A free haircut, especially one that’s done during a boring commute to work, might sound like a good idea but police in Japan would rather you asked the commuters’ permission first after one man cut the hair of up to 30 oblivious passengers.
Akiya Yoshida, 23, pleaded guilty to secretly trimming up to 35cm off the hair of women he had sat beside on trains in the city of Ichinomiya.
Some 30 of the women reported the incident to police. It isn’t known if any of his victims preferred their new look.
Patrols had been put in place to find the serial haircutter. His latest victim, a 40-year-old woman commuting to work on a busy train, proved to be his last as her complaint led to his arrest at a station in the area.
"I did it in order to sell it on an internet auction site," Yoshida told police, according to The Mainichi. The graduate student admitted to using a scissors taken from his home to commit the crimes as well as other offences, including cutting women's skirts.
It is unknown if his previous victims hair had been sold online, where sites such as eBay sell products using human hair, including hair extensions and wigs.