Uniqlo, other Japanese retailers slammed by organized shoplifting

OSAKA -- A wave of shoplifting perpetrated by visitors to Japan is hitting Uniqlo and other retailers, with the number of foreigners arrested for the crime rising for the first time in eight years in 2023, as experts call for such countermeasures as bolstering employee training.

In Osaka, three Vietnamese women were arrested in February on suspicion of repeatedly stealing from Uniqlo stores. In the investigation, which concluded in July, one of the women told police that "because the stores don't have many employees, we were able to avoid their attention and shoplift again and again."