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The story
A 28-year-old male employee of the Children’s Future Bureau in Himeji City, Hyogo Prefecture, was summarily indicted for theft after shoplifting seven items — including rice balls and salad (worth about 1,437 yen) — from a convenience store in the city, and received a summary fine of 200,000 yen. When questioned by the city, he explained that “money was tight, and food was what I cut back on,” and it also emerged that he had shoplifted from the same store multiple times before. Himeji City disciplined three employees over the incident, including this one, who was dismissed for misconduct. On 5ch, many argued that “if you’re living a normal life, cutting your food budget doesn’t lead to shoplifting,” speculating about gambling or debt, and the thread grew into a broader discussion about the pay and working conditions of local government employees.
Young city employee shoplifts rice balls, says “food was what I cut back on”… told city investigators “money was tight”: Yomiuri Shimbun
On the 13th, Himeji City in Hyogo Prefecture disciplined three employees, including a male staff member (28) of the Children’s Future Bureau who had shoplifted at a convenience store in the city, dismissing him for misconduct.
According to the announcement, the employee stole seven items — including sparkling water, rice balls, and salad (worth about 1,437 yen) — on the morning of June 1, was summarily indicted for theft in September, and received a summary fine of 200,000 yen. In the city’s investigation, the employee explained his motive, saying “money was tight, and food was what I cut back on,” and it was also found that he had repeatedly shoplifted from the same store on multiple previous occasions.
Source: yomiuri.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Can't quit gacha games, pachinko, or livestream tipping!
This right here is dumbass logic
That's probably it
If a city employee were living a normal life
they wouldn't shoplift over a tight food budget
Zero income now plus a 200,000 yen fine, what a joke
It's gotta be gambling, honestly — horse racing, online casinos, whatever
Guys who dabble in shady "yami baito" crime gigs while employed usually go down this same road
And honestly, if you're really out of money, just cook rice at home and eat plain white rice
Can't do rice
Udon it is
Such a nothing department lol
Doesn't sound like he had much work to do, what a waste
Wish they'd let me work that cushy post instead
Yeah, you'd suspect debt or blowing money on something.
Save money by shopping at cheap supermarkets or drugstores with markdown bins instead
Civil servants get weekends and holidays off anyway, so just do Uber Eats delivery or a side job
He stole it over and over, so he wasn't buying anything lol
Being a civil servant makes you complacent, and that's how a spending habit gets out of control
A lot of them are saddled with massive debt like mortgages
Depends on the type of civil servant, but if it's a city employee, don't they just have way too much free time?
My dad graduated from Tohoku University and became a local civil servant, and we lived in public housing until I was 7
That said, shoplifting still isn't okay
Isn't that just because your parents were pinching pennies to save up for a house? lol
Apparently Himeji City's starting monthly salary for a new university graduate hire is around 244,400 yen
Even accounting for it being a rural area, that might not be enough to actually live on
Your dad's generation and today are different
There's no way civil servants now are paid that little
Where are you even splitting that word up lol
Wonder what the job actually involved
Mainly managing parks and the like
It's only considered a good job on the assumption your family back home is wealthy and stable
If you've got student loans and no family to lean on, it's rough
And in rural areas you basically need a car too
Enough already
What are you even shilling this time
I'm a local civil servant in my late 40s/early 50s and my take-home pay is just under 300,000 yen a month
Honestly the private sector pays a lot better these days
Take-home pay means nothing
What's your gross pay, huh?
You get a bonus though
Maybe you're not even on the high end, but why go out of your way to jump into a thread like this just to get dogpiled even more?
Even someone dismissed for misconduct can legally become a civil servant again after 2 years (or sooner, in the case of a different government body or national civil service, etc.). That said, actually passing the hiring exams and screening process is extremely difficult.
I wonder if he ends up on some kind of government blacklist
No such list exists
As long as it's not the same municipality, nobody will find out
You have to put "dismissed for misconduct" on your resume though lol
No way that works out… lol
Nothing tastes better than a meal you put zero effort into
Feel that
I'm the type who cooks for myself to save money, but it's nice to be lazy and treat yourself sometimes
Food tastes better when you're eating it with money you earned yourself though
Monthly base salary: roughly 190,000-330,000 yen (grade 3 pay band)
For someone in their late 20s to early 30s (around 5-10 years of experience), base salary is roughly 230,000-280,000 yen
Allowances and bonuses:
Regional allowance: 3% of base salary and other pay
Year-end/diligence bonus: about 4.6-4.65 months' pay annually (2.30 months for December 2025, 2.325 months for June 2026)
Other: housing allowance, dependent allowance, commuting allowance, and overtime pay added depending on actual circumstances
Reference (average across all general administrative staff in Himeji City): average age about 43-44, average annual salary about 6.08-6.25 million yen (excluding overtime pay)
An average of 6 million yen sounds high lol
Well, in practice he's probably taking home even more than that
Background and talking points on this story
Dismissal for misconduct among local government employees is a disciplinary action based on internal regulations, and a case like this one — where the person shoplifted repeatedly from the same store — tends to be treated more severely than a single instance of shoplifting. Also, in many municipalities those dismissed for misconduct face a disqualification period (roughly around 2 years) before they can reapply, and still have to pass the hiring screening afterward — so while the “blacklist” idea floated in the thread doesn’t exist as an actual system, having to disclose the dismissal on a resume is, in practice, unavoidable. One more thing worth flagging: figures mentioned in the thread, like a “240,000 yen monthly salary” or a “6 million yen annual salary,” are all guesses or quotes from online sources within the thread itself — the employee’s actual income or whether he has debt hasn’t been confirmed by reporting. As for his motive, only his own statement has been reported as-is; it hasn’t been confirmed that gambling or debt was the actual cause, so the thread’s “gambling theory” and “spending habit” theories remain speculation.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “Young city employee shoplifts rice balls, says “money was tight, so food was what I cut back on” — Himeji City dismisses him for misconduct“.
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