Window-shoppers beware! Store owner gets tough

December 8, 2000
Web posted at: 9:37 PM HKT (1337 GMT)

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- A Japanese shop owner with an acute aversion toward window-shoppers has been arrested for allegedly threatening a woman and forcing her to apologize for eyeing merchandise in his store she didn't want to buy.

Fed up with having shoppers leave his clothing store empty-handed, Akira Ishiguro, 38, had put up a sign at the entrance of his shop in Yokohama, near Tokyo, prohibiting entry to those who had no intention of buying, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said on Friday.

The sign read: "Entry strictly prohibited to shoplifters, browsers, and teasers."

Many customers didn't notice or paid no heed to the warning, but Ishiguro meant business.

"Didn't you see the sign outside? Do you take me for a fool?" Ishiguro allegedly shouted at a 26-year-old woman when he discovered she wasn't interested in buying a coat she had handled.

He then proceeded to force her to get down on her knees and apologize -- considered the ultimate form of humiliation in Japan -- and coerced her into handing over the 3,000 yen ($27.12) she had in cash as down payment for the coat, priced at 42,000 yen, the report said.

A shopping mall association said it had in the past received several similar complaints about Ishiguro, who was said to have, in one instance, kept a customer locked in his store until she agreed to purchase something.

Police said Ishiguro denied having made the 26-year-old woman get down on her knees, according to the newspaper.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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