Robbery in Kasuga

It seems that two apartments in our neighborhood were robbed of about $1.5 million dollars of Edo-era gold coins, precious metals and cash. Was it in our building…?

Tod saw a film crew outside our mansion last night, one camera on a tripod pointing towards the front door and another panning across the building. This morning my friend Junko sent a mail asking after us, “I watched the news of a robbery in Bunkyo-ku last night and the apartment seemed to be where you live.”

And those two clues sent me off in search of news of the robbery. I found an article at Asahi.com in Japanese that seems to point in the right direction. You can click the image for a larger version or read on for a rough translation.

I printed the article and took it downstairs to the front desk to ask if this happened in our building. The blue-jacketed gentlemen who watch over the doors were very interested in the article, but they didn’t say it took place here. So I guess the robbery happened to some unlucky neighbor and not to the guy down the hall.

Here’s what the newspaper wrote (more or less):

“170 million yen in Edo-era gold coins and other valuables were stolen from an apartment in Kasuga 2-chome, Bunkyo-ku Tokyo. Police are investigating.

“The Tomizaka Investigative Department stated that the 2nd floor apartment is owned by the 53 year old president of a Meguro real estate agency. On 10/31, he discovered that 65 million yen in cash, one Tenpo coin worth 7 million yen, 10 watches with a total value of 50 million yen and 42 million yen in gold as well as some foreign gold coins had been taken from his closet. The apartment directly above on the 3rd floor was also robbed of approximately 2.5 million yen in cash and precious metals.

“Police believe that the thief gained access to the apartment by using the building next door for support as he scaled the space between them and broke the window of the apartments.” Asahi Shimbun 11/05

Posted by kuri at November 05, 2003 01:28 PM