Japan is Bizarro world....

[Mekugi]

I know there is a great amount of Police corruption in the USA. We're no saints.

Yet, I found this in the paper the other day,found it again at Yahoo news:

June 6, 2009, 4:31 am
A Japanese police officer has been arrested for snatching the purse of a 75-year-old woman after he was chased and caught by two high school students, police officials said on Friday.
Police sergeant Naofumi Nomura, 29, allegedly stole the woman's purse with about Y10,000 ($A128.68) in cash inside on Thursday evening and ran off through the streets of the western city of Okayama.
Two high school students who heard the elderly woman's screams pursued Nomura on bicycle for some 250 metres before overpowering him.
"I heard a woman screaming 'Thief!' and turned around to see a man coming our way," one of the boys, Ryutaro Hourai,15, told broadcaster NHK.
"We chased him as hard as we could. I can't believe that a police officer who is supposed to catch criminals was caught by high school students."
Kimiaki Hiraoka, chief inspector with Okayama's prefectural police, told a news conference: "It was extremely deplorable. We'd like to offer our profound apologies to the victim and other people concerned."

What they don't tell you here is that the policeman has tons of debt from loans. They are investigating that now. They also don't tell you that the cop was a "highly decorated" officer (he received many medals for retrieving stolen items) and a leader in his ward. Police say that he had been out of contact with his office since the end of May and they are pleading ignorance to his problems.



The amount of garbage that goes on here in Japan in relationship to the police and the police's seeming inability to fight crime is rather startling. I've seen their bumbling first hand myself, most of the time they are cowards and totally useless.



Here's another example, this one is about 15 minutes from my house:

Saturday 09th May, 08:07 AM JST
AICHI —
Aichi prefectural police came under fire on Saturday after they admitted on Friday that a police officer who was on the scene of a double murder on May 2 spotted a suspicious man inside the house, but let him get away while he called for backup.
Police officers found the body of 57-year-old Kihoko Yamada on Sunday May 3 under a blanket in her closet at her home in the town of Kanie, Aichi Prefecture, after her two sons were stabbed the previous day. One of the sons died and the surviving son said an unknown man had attacked him in the early hours of Saturday morning and demanded money, according to investigators.

Yamada died of head injuries caused by repeated blows with a blunt instrument, believed to be a wrench found near the bathroom sink on the first floor. The autopsy report said she was not stabbed as originally suspected, that the injuries on her back were inflicted by the blunt instrument, and that there were marks on her neck indicating she had been strangled as well. Her second son, Masaki, 26, was found dead in a bedroom on Saturday, stabbed in the back and neck, after police visited the home following a call from a colleague concerned that Masaki had not turned up for work.
Initially, police said that when an officer arrived, he found the second son, Isao, 25, stabbed and tied up inside the house.
On Friday, a prefectural police spokesman said that, in fact, the officer on the scene found Isao trying to escape from the house through a window. His legs were bound and he told the officer that the assailant, who he said spoke Japanese with a strange intonation, was still inside the house.
The police spokesman said that the officer peered through the partially open front door and saw a man dressed in black crouching inside. He ordered the man to come out, but upon receiving no response, he retreated to call for backup. By the time other officers arrived, the suspect had vanished.
Aichi police officials said Saturday the officer did the right thing in calling for backup since he did not know how many assailants might have been in the house or what had actually happened. Tomohiro Tateiwa, chief of investigations, said: “The condition of the victims took priority at that stage.”
However, critics have asked why the police kept the details about the crouching man secret from the media, saying it is yet another embarrassing incident for the police. “Making those details public so soon would have hindered the investigation,” said Tateiwa.
Crime reporter Akihiro Otani said, “When police come upon a situation like that, making sure no one leaves the scene of the crime is basic procedure. To excuse themselves by making excuses like, ‘Before we knew it, the suspect had disappeared’ shows nothing more than incompetence on their part. In this particular case, the fact that the mother’s body was found more than a day after the crime occurred, and the way details of the initial investigation were given to the media are all extremely baffling.”
Hiroshi Kubo, a nonfiction author knowledgeable about police procedures, pointed out, “It’s ridiculous that supposed professionals, whose job it is to keep the peace, have claimed that it wasn’t their mistake. It’s exactly because they knew it was their fault that they failed to admit they let the suspect slip through their fingers. They should be embarrassed.”

