Bank Heist in Japan?

On November 6th I met a Brazilian student who said that there was an attempt of bank robbery at a bank here in Kyoto. It was the first time I've heard of such thing here. It seems that the police was blocking part of the roads around the area looking for the suspect or something like that, so the shuttle bus who carries students from one campus to another got late.

Since it was an unusual thing and it happened relatively close to where we live (the same city at least...), she looked for something about it on the internet and sent to others. I'll transcribe the Kyoto Shinbun article (links in Japanese):

郵便局に刃物男、局長抵抗し軽傷山科、男が逃走

　６日午前７時５０分ごろ、京都市山科区御陵原西町、京都山科御陵郵便局の通用口前で、出勤してきた佐々木貞仁局長（60）が男に羽交い締めにされ、刃物を突き付けられて「強盗や、中に入れ」と脅された。佐々木局長が抵抗すると、男は走って逃げた。局長は男ともみ合った際に左手を切る軽傷を負った。山科署が強盗傷害事件として捜査している。

　山科署によると、通用口は郵便局の裏側の路地に面しており、佐々木局長が通用口前の門を開けようとしたところ、後ろから男に襲われ、首に包丁のような刃物を突き付けられた。局長が刃物を握るようにして振り払うと、男は何も取らずに西へ逃げた、という。

　男は３０歳ぐらいで、身長約１７０センチ。黒色サングラスに黒色ニット帽、黒色ジャンパー姿で、灰色のリュックサックを持っていた、という。

　近所の印刷業の男性（57）は「『包丁』という叫び声がしたので外に出ると、（佐々木局長が）手から血を流していた」と驚いていた。

　事件を受け、現場近くの鏡山小と陵ケ岡小は集団下校を決めた。

　現場は地下鉄東西線御陵駅の東約２００メートルの三条通に面した住宅地。

For those who don't understand Japanese, a man in his 30's armed with a knife ("kitchen knife"; 包丁) tried to dominate the director of a post office (people can also open accounts at post offices in Japan) before he opened the agency, but the director (who's 60 years old) reacted and the robber ran away. The director had only a slight injury on his left hand, result of his struggle against the robber.

Guess the Brazilians who read this blog won't find it impressive at all. Maybe just a little because it happened in Japan... Japanese robbers may still have a long way to go, either in efficiency or in violence. But, really, it's better they do... That's one of the things I like in Japan and wouldn't like to see changed.