'Samurai weapon' causes fever in Japan after video of chasing robbers

Tokyo [Japan], December 3: In the video, employees of a jewelry store in Tokyo used a device called a "sasumata" to control three people who intended to rob the store.
Jewelry store employees in Tokyo ( Japan ) were hailed as heroes after stopping a robbery and chasing three fleeing suspects. But this employee was not equipped with a stun gun or pepper spray, but used a weapon invented by samurai hundreds of years ago: the sasumata, a long stick with two curved prongs at the end.
After a video of the failed robbery on November 26 attracted attention online, a company that supplies a modern version of sasumata said orders for the product had increased dramatically.
The video shows the above store employee swinging a sasumata with his hand to control three men wearing motorbike helmets after they broke into the store and began smashing glass display cases. .
The store employee was then seen using a sasumata to attack a motorbike - presumably the getaway vehicle - which he had knocked to the ground seconds earlier. Losing their car, the three suspects fled when chased by store employees. TV Asahi reported that the attackers did not steal anything from the store and no one was injured in the incident.
Japanese media said two suspects were arrested in the incident in Tokyo's Ueno district, while the third person has not yet been found.
The incident created a wave of interest in sasumata. According to NHK television station, sasumata was first used by samurai in the Edo period (1603-1868) to catch criminals. NHK also said that sasumata, a weapon originally designed to control people without seriously injuring them, is still used by police in Japan today.
According to the South China Morning Post ,sasumata in the 21st century is a product with the trade name "Catch-Master Pro Cerberus", named after the guardian god at the gates of hell in Greek mythology. This is a patented product of the Sano Kiko company in Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo.
Compared to the design of traditional weapons, this product is improved by incorporating a flexible, spring-loaded belt that automatically wraps tightly around the target to neutralize them. The product received an award from the Japanese National Police Agency in 2011, according to the Sano Kiko company.
A company representative revealed that the sales team received up to 15 inquiries about Cerberus per day, twice as many as before the Ueno robbery spread on social networks and on television. The device is priced at nearly 200,000 yen (about 33 million VND) and sales are expected to increase along with soaring interest in the product.
Sano Kiko's company website describes the Cerberus as "a special push-and-catch baton that can deliver a fatal blow and deprive an intruder of his freedom with a single strike". The company emphasizes that its sasumata weighs less than 1 kg, "making it possible for women to handle even unexpected situations".
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper