Job Discussion Forums

[king kakipi]

Despite only recently arriving in Japan, and over 30 years of police-free life outside of Japan, I have recently been stopped for the 2nd time in two months by the police. For the second time I have been asked to show my alien card and the ownership of my bicycle has been questioned. The first time I was fairly relaxed and managed to satisfy the (three) police that chased me that it was indeed my bike (after they did a radio check). This time though, I 'lost it' somewhat and managed to string together a five minute diatribe (in Japanese) along the lines of "gaijin wa warui desune demo nihonjin wa diajobu desune" and (I am not doing the romaji) "I am a professional (teacher) and the police in my country are kind and don't discriminate against Japanese and what about the people who drive through red lights and the scooters that wake me up and will you explain to my students and my (Japanese; therefore diajobu) wife why they don't have a teacher/husband if I go back to my own country because I am sick of being stopped and look at the state of this bike anyway, I mean honestly AS IF......"etc (and I got him to speak to my Japanese mum-in-law on my mobile). I don't think he was very happy (although he praised my Japanese ). He also said he stopped kids all the time who were Japanese to which I retorted "watashi wa 35 sai desu; kodomo ja nai; anata no me wa diajobu desuka?" etc.
My point is, I may have overreacted somewhat (understatement), but I was trying to ram home the point that he may want to think twice before assuming 'gaijin' are all bad. What do those who have been in Japan for a long time think? Just do the old "I can't speak Japanese" trick and put up with these indignities.
And no, I am not in the sticks, I am in Greater Tokyo but not in an area where other gaijin (filipinos excepted) seem to live (probably hounded out by the police..........)
Thanks for reading the rant

[PAULH]

You might want to check out this page

http://www.debito.org/activistspage.html#checkpoints

[PAULH]

From the Debito Arudo page

EXERCISE YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS

Don't misunderstand my motives. I am not advocating anarchy, and I am not saying that you should not cooperate in a police investigation of a specific crime. But the police have to know that they cannot see foreigners as suspect just because they are foreigners. It reduces our standard of living by making us publicly and legally vulnerable in a way that hardly any Japanese have to or will put up with.

For example, let's say you are on the street (or in Haneda Airport, for that matter, since as long as you are not in the office (jimusho) of the police, the law protecting our rights applies), and a policeman comes up to you and asks you for your Gaijin Card. If you do not wish to show it because the cop is being nasty or obstructionist, here's what you can do:

================================================
COP: Show me your Gaikokujin Touroku Shoumeisho.

YOU: Why? (naze desu ka) (Always ask for a reason, please. If he gives you a reason you are satisfied with, then fine. Show. But if they just say something like:)

COP: Because it's the law. (Nippon no houritsu da kara. Miseru gimu ga aru. Misete.)
================================================

which was basically the argument the cop in Haneda Airport made to me last November. That is unsatisfactory. Now it's time to bring out the real law.

(NB: All translations that appear in my article are mine, and if your browser does not read Japanese, you will have gobbets of gibberish every now and then. Gomen. But the letter of the law must be seen to be better heard, so please do press on.)

The Police Execution of Duties Law (Keisatsukan Shokumu Shikkou Hou--in kanji �x�@���E��<sum>�s�@), Section 2, says

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
"A police officer is able to ask for a person's ID, but only if based on a reasonable (gouriteki) judgment of a situation where the policeman sees some strange conduct and some crime is being committed, or else he has enough reason to suspect that a person will commit or has committed a crime, or else it has been acknowledged that a particular person knows a crime will be committed. In these cases a police officer may stop a person for questioning."
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Meaning that there must be a *specific crime* or *suspicion of a crime* before questioning can occur. Just being a foreigner is not enough, and without a good reason (soutou na riyuu) a policeman's arbitrary questions to a stranger are against the law.

