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Tokyo police arrest the Ame-zing Spider-Man

Master Blaster a few minute ago
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Your unfriendly rainy-day Spider-Man.

For nearly a decade, Tokyo had been terrorized by a wall-crawling bandit who would climb into the higher floors of buildings and make off with whatever cash or valuables he could get his sticky fingers on. His name was Yuki Horiguchi, but to police, he’s known as the Ame-zing Spider-Man.

That’s not a typo in his nickname. The Japanese word for “rain” is “ame” (ah-may), and this Spider-Man’s MO was to strike on rainy days in particular. Likely relying on the fact that people tend to not look up when it’s raining, Horiguchi would access the roofs of buildings using emergency stairs on the outside, and then rappel down to a window, breaking through it to access the building and burglarize it.

This is what he did on one rainy day in December 2025. Climbing down a rope and gaining entry to the sixth-floor balcony of a head spa in Taito, he stole a portable safe and a wallet before moving to an adjacent building and stealing about 110,000 yen (US$690) in cash.

It isn’t clear how police managed to catch the Ame-zing Spider-Man this time, but the thing about getting a cool nickname from the police is that they know exactly when it’s you who committed a crime. Horiguchi had already been picked up by law enforcement in 2019 for similar burglaries on rainy days, so it isn’t taking much to link this and some 50 other incidents in the Greater Tokyo Area over the past year alone to Spidey.

Many readers of the news online took serious issue with a criminal being given the honorable name of “Spider-Man.”

“He should apologize to the real Spider-Man!”
“Normally, I’d say talented criminals should put their skills toward doing good work, but this guy kind of seems really cut out to be a burglar more than anything.”
“Giving him a name like that shows a complete lack of sincerity towards the victims.”
“He doesn’t deserve the name Spider-Man.”
“50 times?! They can’t let that slide.”
“That’s lame.”
“The cop who came up with ‘Ame-zing Spider-Man’ should be arrested too.”
“I wonder if Sony will complain about this.”
“Seems like a lot of effort and risk for 110,000 yen.”
“More like Lupin III than Spider-Man.”
“He doesn’t have any mutant powers. He’s just a bad Daredevil.”

It seems rather likely that this repeat offender will be spending a lot of time behind bars. Perhaps he can learn there that with a great nickname comes great attention from the police, and finally knock it off with this life of crime.

Source: FNN Online Prime, Hachima Kiko
Images: Pakutaso
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