[Mekugi]

Just to keep this thread up to date....an Aichi policeman was caught "peeping" and taking pictures in a woman's bathroom last week. (sigh).

[Cla68]

I'm still trying to figure out what's up with Japanese policemen. I've heard that Japanese police supervisors are graded on keeping the crime rate down in their districts, which means they're under intense pressure to keep crimes and incidents that occur in their areas from being reported. Thus, they'll do almost anything to keep from formally dealing with infractions that occur on their beat.

I've also heard that they operate under some serious restrictions on what they're allowed to do. For example, they can't formally arrest someone on suspicion of committing a crime usually unless the suspect acts violent in their presence. They get around this by "inviting" suspects to the local koban or station for questioning, taking advantage of the average Japanese person's cultural respect for authority. This informal questioning allows them to reserve the right to wait until after the interrogation to decide to proceed with formal arraignment or not.

You can use this to your advantage. If you're ever hassled by the Japanese police, which does happen to foreigners sometimes, and they ask you to voluntarily go with them to the station, say "No" (in English) and then just stand there looking at them. They'll stand there looking at you and may repeat the request more forcefully. But just keep standing there looking at them, not moving at all, and they'll eventually give up and leave.

[Mekugi]

Hi!

You have a good point. There was an article in the Asahi Shinbun last week about a doctor being forced by the police to report the death of Sumo wrestler Takashi Saito as "heart failure" and not severe trauma from beating. When the family viewed the corpse, it was covered with bruises, cigarette burns and cuts. After the family pressured the police publicly and had an independent autopsy performed did the police open up an investigation.

Why? I think you hit it on the head there.

[Cla68]

You might rent and watch the two Odoru saisosasen movies, which give insight into Japanese police culture and are supposedly based on reality. In the first one, the police unit is reluctant to admit that a dead man found floating in the local river was a murder, because then they would have to pay the cost of hosting a special investigator from the national police headquarters. One of the district managers asks, "Are you sure we can't declare this one a suicide?"

[Jim]

Oh great... about a fortnight until we go there then you tell me about corruption! I've spent time shopping with my daughters to get ready for the trip and got long sleeve Tshirts to hide my tattoos... Ah well... it should be fun anyway.

[Mekugi]

Oh great... about a fortnight until we go there then you tell me about corruption! I've spent time shopping with my daughters to get ready for the trip and got long sleeve Tshirts to hide my tattoos... Ah well... it should be fun anyway.

Tokyo? Osaka?

[Jim]

Ummm... Osaka, Nara and Kyoto... I PM'd you ages ago Russ... Didn't think you loved me any more... Was hoping to catch up with you there but you didn't reply.

[Mekugi]

Ummm... Osaka, Nara and Kyoto... I PM'd you ages ago Russ... Didn't think you loved me any more... Was hoping to catch up with you there but you didn't reply.

Weird...I didn't get it.
Anyway, if you plan on being in Nagoya...I'm a local fixture. We can go to Yamachan...

[Jim]

yup, sounds good to me... I'll send you an Email

[Cla68]

Update on the advice about how to avoid being hassled by the Japanese police...me and a Japanese friend were discussing the recent Noriko Sakai controversy and about how she had initially turned down the request from the police to undergo "voluntary" questioning at the police station. My friend told me the best way to handle it if the police make you a similar request is to do what she did, to say that you have a meeting with someone that you have to keep, but ask the policeman for his meishi and that you'll call him later to schedule a good time to come in for questioning. Of course, don't call later unless you really don't mind voluntarily placing yourself under the control of a police force with a reputation for not always following the rules, especially when it comes to foreigners.