Gold tea bowl worth 10 million yen swiped from Tokyo store | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and ...

A thief brazenly made off with a tea bowl of pure gold with a 10.4-million-yen ($68,000) price tag during a sales event held at the upscale Takashimaya department store in Tokyo’s Nihonbashi district.

Security camera footage captured a bespectacled man believed to be in his 20s or 30s walking away with the bowl around 11:40 a.m. on April 11. It had been displayed in a plastic case at the Dai Ogonten event for gold products.

A sales clerk noticed the item had gone missing and reported the matter to police at 12:16 p.m. The display case was not fitted with a lock or an alarm.

Investigative sources said the suspect stayed inside the department store for about 30 minutes.

Security camera footage showed him leaving the store at 12:07 p.m. and walking toward the Nihonbashi subway station. 

The man was wearing a gray long-sleeved top and black trousers and carrying a gray backpack, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

The bowl, produced by goldsmith Koichi Ishikawa, is for “matcha” powdered green tea.