victims are usually marked from the second they exit a train station, as they are likely to focus on their phone or music player at this time. Most people are already texting, beginning to call someone or are into their tunes so their guards are down. With this scenario it is not difficult for an enterprising thief to take advantage of the situation. Considering the way most Japanese women hang their bags loosely from their arms, snatching them is not too challenging provided one is not noticed during his approach.
Evidently this crime is growing as warnings of hittakuri are now seen in various forms of media. Here’s a fun flier (courtesy of Japan Newbie) written in Kansai-ben which says “Be careful! This is about you! Make sure to protect your bag from hittakuri!” (In the one above also in Kansai-ben, the angry obaasan is telling the rather scared looking thief, “I’m not giving this to you!!” under the title of “Hittakuri eradication!”)
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