past Monday at Yamagata station, located about 200kms or 140 miles from Tokyo.

According to the clerk, the suspect had been seen wandering in and out the waiting room

for around 2 weeks. He would spend all day there as he had nowhere else to go.

He allegedly stole three charms shaped like Dadacha-mame, a soybean grown in Yamagata

prefecture, as well as one charm modeled after Yokan, a jellied Japanese dessert, all of

which totaled 2,400 Yen (US$ 24). The old man was apparently so hungry, he was about

to eat the plastic trinkets, but not before a clerk busted him red-handed for shoplifting.

According to police, he was flat broke and had nothing to eat. He was starving to the

point that he thought those charms were sweets that could satisfy his hunger. What do you

think of the poor old man?