I Have Never Been To Japan,

but if I did and went shopping,

or visited a bank by the tills I am told I would see some of these, they are not for sale, but what are they?

the balls are called Yu Kara Bohan Boru, (anticrime colour balls), basically, they’re paint balls, plastic spheres filled with brightly coloured liquid pigment, but unlike the fun-and-games variety, these balls are kept on hand in case of a stickup, the idea is to lob one after a robber and mark him to improve the chance of an arrest, but here is the thing, do they work? “Even if the balls aren’t actually used, that they are in the store and visible to would-be thieves helps protect the store,” Akihiro Suwa, a public-safety officer with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police commented, “That’s why we, and police departments around the country, ask banks and store owners to include colour balls as part of their crime-prevention efforts.” arrests do happen thanks to colour balls, just last month a man held up an agricultural cooperative in Yokohama and made off with a bag of cash, when an employee was able to mark the getaway truck with a colour ball, the thief abandoned his vehicle and fled on foot, but the police tracked him down through the truck’s registration and arrested him at home, 

the anticrime colour balls were developed about 20 years ago as an eggreplacement, a what replacement? at that time, the nation’s highways had a problem with toll evaders, and toll-booth attendants had taken to throwing raw eggs at vehicles that charged through without paying their tolls, while the police appreciated this effort to mark non payers, they felt it was inappropriate to use food for the purpose, so someone came up with pigment-filled balls as an alternative, an improvement, really, since eggs can be washed off but the paint in colour balls leaves a permanent stain, the use of colour balls spread from toll booths to banks and by the late ’80s, convenience stores started to introduce them as well, most police stations and and police boxes keep them on hand, while newer users include hotels, gas stations and even the Japanese Marine Self-Defences Forces, if you have a moment to spare have a look at the video to see how effective they are.