Of course, as a journalist friend of mine nnotes (who wrote an important article for the Daily Yomiuri on something related to this; it was suppressed in later editions by Yomiuri editors), technically speaking if you are riding a bicycle, a policeman can stop you on the suspicion that you may have stolen it. But any human rights lawyer (they do exist in Japan and they will work for next to nothing) would drool at the prospect of taking a case like that. So call their bluff.

[Iwantmyrightsnow]

Can understand your frustrations king kakipi . For your own sanity you may nede to just let these things slide.

Don't take the bicycle personally - I see Japanese being stopped all the time too.

As to the gaijin card - It seems an infringement to me but you have to decide what you wanna do about it. I got stopped one warm and sunny day in the middle of downtown Osaka. I refused to show out of principle. Told them to show me the law or to arrest me. I then kept walking and they followed me a little but I attracted a bit of an audience when I offered my upheld hands to cuff me with, the Japanese around me were laughing at the police and pissed off.

Probably never would have done anything if the hadn't ruined a great day. Refusing kinda lifted my spirits again.

[Mike L.]

Keep in mind that Japanese police officers, the beat cops anyway, are the leftovers from Japanese schools.

They, not the career track ones, rarely have any education past high school and have little work with especially in the common sense department when it comes to dealing with anything let alone you.

Once had old man tell me that "in Japan if your son becomes a police officer he's not too bright."

Thus, If not the service industry, it's the ploice force for these individuals.

In many G7 seven nations there's been a move towards having all new recruits in posession of at least university degree in recent years.

Haven't heard of this trend yet here but who knows..

With very little rule of law and respect for such a principle plus the constant scandals (Takafuji, embezzlement of public funds in Hokkaido etc etc)involving the police in Japan, it's not hard to see why they have a fairly poor public image.

They also seem to suffer from low morale and self confidence! I don't think the previous poster would've gotten away without presentng ID in America.

[king kakipi]

Thanks for the replies. I checked out that website (thanks Paul) and whilst I am sure that that guy is correct in what he states I am not sure that I would be able to pull out the right slip of `kanjified` response at the right time!! Or maybe my wallet is not big enough..... Thanks also to IWMRN; I have never seen Japanese stopped on their bikes but I am glad it happens in Osaka. I might take a holiday trip up there and bring my camera; or my bike.....I will just `grin and bear it` but will further increase my Japanese vocab to include `harassment` and `what goes around, comes around`. I am sure you are right, Mike L, about their education.....indeed the NEXT time they tell me they can`t speak English, I might present my meishi and suggest they contact me for English lessons ("Cheap English Lessons....Bring Your Own (or someone else`s ) Bike.........")

[joncharles]

I can understand some of the concern... bicycles are commonly ripped off, usually by an extremely inebriated salaryman, who can't remeber which one is his. I hate to say this, but I have often heard fellow "teachers" brag about ripping of a bicycle because they were to lazy to walk home after a night of drinking. Mostly Shane and Nova guys.. On the other hand I have watched a few Japanese girls try it. So I can understand in some cases why the fat cops sitting in his little hut smoking his cigarette would suddenly run out and stop a foreigner.

The only time in three years I got stopped was once when I was walking back home from Fujisawa.. after a night at Wesley's. I was too drunk and tired to go home so I ended up crashing in the underground by the station. When the shops open the security people wake up the drunks and the homeless guys to move them. I was halfway home to Tsujido when A police car pulls up and three cops get out and ask for my Alien Registration card. When they noticed I actually had an an address they let me go. In broken English and gestures I gathered that someone in Fujisawa thought I was among the homeless.. I started to explain.. when the main policeman said.. " Ah Sleep.. much drink eh?" They gave me back my card and sent their way.. Funny now that I look back.

Foreigners sleeping in underground passages is not looked on well. At train stations maybe okay because you can be among several drunken salarymen sleeping until the first train arrives.

[king kakipi]

I should qualify my post by saying that both times I was stopped, I was stopped during daylight hours (11am and around 3pm); I wish they were as zealous in chasing the people who continually run red lights in their cars........then again, a potentially stolen bike is FAR more dangerous to society.............