An unemployed 41-year-old man from Kawasaki was arrested this week on suspicion of carrying out over 200 thefts. But Nobumitsu Noguchi didn’t need the money to keep a roof over his head or feed a huddle of hungry kids. No, he required it to fund his trips that covered the length and breadth of Japan. All in search of the nation’s finest food.
The police suspect that the gallivanting gastronome bagged tens of millions of yen during his campaign of theft and burglary, but as yet only have evidence on 35 cases. One of them being a supermarket break-in that netted Noguchi a cool 4.6 million yen (23,000 pounds).
During questioning, the suspect admitted to the allegations, saying, “I wanted to eat soba noodles in Okinawa and ramen in Hokkaido.†And the seizure of a mileage card belonging to Noguchi proved his epicurean excesses. As in two years he made over 110 food related flights, and also enjoyed traveling around the country on tours aimed at gourmands.
Quite a life. Or at least it was.