Just as previews of the movie "Spiderman" have started to appear in Japan, police in Hokkaido have come up with their own web-spouting device to combat hooliganism during this year's soccer World Cup, to be cohosted by Japan and South Korea.
With England, Germany, Italy and Argentina all set to play in Sapporo in early June, local police have been testing a kind of gun that fires not bullets, rubber pellets or tear gas, but restraining nets that they believe will catch any troublemakers just like flies.
A more common method employed by Japan's police to restrain disorderly thugs is via martial arts such as judo, in which they are highly trained.