Japanese woman subdues convenience store thief with headlock, credits anime for technique

Shopping trip turns into unexpected grappling session that ends with bite marks, letter of commendation.

Like countless other people in Japan, 23-year-old Karin Ryo walked into a convenience store to do some shopping on the night of September 16. But while it’s unclear if Ryo ever obtained what she’d gone to the store in search of, while she was there she decided to dispense some justice.

The incident occurred shortly before 8 p.m. in the Shitte neighborhood of the city of Yokohama’s Tsurumi Ward, slightly south of Tokyo. While Ryo was at the store a man attempted to shoplift a six-pack of beer and when he attempted to flee, a clerk confronted him, with the two becoming entangled near the store’s exit. Noticing the altercation, Ryo stepped in and, after ensnaring the man’s legs, brought him to the ground and put him in a headlock.

▼ Ryo, reenacting the incident after receiving a letter of commendation from the Tsurumi police precinct earlier this week

The man attempted to break free by biting Ryo on her left forearm, with enough force that two weeks later there are still visible teeth marks on her skin. Ryo’s grip held fast, though, and she kept the man subdued until the police were summoned and arrived on the scene, where he was placed under arrest.

As an office worker who works in Tsurumi, Ryo’s daily job doesn’t involve subduing criminals, so following the incident some wondered if maybe she has experience in martial arts training, but that’s not part of her background either. “I’ve never done martial arts. I took tea ceremony lessons,” she says, instead crediting a love of anime for her headlock technique. “I like anime, so I just sort of imitated what I’ve seen in it.”

“At the time, I wasn’t scared, it felt like my body was just moving on its own,” Ryo recalls, adding that it wasn’t until after the incident that she stopped to think about the possibility that the man could have had a knife or been otherwise armed. It’s likely for that reason that, even as a representative for the Tsurumi police precinct praised her courage, he advised others who might witness crimes to prioritize to avoid putting themselves at undue risk and contact the police as quickly as possible.

Source: Kanaloco via Golden Times, NHK News Web, Yahoo! Japan News/TV Kanagawa
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