SHITAGIDOROBO

Shitagidorobo are men who steal women's underwear from clothes lines or sometimes laundromats. (Shitagi=underwear, dorobo=thief). Underwear theft is not particular to Japan, but is widespread. In an informal survey of this writer's wife and all his Japanese women acquaintances, every single one had had underwear stolen from her washing line, and a cover that shields the drying undies from view is in fairly common use. Like other fetishes in Japan, there are plenty of newsletters and websites for aficionados, and men's magazines regularly include contributions from shitagidorobo. Incidentally, white seems to be the preferred color. Perhaps the most inventive method for procuring panties is that of an unknown dorobo in Osaka who phoned women posing as a local Health Official warning them of an outbreak of e.coli and asking them to immediately take off the panties they are wearing, put them in a plastic bag and deliver them to a local park. A few years ago a government official in Tokyo was caught with over 400 pairs of undies which he claims he "found on the street". But that pales in comparison to a 55-year-old man in western Japan who was caught with more than 4,000 pairs in his apartment.