Poll: How many times have you been stopped by the J-cops

[traycerb]

[IparryU]

Second time I got stopped:
I was working in Shibuya Mark City West and I went to go to AU to pay my bill. I walked down the alley with love hotel hill on your left, and SEGA (or some other gesen) on the right.

I was in a suit and tie, brand new dress shoes, and clean cut.

3 came up on me, my 12, 3, and 9 with their billy clubs out and wrists turned outward (that is how you get a good whip in the hit).

They thought I stole something.... had to empty my pockets, the whole deal in the middle of the street.

Then 5 of my J colleagues walked past the scene.... not so good. Cops said thank you for complying and walked away.

Not so bad considering that where I live in the US, they strip search you on spot at gun point. dont wanna talk back to them... that is how I got a cracked skull and a permanate bone lump on the back of my head.... No BS

Am I to complain? not really, J cops are like the elementary school recess time monitor...

[BULL]

[American Oyaji]

Yeah, they don't want to fool with military personnel. Especially when they know they were being a dickhead in the first place.

[Samurai_Jerk]

[FG Lurker]

... but this is where he lost me. Seems to have bit of a persecution complex.

Yeah, that is about what I thought too, but wasn't quite as charitable... He sounds fuckin' nuts. Actually, he sounds like that that paranoid nut who posted on here a while back who was sure all the old guys he met were spitting just cause he was around...

[Taro Toporific]

... He sounds fuckin' nuts. Actually, he sounds like that that paranoid nut who posted on here a while back who was sure all the old guys he met were spitting just cause he was around...

Heh, I have had two gaijin buddies who kept on seeing non-existent Japanese spitters while walking with me.

Was there some kind of outdated guidebook warning about old Japanese guys spitting to rid themselves of bad gaijin juju?

[hakosukajd]

[American Oyaji]

What'd you say to them?

[Osakadave]

Heh, I have had two gaijin buddies who kept on seeing non-existent Japanese spitters while walking with me.

Was there some kind of outdated guidebook warning about old Japanese guys spitting to rid themselves of bad gaijin juju?

The only case of an actual spitter I encountered in 19 years was a co-worker who was spit upon by some homeless guy following him back to work after lunch. After missing several times, he hit his target square in the back with a nasty loogy.Co-worker decked him, hoofed it back to work, and nothing happened.

I thought that black guy in Tokyo was another co-worker at first. Sounds exactly like the person I was thinking of, except he's Canadian and lives in Osaka. Anytime the staff played a rap CD at work, they were discriminatinmg against him. (Funniest thing I ever saw was him teaching "snowperson" for the Xmas lessons. )

[McTojo]

I've been stopped by the police a couple of times in the seven years I've lived here. I never show my ID. I always produce my DL instead. Just stay calm and explain you forgot it. My DL has my old address on it, so I always give them that. Never speak Japanese or let them know you understand it. Having a license makes them think you've been here awhile.

[hakosukajd]

What'd you say to them?

It started with "What for"
Ans: Security
At which point I got diarrhea of the mouth, but it began with something like
"In what crazy fucking world does a 5 ft 8, 160 lb guy carrying a 1 year old and a shitload of luggage represent a threat of epic proportions"...and rambled on until they did the sorry to bother you bow and went on their way. It was more the volume than the substance.

I thought they were going to go get reinforcements and come back....but my wife returned from the bathroom and while they passed a couple more times before the ticket line opened up, they didn't come back.

I took far more shit from my wife who complained they were just doing their job....I have half a mind to send her ass driving through AZ with a busted tail light.....

[hakosukajd]

On second thought, I was stopped about two blocks from the house walking the dog at about 1030 on a Friday.....

but it wasn't about me.....apparently a couple of kids were riding double on a moped in the neighborhood. Cops told them to stop and they took off. They asked if I'd seen them.....never asked who I was or where I lived. They laughed when I asked them if I could see one of those police paint ball guns they use to tag the motorcyclists with....

[canman]

Son of a bitch, if it didn't happen to me today. Was on my way to a company lesson, stopped at a bank to update my bankbooks. Went into the bank and a guy in a brown suit walked in same time as me. I started to update and he picked up the phone and called a worker. It seemed he had forgotten something. The worker came out and he talked to her and then left. I finished my banking and headed out to the parking. He was just at his car, and when he saw me, he started to walk towards me. I thought what does this oyaji want. He then flashed his badge that was on his belt and asked for my gaijin card. Then he asked where I was from and what I did and where I worked. Look at the card, saw I was from Canada and had PR, and said thanks. Then he said, not police business, does Canada have radiation worry. I said no. Then he left.
WTF, I was well dressed, driving responsibly. Why would he need to do that.
What would have happened if I refused to show him, since he was a plains clothes officer? What trouble would I have gotten into?

[Mike Oxlong]

Did you ask him those questions? Seems he's the only one who could answer the "why" part.

[canman]

To tell you the truth Mike, I was a bit taken back by the whole thing, and got a little nervous. So I just went along and did as I was told. Being a good Canadian, didn't want to make a fuss. But looking back I should have asked for more ID from him instead of just a flash of a badge.

[BigInJapan]

But looking back I should have asked for more ID from him instead of just a flash of a badge.

I recalled seeing something on Debito's blog awhile back, and sure enough, he's devoted an entire page (and WAY too much time) to just this issue.

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.
This, and a whole pantload more from the gospel according to Debito...

[wuchan]

I always ask why and proceed to try to take a pic of their ID card with my keitai. Usually they just back off.

It's been a while, I'm probably due for the free engrish lesson treatment.

