Nagoya’s Train Station Scissor Bandit Finally Caught?

Japan, a land where ancient and modern traditions and cultures often blend in surprising number of ways.

Falling more into the weird, is the case of the alleged scissor bandit, Akiya Yoshida.

He may have committed more crimes than just running with scissors.

Police began their hunt earlier in the year when since May women around train stations in the city of Nagoya, began to report that their hair or skirts had been cut.

The packed conditions of commuters made detection difficult of the serial-snipper and his trimming ways.

Avant-garde hairstylist, secret-samurai dressmaker, or simply a prankster jerk?

After admitting to police that he cut about 35 centimetres of hair from a 40-year-old woman on Monday on the Meitetsu Nagoya Main Line, the 23-year-old Yoshida was charged with assault.

Now he’s being investigated in relation to approximately 30 other scissor cutting incidents in the area over the past several years.

As for what he does with the locks of hair and snippets of dresses, Yoshida reportedly admitted to the police that he planned to sell the hair via online auctions.

Apparently there’s demand and buyers for such things.

Wigs, patchwork quilts, or some fetishes far more sinister?