Increasing numbers of people are flocking to the home-security sections of their local hardware and do-it-yourself stores on weekends amid reports of a growing crime wave in Japan.
Lock-picking burglaries are rampant and heinous crimes such as the brutal murder of a family of four in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward on Dec. 30 are on the rise.
The National Police Agency said the number of crimes involving prowlers picking locks last year totaled about 32,000 in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama and Aichi prefectures.