A Japanese woman drove a would-be robber away from a store with her tirades, causing him to abandon his crime in exasperation, a Japanese newspaper reported Wednesday.

The robber, who was armed with a knife, entered a 24-hour convenience store on Kyushu, Japan's southern main island, where the woman, 51, was working, early Tuesday, the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper said.

The shopkeeper snatched a large kitchen knife and started to keep the robber, who was said to be in his 20s, at bay, nagging and ranting against him.

"Because of guys like you, our whole society is going to the dogs," she upbraided the robber, poking him with the blunt end of her knife, the paper said.

As the shopkeeper-on-a-mission did not stop her tirades, the enervated robber finally gave up and fled the shop.