In Japan, surge in shoplifting by foreign gangs sparks vigilance warning

Japanese police have intensified calls for tighter security in pharmacies amid a surge in thefts by foreign criminals posing as tourists, with analysts warning that lax internal checks were fuelling increasingly sophisticated shoplifting offences committed in retail stores.

The National Police Agency provided guidelines on combating shoplifters to the Japan Association of Chain Drug Stores in late January, the first time the authorities had reached out to assist a specific retail sector.

Police recorded 13,754 shoplifting cases in pharmacies in the first 11 months of 2024, the Yomiuri newspaper reported. It added that when Japanese suspects were detained, they were caught in possession of stolen items valued at an average of 10,774 yen (US$70.36), but foreign suspects had shoplifted goods worth an average of 88,531 yen.

“There are a couple of reasons for what is going on now, but the police are right to act because this is a growing problem,” said Shinichi Ishizuka, founder of the Tokyo-based Criminal Justice Future think tank.

“A lot more people are coming to Japan as tourists and they are seeing that shops here are not as well protected against shoplifters as in other countries,” Ishizuka told This Week in Asia.

A lack of defences made retail outlets in Japan easy targets for thieves who would take their haul home, Ishizuka said. He cited an arrest in February 2024 of four Vietnamese who had arrived in Japan on tourist visas but took advantage of lax security at Uniqlo stores to steal the apparel chain’s items before shipping them to Vietnam for sale.

  

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