Japan's Elderly Go on a Petty Crime Spree

It’s never too late to turn to a life of crime. Fumio Kageyama was 67 when he first crossed the line, making an unsuccessful attempt to rob a drunken passenger on a train in March 2008. Given a suspended jail sentence, Kageyama was caught two months later stealing a bowl of rice and pork from a supermarket. This time he went to prison for two years.

Kageyama spent four decades as a construction worker on projects including the Takashimaya department store in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district and a bicycle racing track in Maebashi, Gunma prefecture. It was hard but honest work. Now he’s part of a growing number of what the Japanese call silver shoplifters. Released from detention, he was caught again in April 2011 stealing hot dog buns and fried noodles. “It wasn’t great to get caught, but I just didn’t give a damn,” he says in an interview at a halfway house, his hair cropped short and his skin tanned from a lifetime of outdoor labor. “I never did it when I had a job because I didn’t want to cause anyone trouble.”