An unemployed man who refused to pay for a 500-kilometer taxi trip from Hyogo Prefecture to Fukuoka Prefecture has been arrested, police said.

Shinji Sunakawa, of no fixed address, stands accused of fraud. "I tried to look for my former wife who is in Kokura," officers quoted Sunakawa as saying.

Sunakawa, 37, hired a taxi in front of JR Himeji Station in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, at about 7 p.m. on Monday. He reportedly told the driver, "I want to go to Kokura (in Kitakyushu)."

The taxi arrived in Kokura in about five and a half hours, but Sunakawa refused to pay the fare of 156,210 yen, police said.

The cabbie then drove to Kokura-Kita Police Station, where Sunakawa was arrested.

When Sunakawa hired the taxi in Himeji, the driver told him that he would have to pay the fare in cash.

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20070619p2a00m0na007000c.html