Thief tricks, steals bag from gravure idol Momoko Tani

A 31-year-old man has been arrested for pretending to be a comedy duo’s manager in early March and approaching gravure model Momoko Tani (28) in a department store.

There she tried on some clothes and he put on a show of being helpful.

“It’s dangerous so I’ll carry your bag for you,” he told her, whereupon he then stole her bag and went off.

The comedy duo, Bananaman, is now very popular in Japan and no doubt the suspect believed that claiming to be their manager would be a ticket to all sorts of fun activities he normally could not do.

Ironically, Bananaman’s actual manager is a woman and is even well-known in the industry as a real hottie. (Of course, Momoko Tani cannot have known this.)

Apparently Tani was in Yurakucho in central Tokyo when she was approached by the man, who is unemployed and lives in Chiba. He put on a convincing deception through his apparently detailed inside knowledge of the entertainment industry. He knew all the TV shows that she had appeared in and she felt that she couldn’t be rude to the man. She did ask for a business card but he persuaded her that due to agency regulations, he didn’t carry them on his days off.

He then said that his wife and child were on the way, but could stay with her till then. When she then went to try on some clothes, she put down her bag. He, being a gentleman, offered to hold it for her while she was in the changing room.

The stolen shoulder bag contained around 60,000 yen in cash. The bag itself was worth around 100,000 yen.

Apparently these kinds of crimes are common amongst women working in the entertainment industry. Men target them as objects of desire and also something to win power over.

Fake scouts on the streets are also a problem, where they claim to be able to get women jobs as models or actresses, but then demand fees or steal money in other ways. Tani herself was originally scouted on the streets of Tokyo in Omotesando.