TOKYO (TR) – Last month, the Japan Tourism Agency revealed that the number of foreign visitors exceeded 36 million in 2024, a figure that represents an all-time high. Spending in lodging, shopping and other expenses, too, reached a record, hitting 8.14 trillion yen.
These records are not without their drawbacks, which large-scale shoplifting, reports Fuji News Network (Feb. 3).
According to the the National Police Agency, large-scale shoplifting — which means the theft of many items at one time — by foreigners targeting drugstores has become a serious problem in recent years. As a result, the agency has requested industry associations to thoroughly implement crime-prevention measures.
According to the NPA, an analysis of cases from 2021 to 2023 revealed that the average amount lost per shoplifting case at a drugstore by a Japanese suspect was 10,774 yen. Meanwhile, the figure for a foreign culprit was 78,936 yen.
In addition, the average loss per shoplifting case by a foreign tourist was 88,531 yen.
More than half of the items stolen are medicines and cosmetics. A method commonly implemented by criminals utilizes multiple people coming to a store. One person then attracts the attention of the store clerk while another person shoplifts.
On January 28, the NPA submitted a set of crime-prevention guidelines to the Japan Chain Drug Stores Association, which includes major drugstores, and called for thorough implementation of these measures.
The guidelines suggest that expensive cosmetics and medicines, which are likely targets, should be displayed in empty boxes and placed in places where store staff can easily see them. They also call for the installation of more security cameras and security gates. Reporting of shoplifting cases to police should also be done as soon as possible.