More elderly shoplifters than teenagers in Tokyo

Tokyo- The notion that shoplifting is mainly by teens is slowly fading away after shocking results were realized in Japan. The number of elderly people caught shoplifting in Japan's capital city outstrips that of teenagers. The number of elderly people caught shoplifting in Japan's capital city has outstripped that of teenagers for the first time in the history of shoplifting, a report said Monday.

Statistics showed 3,321 people aged 65 or older were arrested for shoplifting, accounting for 24.5 percent of the total, while those aged 19 or younger made up 23.6 percent, with 3,195 individual arrests. Both figures are slightly down in absolute terms from 2011, the spokesman said. This comes as the total number of arrests for shoplifting has been declining, the ratio of elderly people is on the rise," a Tokyo Metropolitan Police spokesman said.

It was the first time since comparable data had been collected that the elderly made up a higher proportion of suspected thieves, the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper reported.

A quarter of the people arrested on suspicion of the crime in Tokyo last year were at least 65 years old, figures showed, amid warnings of increasing isolation in the age group. The survey further showed that elderly shoplifters tend to be lonely, having no one to talk to, and having no hobby to enjoy," he said. Recently a government survey revealed that 3.5 million elderly women and 1.4 million elderly men live alone.

Japan also has a far-below replacement birth rate of an average 1.39 children for every woman.

There are regular reports of bodies lying unfound for weeks or even months after a single, elderly person has died alone. Commentators say the phenomenon is a result of the fraying of familial ties as Japan has modernised.