Japan 'cross-dresser' thief unmasked

Japan 'cross-dresser' thief unmasked Japanese police say they have arrested an unemployed man who disguised himself as a schoolgirl to rob women in the city of Nagoya.

Yoshikuni Moriwaki, 24, admitted carrying out a series of robberies clad in a navy blue miniskirt, white blouse and shoulder-length brown wig, police said.

In the most recent incident, he allegedly rode behind a woman on a bicycle and snatched her bag from the front basket as he overtook her.

He was later spotted near a local train station in his trademark school uniform.

According to the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, he was hampered by his height of 175 centimetres - making him taller than most Japanese women.

His disguise was also undermined by the five o'clock shadow revealing that he regularly shaved.

Police had been looking out for the cross-dresser since early March, when he embarked on his spree. He is suspected of having carried out five such robberies.

Good old Mainichi Shimbun.

Schoolgirl uniform cross-dresser busted over smash-and-grabs
NAGOYA -- A man who tried disguising himself as a schoolgirl to cover up his smash-and-grab robberies has finally been arrested, police said Sunday.
Despite his attempts at concealment, investigators said it was immediately obvious that Yoshifumi Moriwaki was a man, making him an easy target for crime fighters on the lookout for a cross-dressing schoolgirl said to be targeting Nagoya women.
Upon being collared by police as he sauntered around in a schoolgirl's uniform, Moriwaki, 24, unemployed of Nagoya, admitted to carrying out a series of smash-and-grab robberies on women in the city since the start of March.
Moriwaki's attempt at disguising himself was not made any easier by his height of 175 centimeters, which made him stand out well above the average Japanese woman, and a five o'clock shadow that showed he regularly shaved.
Police said the specific case for which Moriwaki was arrested involved him slapping a teen-age girl and stealing the bag from a basket on the front of her bicycle on April 24. Typically, he was wearing the schoolgirl uniform at the time. (Compiled from wire reports, May 4, 2003)

TOKYO - Japanese police on Sunday arrested a man who allegedly robbed a woman of $160 while disguised in a schoolgirl's uniform.

Yoshifumi Moriwaki, 24, admitted snatching the handbag of a 19-year old student from her bicycle basket as she was riding home on April 24, Midori district police in Aichi state said in a statement.

Dressed in a navy blue miniskirt and a white top with a sailor's collar, Moriwaki rode up behind the woman on his bicycle and grabbed her bag as he overtook her, the police said.

Moriwaki wore a shoulder-length brown-colored wig, they added.

Midori police had been on alert after five reported purse snatchings by robbers dressed in schoolgirl uniforms since late March.

Officers questioned Moriwaki late Saturday night after they spotted him in a miniskirt and a navy blue cardigan near a local train station.

Moriwaki also confessed to four other incidents, the police said.

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