Twenty+ years in US: 0
First 6 months in Japan: 4 (1 breaking & entering, 3 instances of laundry theft--caught the guy on the 4th time)

The "panty thief" is a well-known phenomenon in Japan. Basically guys who steal women's panties off clotheslines. Strange that I had lost a pair of jeans, a pair of trousers, and a sweater on three different occasions. The fourth time I caught the guy (I assume it was the same guy as I never had any problems afterwards). One evening, I heard someone rustling about outside my first floor apartment. Grabbed a fake souvenir katana/sword (fake, but it was still a long hunk of metal, as my stereotypical image of a burglar was a big burly guy) and went quietly around the front door. Saw this guy checking the clotheslines and washing machines of the apartments down from mine. I waiting quietly as he worked his way back. Surprised him by asking him (in Japanese) what he was doing. He stammered something to the effect of seeing if his friend in the apartment he was now standing at the back of was home. Yeah, right... From 10 feet away I could see he did not fit my image of a thief at all. Instead of being big and burly, he was small and thin and about 25 years of age. Wore a standard business suit with tie, company pin (major Japanese electronics maker), and glasses. The very image of the cleancut young Japanese "salaryman." When he finally noticed my sword, the jackrabbit leap he made of the back wall would have put an Olympic hurdler to shame. I started after him, but thought better of it. After all, even if I was able to drag him to the nearest police box, it would only take the cops one look to decide who to "detain." After all, he was Japanese, well-dressed, and "respectable." I was not Japanese, in pajamas, and carrying a sword. 'Nuff said.