A 21-year-old man, Fumiaki Matsuoka, was arrested for stealing fruit from an earthquake-damaged home in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture. Claiming to be a university student and a volunteer worker, Matsuoka broke into a house belonging to a man in his 70s who had evacuated due to the January 1 earthquake.
He stole a box of high-quality mikan (mandarins) valued at 3,000 yen (21 USD) from the kitchen. A neighbor, suspicious of seeing a stranger emerge from the house, detained Matsuoka. At the time of his arrest, he had only 500 yen in cash. Ishikawa Prefectural Police report an increase in burglaries in Wajima and Suzu towns since the earthquake.