A Japanese pianist has been arrested for stealing the aprons of flight attendants to satisfy a fetish for their smell.
Thirty-four-year-old Kazuya Saito lives in Tokyo but travels widely for his work as a professional concert pianist.
In May, airline ANA reported the theft of several flight attendant aprons.
Saito is accused of stealing an apron (worth around ¥5,000) from an April 25 ANA flight from Ishigaki to Haneda while the plane was preparing for takeoff. His arrest was first reported on June 14 and further details have emerged in the last few days.
The pianist has apparently admitted the theft, explaining that he liked to collect uniforms worn by women to smell or wear them. He confessed to having stolen dozens of aprons. Police searched of his home and also confiscated a nurse uniform.
Saito studied in Paris and Berlin. In 2020, he married another musician and by all accounts, their marriage was a happy one.
The following year, he released his first music album. His agency is befuddled by his arrest, remarking to press that it had no idea about this “dark side” to their rising star.
It’s not clear from the reports that we have read precisely how Saito was arrested, but perhaps he was caught in the act of trying to steal another addition to his collection.
If he had such a hankering for flight attendant uniforms, he should have bought one of the easily available fetish costumes and satisfied that craving in a safe, legal way.
