His Plan to Pay Loan Sharks Got Him 3 Years in Prison

He traded a ¥182,000 debt problem for a 3-year prison sentence.

The 5-Minute Heist

Shoma Nakai is a 28-year-old construction worker from Nara. So, my age. Which feels weird to write.

On March 23, between 3:05 and 3:10 in the morning, he walked into a convenience store with a knife and demanded money. He walked out with ¥182,000 in cash.

It took five minutes. Five minutes to throw away the next three years of your life for about $1,150. That's not even a full month's rent in a lot of Tokyo.

Why, Though?

This wasn't some master criminal. Prosecutors said Nakai was drowning in debt to loan sharks and came up with this plan himself.

He figured an early morning conbini would be empty and easy. He wasn't wrong, I guess. But the judge at Nara District Court saw it differently, calling the crime "easy and selfish... and therefore quite malicious.”

There's a desperation there that's pretty terrifying if you think about it. The feeling that this is your only option. But the court doesn't really care about your feelings, you know?

The Aftermath

So now he has a new problem. His debt is probably still there, but he’s also been convicted of robbery and violating the sword control law.

He gets three years in prison. And when he gets out, he'll be in his 30s with a criminal record, trying to start over from less than zero.

And the loan sharks? They just move on to the next person. That's the part that really gets me.