Let's Japan.org Debunking Eikaiwa and Ramblings in Japan

From genieZero in the forums:

This happened today 29/03/2010

I was stopped by 5 police officers as I was standing outside a ramen shop. An older police officer asked me if I had eaten ramen, I simply ignored him and gave him a blank stare. A female officer then requested that I show my passport. I gave her my gaijin card, and she read out that I was from England. The older officer tugged my bag and wanted to search it. I did not like being surrounded by police, and asked him if he had a search warrant in Japanese.

This stunned him and he replied by asking how I knew such a word. I did not move and he tried too reach for my bag. I told him again that he needed a search warrant. The officer then went behind me and pulled off my bag, and started to empty it's contents. They found some incense that I had purchased and rolling papers.

This is when the real problems started. I was taken to the small koban and they removed my jacket, hooded fleece and also tried to take off my t-shirt (in public view). I stopped them from taking off my t-shirt. They took me to a room inside the koban and had me remove my belt, which the same old officer would not let me have back. I then was told to sit as they went through my belongings. He accused me of taking drugs, I said that I had done no such thing! A female officer (Nakajima Yuka) then told me to remove my shoes and socks, which I did.

After, they drove me to the big police station in Shibuya for interrogation and drug testing. A small detective dressed in black sat me down and tested the incense. Surely enough, it came out as negative. They then asked why I was carrying rolling papers, I said I like to smoke roll up cigarettes if I run out of tobacco at home. They then made me sign (fingerprint) numerous forms giving them permission to take the incense and also a urine test. The forms were voluntary, so I asked them what would happen if I refused to give my urine sample. Another detective (sorry for not taking names, there were 8 police officers in the room at the time) told me I would be taken to the hospital where a very painful procedure would be performed to take the urine by force.

I gave the sample, as I had finished, they brought in an officer who was bald (as am I) and said 'He is your brother!'. I did not find it amusing, I really wanted to get the hell out of there.

They performed the test in front of me and it came out negative (surprise surprise!). The whole ordeal took around 3 hours, and I pushed them to give me a lift to where I was going which they did.

The worst part I have to say was the initial stop... I never expected them to pull my bag and off and take everything out. Then the big shot detective sitting in front of me with his drug testing kit, and more police piling into the tiny ass interrogation room to see if the gaijin will go to prison... He actually said it maybe 'cocaine or heroin' after it turned out negative! I started laughing which made him bark at me in Japanese.

Same with the urine test, maybe 8 or 9 police officers all stood inside as they waited for the result, it came out negative.

The one thing I did regret was signing the papers. I always promised myself not to do so, but the way they did it was 'do this or you will not leave this police station'. They did not stop boasting about Sakae Noriko being brought in, and how she paid 5,000,000 yen bail. Poor woman must have been so relieved to get out.

At the end there was no apology of any sort, they said I should not buy incense that is not well known! The big shots went back to their PCs and laughed amongst themselves. I really wanted to get a hold of the police offenders that searched me in the first place, they were absolutely racist in the way they treated me, and quite proud of the fact too.

GenieZero also adds this information about himself:

I'm Pakistani in origin, I was dressed in casual street clothes, jeans,sneakers and jacket. I can speak enough Japanese to get by and I can understand it alot better than I speak. And I'm 25, but due to my shaved head I probably look older to most Japanese. Louis Carlet told me that I was not stopped because of my race but simply because I an not Japanese, I like to believe that as the former would infuriate me.

I'm also 6'3 so that also may have given them reason to be intimidated enough to prompt a search.

It just so happens that Debito met with the Special UN Rappoprteur for Human Rights of Migrants, Jorge A. Bustamante, where he spoke about how non-Japanese are treated in Japan. The folder he gave to Mr. Bustamante is full of information on the abuse of police power and racial profiling of non-Japanese.

This shit has to end. Fortunately, genieZero has reported the incident and it has apparently been forwarded to Amnesty International. It's possible that resisting the police's illegal search may have invited more trouble for genieZero, but on the other hand, police abuse of power won't end if people resign themselves to the fact that they cannot effect change.

Police in Japan are remarkably reactive and don't spend much time or energy working on crime prevention. Besides stopping the occasional cyclist and verifying ownership of said bicycle, offering directions or taking a spin on their scooters, they remain very low-key, but they are a constant presence. The officers are largely relegated to their small community police boxes that are centrally located close to train stations all over the country. The policing approach has been one that is based on police officers maintaining a visible presence. “Patrols are the most important duty for community police officers in that the visible presence of police officers in their uniforms prevents crimes and gives community residents sense of security.” (1)

This type of policing is often a proactive approach, but the general disregard for blatant warning signs and growing unease has led to citizens in Japan, calling for an increased effort to stamp out the causes of crime.

The National Police Agency announced this week that they are enacting a set of regulations based on prevention of crime. The service is committing itself to the documentation of all tips, inquires and consultations. The move comes on the heals of public complaints over the way police officers handle tips from citizens. According to reports, the police had failed to follow-up on tips offered before crimes were committed.

“At present, some police officers do not leave documented records when people come in to report potential crimes, saying the reported incident didn't yet constitute a crime or that the matter was outside their jurisdiction.” (2)

This documentation initiative is a welcome step in community safety, and can only help one of the world's safest nations. If the strategy is adhered to and implemented effectively then the result will likely slightly lower an already low crime rate. It is a step in the right direction and should be followed with more moves towards an increased focus on crime prevention and a pro-active focus.

In many regards, the institution of policing in Japan is not focused on the study of criminology and addressing the underlying issues of crime. The nation is still under the guise of the evil foreigner committing all the crimes.

This is largely apparent in recent reporting on the hit-and-run case in Nagoya, involving suspects carrying Brazilian citizenship when headlines such as “3rd Brazilian arrested over fatal hit-and-run in Nagoya” and “Brazilian arrested over deadly hit-and-run in Nagoya,” (3) were splashed everywhere in the Japanese media. The fact that the suspects were Brazilian had little to do with the story, but soon became the central issue. Only the latest example, where crime perpetrated by foreign residents in Japan is held out as the norm and throughly reported by the Japanese media.

Until Japanese society can begin to wrap its collective head around the fact that Japanese citizens commit the majority of crimes and that foreign citizens commit, per capita less crime than the domestic population, there is no sense in studying crime prevention techniques. Occasionally a foreign citizen will be apprehended and convicted of a crime, allowing the domestic population to breathe easy; “Oh another foreigner convicted, the crime rate is rising due to their transgressions.”

Under the new system all interactions with officers will be documented, no matter how minor, and they will be passed on to the relevant section so that it can be handled in an appropriate manner. Police chiefs will be in charge of enforcing the new measure, and if Japanese bureaucratic systems are any example, the new regulations will be religiously followed in every regard. The fact that the National Police Agency is at least paying lip-service to the issue and making small steps in the right direction is to be commended.

(1) http://www.npa.go.jp/english/seisaku1/JapaneseCommunityPolice.pdf
(2) http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20100219a2.html
(3) http://www.newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/79472.php
(4) http://www2.ttcn.ne.jp/honkawa/2788d.html