Japanese man arrested for stealing bicycle seats, claiming he likes 'lingering scent of a woman'

A Japanese man with a fetish for licking and sniffing has been arrested for stealing over 200 bicycle seats that formerly belonged to female riders.

The man, a 35-year-old Yokohama resident named Joji Kondo, was arrested on 24 August after a security camera caught him committing an early morning robbery of three bicycle seats from a neighbourhood apartment complex. After authorities raided Kondo’s house, they found another 200 seats, all of which had an estimated total cost of over a million yen (HK$ 80,000).

Police reports and Japanese media suggested that Kondo may have been stealing bicycle seats since January 2012. Interviews with him revealed that his odd crime spree was inspired by a desire to “sniff the lingering scent of women.” 

“I like the smell and the texture of [bicycle leather seats],” Kondo told authorities. “I lick and smell them.”

Kondo claimed that he had an especially advanced sense of smell and could tell whether a man or a woman had sat in a bicycle seat. He also hinted that leather seats were best for trapping the scene of a female rider.

Media reports have not yet indicated what sort of repercussion Kondo faces for his crime, but images of his stolen bicycle seat collection went viral and were widely shared by Japanese Twitter users, who largely called the man’s behavior “perverted” and “unimaginable.” The bizarre news also made waves on the Chinese internet, where Sina Weibo users marvelled at Kondo’s thievery.