Crime, Safety and the Law in Japan

 

Foreigners Vs The Law of Japan

A couple of weeks ago, I met a friend at the train station with the intention of going for food. As she was tired and I had my bike, we thought that it would be harmless enough if she popped onto the back (there’s plenty of room) and held on tight for the two minutes that it would take to whizz around the corner. After all, we had done it a few times before, and seen countless pairs of giggling Japanese teenagers do the same.

Barely had we moved two feet, when two apparent Japanese civilians stopped us. I thought “ohh, they might be crazy people… or Mormons!” as they started talking to us. I had my foot on the pedal, ready to make my escape, when they flashed two police badges. 

“Two people riding on a bike is dangerous, it’s forbidden” they said in Japanese.
Panic gripped my stomach, and I didn’t need to turn around and look at my friend to tell that she was thinking the same thing. They spoke no English, so we were able to pull the “I don’t understand Japanese” card, which wasn’t far off as they used what sounded to me like archaic, complex sentences that most foreigners wouldn’t understand. We showed them our foreigner cards and humbly apologized a few times; images of jail, hefty fines and being fired flashing through my mind. They took down my bike’s registration number and even asked for our company’s address. However, after that they thanked us and sent us on our way  

This is not an accurate representation

As far as I can tell, that was the end of it. I might be hit with a stern call from my company at some point, but I think that they wrote us off as stupid foreigners and let us go on our merry way. Then I started to think… were they really police officers? They could have flashed toy badges at us, and we would have been too surprised to pay attention or to question it. Could any two citizens play cop in order to take people’s information? I asked around, and it turns out that Japan is FULL of undercover police officers. They could be anywhere, at anytime. No wonder the general population is so well behaved, here… you never know who to trust. When any stranger has the potential to turn around and arrest you, you must be on your best behaviour at all times. I suppose that a lack of apparent serious crime leads to the police obsessing over pettier matters like how many people are riding on a bike – it is worth pointing out, at this point, that it is not a legal requirement here to wear a helmet while cycling, and that I have only seen perhaps two people wearing one in my time here.

However, my brush with the law pales in comparison to other stories. For example, a friend of mine (let’s call him Dean) was dating a Japanese girl. After a whole two weeks, she declared her undying love for him. He promptly freaked out and broke up with her (smooooooth). Apparently not the most mentally stable of ladies, she turned up at his door one night, crying, screaming and trying to kick his door down. A few days later, Dean was interrupted by police officers, asking why people had reported hearing a woman’s screams from his apartment a few days earlier. They eyed him with suspicion and took all of his details, despite the fact that no women had gone missing or reported any crimes.

Still, the prize for rough police treatment has to go to another friend of mine. We’ll call him Greg. Greg was out drinking one night, and the next thing he knew, he was handcuffed to a chair, a policeman shouting angrily into his face – in Japanese. He understood enough to say “Where’s my lawyer?” but ultimately had no idea how he’d ended up there. It turns out that he’d reportedly punched a club owner, and while he had no recollection of this, his own ribs and knees felt broken. Believing that Greg couldn’t speak Japanese, they tried to make him sign what he understood to be a confession. When he pointed out that he could read it, they apologized profusely. Possibly unable to charge him with a crime due to his memory loss, they still kept him incarcerated for eleven days before releasing him.

Eleven days without charge? That’s right. In Japan, prisoners can be kept for up 28 days without charge. But one of the friends that Greg made during his stay had been there for four months without charge. What was Greg's experience like? Well, in his own words…

"Japan is unique in that, while boasting a modernised society, its law enforcement methods are constantly under attack by human rights groups worldwide. I got to experience some of this firsthand. As Gwynnie said, the police attempted to get me to sign "confession" papers on a number of occasions. Often, the translator (who they finally allowed to meet me) would only give the detectives the parts they wanted to hear, who in turn expected me to roll over and take it lying down. They promised me that, if I admitted to the crime (whether I had done it or not), the process would be much easier and quicker to get me out of jail. I knew this wasn't likely true, and so I only told the detectives the facts that I knew, over and over.

As far as the police holding facility goes, it was an interesting experience. The method of torture employed there was boredom. Imagine being kept in a cell for 23.5 hours a day with literally nothing to do. Had I understood more Japanese than I did at the time, I could have read some manga they had, but sadly my choices were extremely limited. The guards were, surprisingly, extremely kind and even funny people. They would joke with us, chat with us upon occasion, and always be ready to serve us hot tea upon request. The food was better than the lunches I generally get at work, too! Sounds like not that terrible a time, right? Well...when you consider that you're not allowed a single phone call out (even at the time of your arrest), you can only bathe once every five days, and you're stuck in a very small cell with 2-3 other people with literally nothing to do...it's genuinely a horrible time.

I passed the time most days by running through movies in my head. I'd recall each scene and every bit of dialogue until I couldn't stand it anymore. Then I'd move on to another movie or book in my head. I'd attempt to chat with the Japanese inmates kept with me, but most times they didn't want to talk to anyone. It wasn't until some friends visited me and brought me books (in English!) that my boredom was truly given quarter."

Ready to help you....?

What if this happens to me?

So, what should you do, should you find yourself in this kind of situation? Well, firstly you have the right to remain silent. However, as Greg quietly points out, they also have the right to beat you up until you talk. While you are not legally entitled to see a free lawyer unless your case is going to trial, you can dig into your personal funds (private attorneys are likely to charge around $5000/£3000 per case). You are, however, entitled to one free consultation with a touban-bengoshi (duty attorney) who can give you initial advice about your situation, your rights, the outlook for your case and more general information on procedures in Japan.

