Pensioner wields chainsaw in magazine row.
Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 6:10 pm
Tokyo - An elderly Japanese man returned to a convenience store and threatened staff with a chainsaw after being told to leave for reading magazines for hours, police said on Thursday.
Yasumasa Matsuzaki, 70, would visit the Seven-Eleven in the Ibaraki prefecture, north-east of Tokyo, every day. Staff finally lost patience when he spent three hours browsing through magazines on Wednesday.
When the manager told him not to read magazines without buying them, Matsuzaki left and then returned with a chainsaw, police said.
"I'll cut you to pieces!" Matsuzaki said, gunning the motor in a threatening manner, a police official said.
Matsuzaki then left the chainsaw with the motor still running at the front entrance - and went back to reading magazines, police said.
"He was still reading magazines even after I called police," the manager, 44, told a local newspaper. Matsuzaki was arrested at the store.
Customers idling for hours flipping through magazines is a common sight in Japanese convenience stores, but Matsuzaki was an extreme case, the company said.
"I've heard that he wouldn't leave the store, coming every day and lying on the floor eating food," said Seven-Eleven Japan spokesperson Nobuyuki Miyaji.
Yasumasa Matsuzaki, 70, would visit the Seven-Eleven in the Ibaraki prefecture, north-east of Tokyo, every day. Staff finally lost patience when he spent three hours browsing through magazines on Wednesday.
When the manager told him not to read magazines without buying them, Matsuzaki left and then returned with a chainsaw, police said.
"I'll cut you to pieces!" Matsuzaki said, gunning the motor in a threatening manner, a police official said.
Matsuzaki then left the chainsaw with the motor still running at the front entrance - and went back to reading magazines, police said.
"He was still reading magazines even after I called police," the manager, 44, told a local newspaper. Matsuzaki was arrested at the store.
Customers idling for hours flipping through magazines is a common sight in Japanese convenience stores, but Matsuzaki was an extreme case, the company said.
"I've heard that he wouldn't leave the store, coming every day and lying on the floor eating food," said Seven-Eleven Japan spokesperson Nobuyuki Miyaji.
