{"id":23008,"date":"2026-05-15T12:43:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T12:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/23008\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T12:43:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T12:43:08","slug":"trio-suspected-in-thefts-of-dozens-of-triathlon-bikes-across-tokyo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/23008\/","title":{"rendered":"Trio suspected in thefts of dozens of triathlon bikes across Tokyo"},"content":{"rendered":"

TOKYO (TR) \u2014 Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested three men in connection with the brazen theft of a high-end triathlon road bike from a residential parking area in Bunkyo Ward.<\/p>\n

The suspects are believed to have behind a rash of thefts of similar bicycles across the capital, reports Nippon News Network (May 15)<\/p>\n

The suspects, identified as Yuji Hatsukano, 50, Kazufumi Yanagimoto, 47, and a third unnamed accomplice, are accused of stealing bicycle \u2014 valued at approximately 600,000 yen \u2014 in October of last year.<\/p>\n

According to police, Hatsukano acted as the mastermind who directed the operation, while Yanagimoto and the other suspect carried out the physical theft. The perpetrators reportedly used heavy-duty tools to sever a thick security chain before riding off on the stolen bike.<\/p>\n

\"KazufumiKazufumi Yanagimoto (X)<\/p>\n

Upon questioning, the suspects offered conflicting statements. Hatsukano feigned ignorance, telling investigators, \u201cI don\u2019t remember this at all.\u201d However, Yanagimoto admitted to the allegations.<\/p>\n

The victim expressed disbelief that his security measures were bypassed so easily.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause it was such a thick chain, I was surprised when it was gone along with the bike,\u201d the male owner told reporters. \u201cI think it\u2019s better to keep expensive bicycles stored inside your own apartment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bunkyo Ward incident appears to be just the tip of the iceberg. Police believe the trio has been operating a lucrative bicycle theft ring and are currently investigating them for the theft of approximately 50 other high-end road bikes across the capital.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TOKYO (TR) \u2014 Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested three men in connection with the brazen theft of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8,52],"class_list":{"0":"post-23008","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tokyo","8":"tag-japan","9":"tag-tokyo"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}