Here is the US embassy's guide to arrests in Japan. It covers the duty attorney system as well as arrest procedures, daily life in a prison, sentencing and deportation. Click here to link to the British embassy's guide, which also includes what to do if you are the victim of a crime in Japan.

Still, there are worse countries to be arrested in. In fact, Japan doesn’t make it onto RoadJunky’s 10 Countries Where You Don’t Want To Be Arrested, although the USA does. Their advice of “Travel there by all means but memorise the number of a good lawyer before you go” won’t do much good if, like Greg’s Japanese captors, they don’t let you call a lawyer or your company to explain why you’re 11 days late for work.

Crime and Safety

 

Japan is a country that boasts a low crime rate. When asked about the sheer concentration of violent pornography in your average comic (aimed at a 12-year-old), my Japanese friend responds “well, there’s less rape in Japan than in other countries.” Another interesting idea that I’ve heard is that Japan doesn’t have a homeless problem. Wow, what is this crime-free, poverty-free utopia, where women can safely walk the streets at night and everybody has adequate housing? Sign me up!

This cute little thing is a police box

If you’d like to look at the statistics, then here . We are still talking 2,853,739 “total crimes" (from a population of 127,560,000), which I assume to be in the last year - not exactly "crime free". Still, compare it to the U.K. with 6,523,706 (from a population of 61,838,154 ). You may also notice a category marked “executions” – yes, capital punishment is still legal in Japan, and 9 people were executed this year alone. While the death penalty is reserved only for serial murderers (oh, and treason – check the Wikipedia article), there is something questionable about the method. Prisoners on death row are kept in solitary confinement, sometimes for years, with no idea of their execution date. They are only told on the day. The family aren’t notified until afterwards, when they are asked to pick up the body.

Japan: A Crime-Free Utopia?

So, statistics aside, just how safe is Japan? I don’t need a set of figures to tell you what I see every day. While I have friends here who feel safe enough to leave their apartment doors unlocked (even when they aren’t home), I know of many girls who have been followed home, stalked, touched inappropriately and even raped. Still, none of them have reported these attacks to the police. Why not? Because they are foreign, and the stalkers and rapists in question were Japanese. It is an unhappy fact that most foreigners feel that they will be ignored or discriminated against, especially if they accuse a Japanese person of committing a crime. Think of Dean – he was treated as suspicious, but would he have been treated in the same way if he was Japanese? And Greg… while he was beaten up, his Japanese opponent walked away scratch free, and yet... which one of them was arrested? This lack of crime reporting can only skew the figures in favour of the “foreigners commit all the crimes here” attitude that many Japanese people seem to posses, and that is a sad thing.

Also, let’s go back to my friend’s comment – “Japan has less rape”. Could this be due to a lack of reporting crime, or perhaps – as this interesting article suggests, a gender bias when it comes to dealing with female victims of male sexual assault? It is a large issue to speculate, and one that I should deal with in a separate article. Other statements that people throw around are “there is little violent crime in Japan” and “there are no homeless people”. The first can be disproved by my female friend who was kicked in the ribs by an angry man, as she tried to break up a fight between him and her friend. The second is easily disproved here in Hamamatsu by the crowd that gathers by the South exit of the station at night, or the man in the tent on the side of the road (I suppose, at least, he has a tent – in other countries, it would have been stolen). It may not be as apparent as it is when you take ten minutes to walk through Manchester, where homeless people sit under ATMs asking for change, chavs smash bus stops and bottles, students in microscopic skirts vomit on the streets and stumble home (what a pretty picture I paint), but there are cracks in Japan’s glossy veneer. 

So, what are your experiences? Have you found yourself on the wrong side of the law in Japan? Has a policeman helped you? Have you been the victim of a crime? Please share your experiences! I'm sorry that the tone of this article was a bit more depressing than my usual cheery adventures, but Japan is a country like any other, populated by humans, and after living here since March I am starting to see beneath the shiny "kawaii" exterior.

Essential Japanese

In case you ever need to deal with the police in Japan, here are some useful Japanese words and phrases! You can call it Dealing With Police or the Law and Reporting Crime in Japan: Essential Japanese.

警察官　– Keisatsukan – Police officer

交番 ―　Kouban (Often spelt KOBAN in Romaji in Japan)– Police box.

Tasukette kudasai! – Please help me.

Nihongo wa wakarimasen. Eigo o hanasemasu ka? – I don’t understand Japanese. Can you speak English?

Watashi wa ______ o wasurete-shimaimashita – I have (unfortunately) lost my ______.

Watashi no _______ ga nusumaremashita – My ______ was stolen.

Saifu – Wallet

Keitai denwa – Mobile Phone

Okane – Money

Watashi wa kougekisaremashita - I was attacked

_______ wa dochira desu ka? – Which way is it to _______?

Bengoshi ga irimasu – I need a lawyer. (*Fun fact: You are not entitled to a lawyer unless your case is actually going to trial. Don't expect the same rights that you have in your own country.)

Bengoshi wa doko desu ka?? - Where is my lawyer??

Honyaku-sha - Translator (Replace the word "Bengoshi" with this for "I need a translator" etc)

Touban-bengoshi - Duty Attorney (*Anybody arrested in Japan is entitled to one free consultation with one.)