Pooping in supermarket checkout lands Kitakyushu man 300,000 yen fine

This might be a really gross start to a brighter future for the man.

At about 4 a.m. on 18 February in Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture, a heavily intoxicated man wandered into a 24-hour supermarket and approached a cashier in the checkout aisles.

“I wanna poop,” he informed the staff member, who then told him that the restroom was locked overnight for security reasons. While most people at that point would head off in search of another place to defecate, this man simply said, “I’ll do it here,” dropped his pants, and let nature take its course right there in the checkout aisle.

He was promptly arrested for the indecent exposure and ultimately charged with obstruction of business, given the extensive clean-up that was required afterward. Such a crime holds a maximum penalty of three years in prison or 500,000 yen (US$4,630) fine.

▼ Hopefully some of that would be used to cover the cost of burning anything used to clean that mess up afterwards, and the therapy for the poor part-timer who had to do it.

Image: Pakutaso

Meanwhile, in the court of public opinion little to no leniency was offered for such a disgusting act as can be seen in these online comments.

“That was the most costly poo I’ve ever heard of.”
“I hope there’s another supermarket in the area, because he can’t go there again.”
“Even dogs and cats know enough not to do that.”
“Wow, I can’t even pee with other people around.”
“He could have at least got a plastic bag to go in.”
“If I was the staff working at that moment, I would have quit on the spot.”

Often times this is where such a story ends, but when this man’s case went to trial this month, everyone was able to get some unprecedented insight into the mind of a supermarket checkout pooper.

It all began back in January of this year, when the man’s father passed away. The loss devastated him and he rapidly descended into full-blown alcoholism. He had been hospitalized more than once for alcohol dependency but it seemed to do little good. On 17 February, from noon he started drinking the distilled Japanese beverage with a high alcohol content known as shochu and didn’t stop until police escorted him away from a pile of his own feces in a supermarket.

▼ Shochu usually has an ABV of 20 to 40 percent

Photo ©SoraNews24

He told this all to the judge at his trial and added that he recognized his act as “inhuman.” He also promised to join a support group for alcoholism, saying that if this incident didn’t cause him to swear off drinking, then he is truly doomed.

Presiding judge Kanji Ino took his promise into consideration, and rather than the maximum punishment, handed down a 300,000 yen ($2,780) fine. In addition, Judge Ino set a condition that the fine would be reduced by 7,500 yen ($69) for each consecutive day that the man didn’t drink, meaning if he can go 40 days without touching alcohol, his fine will be completely waived.

It just goes to show that people who appear to brazenly poo in public might be going through some things of their own and we should try to be sympathetic to that…probably.

It’s true that sometimes such compassion can backfire, like it horribly did for our writer Seiji, but it still seems like the right thing to do.

Source: Mainichi Shimbun, Itai News
Top image: Pakutaso
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