“Annoying to put on clothes,” Kochi City official arrested for taking out garbage naked

Not saying I agree with what he did, but he does have a point.

It was a sunny morning on 16 April when Kenichi Kuroiwa, a Kochi City Property Division manager emerged from his apartment building to take out the trash at 6:20 am. Carrying his white garbage bag and wearing nothing but shoes, Kuroiwa walked along the building path to the residents’ garbage collection box, as is his civic duty.

However, before he could reach his destination, a police officer suddenly came out of nowhere and asked, “What are you doing?”

The answer didn’t really matter because Kuroiwa was caught red-bottomed and arrested on the spot for public indecency. It was also clear that the officer’s timing was too perfect, and Kuroiwa must have realized he had be the target of a sting operation.

The arresting officer later told media: “Last week, we got reports from area residents that ‘a naked man often appeared in the neighborhood at around 6 a.m.’ so investigators were put on stakeout.”

Authorities also said that Kuroiwa was cooperating and admitted to the charges, saying he did it because “it’s annoying to put on clothes.” Police say they believe he is telling the truth and not some out-of-control exhibitionist. Readers of the news, however, still have their reservations.

“Be honest man, you like doing that.”
“It’s only troubling to put on clothes if you’re an ape.”
“I too think it’s annoying, but the embarrassment is more powerful.”
“I’d believe him if it only happened once, but this was an addiction for the guy.”
“It must get warm in Kochi early.”
“Come on. We’re talking about slapping on some shorts, not putting on a tuxedo.”

The fact that this was a common enough occurrence does suggest something beyond being too lazy to put on pants. Perhaps the police accepting Kuroiwa’s excuse is their way of letting him off with a warning, because in Japanese law public indecency is defined by the intent of showing people your junk rather than incidentally letting it all hang out, if you’ll excuse my legal jargon.

Kuroiwa was said to be a responsible employee who assesses public facilities for renovations and also worked on the Tsunami Evacuation Tower, being built in preparation for a major earthquake. A co-worker told Nikkan Gendai, “I was surprised because he wasn’t the type of guy where I would say, ‘yup, it figures.'”

Hopefully Kuroiwa’s nature-boy days are no more now, not only for the appetites of his neighbours but for his own safety. There tend to be some really big crows hanging around garbage bins in the morning, and as they say, early bird gets the worm.

Source: Nikkan Gendai, Nikkan Sports, Itai News
Top image: Pakutaso

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