Picture story: The most notorious bike in Japanese history

The bike under the sheet is a 1967 Yamaha YR1 350cc parallel twin two stroke. Not a hugely interesting model in itself, exactly (save for the fact it was Yamaha’s first 350, and its engine formed the basis of the TR1 and TR2 racers) but this specific bike has been very naughty indeed.

Earlier that morning – 10 December 1968 – it was being ridden by a police officer, who pulled over a Nippon Trust bank lorry containing ¥294,307,500. A local branch manager’s house, the rider explained, had been the scene of an explosion and it was feared the lorry too was set to blow. No sooner had the officer slid under the lorry to investigate, but smoke was indeed seen billowing from the vehicle’s undercarriage, and it was only the quick-acting officer’s instructions to the bank staff on board to flee that saved their lives.

So they were surprised when, instead of fleeing too, the motorcyclist (a composite image of whose likeness appears below) jumped into the cab and drove the lorry – containing today’s equivalent of about £8m in Toshiba staff pay and Christmas bonuses – hastily away. It was a crime which to this day hasn’t been solved and which – since the Japanese statute of limitations has made neither criminal nor civil action possible, yet no-one has taken to book or chat show to take the opportunity to gloat – probably never will.

While it lasted, the police investigation cost at least half as much again as the money stolen, and pretty much all they learned was that the white-painted Yamaha wasn’t a real police bike after all.