[dimwit]

Son of a bitch, if it didn't happen to me today. Was on my way to a company lesson, stopped at a bank to update my bankbooks. Went into the bank and a guy in a brown suit walked in same time as me. I started to update and he picked up the phone and called a worker. It seemed he had forgotten something. The worker came out and he talked to her and then left. I finished my banking and headed out to the parking. He was just at his car, and when he saw me, he started to walk towards me. I thought what does this oyaji want. He then flashed his badge that was on his belt and asked for my gaijin card. Then he asked where I was from and what I did and where I worked. Look at the card, saw I was from Canada and had PR, and said thanks. Then he said, not police business, does Canada have radiation worry. I said no. Then he left.
WTF, I was well dressed, driving responsibly. Why would he need to do that.
What would have happened if I refused to show him, since he was a plains clothes officer? What trouble would I have gotten into?

First of all, you were very suspiciously having a bank account which means you must be dealing in drugs probably from the local US base. Every Japanese person knows that you should stow all your money in an old sock under the floor boards and wait for it to get washed away in the next tsunami or until you forget about it and the wreckers collect it when they tear down your house.

Either that or he thought you were Russian mafia and could introduce him to some pretty blondes.

[nikoneko]

TIJ, he was probably just covering his ass somehow. "Umm yes sir I made a mistake but I fixed it. Oh and this gaijin was there." "What?! Did you question him?" "Oh yes sir of course."

[Coligny]

. Then he said, not police business, does Canada have radiation worry. I said no. Then he left.

Maybe his question was genuine, having access only to jnews, not speaking english and understanding that the news are not reliable...

[Myzenisbent]

In the last 2 weeks two sets of friends (a non-Jpn & a Jpn in each set) went to Narita and both times only the non-Jpn in the set was asked by the J-police to show their ID. First set was a married couple picking up a friend on May 2, second set were a business team flying to Europe on May 18, and each time the police didn't think it was a problem not to ask the Jpn person in the set for their ID.

Since absolutely everyone needs to show proper ID to get into Narita in the first place when arriving by any means (car/bus/train/plane), once inside the facility, only asking visibly non-Jpn for ID is straight-up racial profiling.

The initial entry check is of a low-level security type so sure, perhaps more checks inside the building enhances the appearance of security, but then the police need to ask everyone equally.

Wouldn't the Jpn guy who turned off the cooling system at Fukushima before the tsunami be someone they really should be looking for, or perhaps the Tepco executives who held back such info for the last 2 months...

[Midwinter]

Wouldn't the Jpn guy who turned off the cooling system at Fukushima before the tsunami be someone they really should be looking for, or perhaps the Tepco executives who held back such info for the last 2 months...

You're making too much sense, stop that immediately.

A few months back I had a lone police officer rock up on my genkan. Long story short, he was going door to door warning tenants in the area about some sort of con that was happening and because I couldn't be bothered talking to him, passed him off to the mrs. About 10 minutes later however, she came back into the living room and announced how he now wanted to see my gaijin card... unbelievable. So about half an hour of screaming at the officer later, we had covered a whole range of topics from Nazi Germany, to racial profiling and how in all reality, my homeland was a damn side better off than his ruptured anus of country. In the end he apologized profusely and left.

In retrospect, had I pulled that back home, the officer would have just shot me.

[Ganma]

You're making too much sense, stop that immediately.

A few months back I had a lone police officer rock up on my genkan. Long story short, he was going door to door warning tenants in the area about some sort of con that was happening and because I couldn't be bothered talking to him, passed him off to the mrs. About 10 minutes later however, she came back into the living room and announced how he now wanted to see my gaijin card... unbelievable. So about half an hour of screaming at the officer later, we had covered a whole range of topics from Nazi Germany, to racial profiling and how in all reality, my homeland was a damn side better off than his ruptured anus of country. In the end he apologized profusely and left.

In retrospect, had I pulled that back home, the officer would have just shot me.

Kinda reminds me of the Obama incident no. 1.

Obama says police acted 'stupidly' in arresting black professor
The president links the arrest of friend Henry Louis Gates Jr. of Harvard to the disparate treatment of minorities by police.

[Mock Cockpit]

I wonder how you'd go giving them your TASPO card, Tsutaya card etc and telling a little story about each one. Spend 5 minutes asking a million questions in Japanese then request an interpreter. Send mail from your phone while profusely aplogising, basically be a passive agressive arsehole.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

...each time the police didn't think it was a problem not to ask the Jpn person in the set for their ID.

Sorry mate, TIJ and the cops' action was not a problem. They are legally entitled to ask any foreigner at any time to produce their alien card or passport and may arrest said foreigner if they do not produce said ID. I think the cops here could be a damn sight harsher than they are, especially given the powers they are accorded under the law. As David Bowie would say, This is Not America. (Actually, he wouldn't say it, but sing it, but you get the gist, right?)
FWIW, I'm housed with about a dozen dodgy Japanese blokes at the moment and they are almost constantly bugged by police questioning them. Admittedly, all have priors. But, barely a day goes by without at least one being pulled up. Even when I've been in attendance, the cops' interest in me has never been more than cursory. That's just my experience, though, so I wouldn't take too much into it.
But I can say with a fair amount of conviction that cops here are far more arbitrary in dealing with Japanese than they are with foreigners, even the less favored-types from neighboring nations that can't be named, primarily because apprehension means shitloads of paperwork and decades of living here has showed me that the greatest aversion Japanese beat cops have is for work.

[matsuki]

In the last 2 weeks two sets of friends (a non-Jpn & a Jpn in each set) went to Narita and both times only the non-Jpn in the set was asked by the J-police to show their ID. First set was a married couple picking up a friend on May 2, second set were a business team flying to Europe on May 18, and each time the police didn't think it was a problem not to ask the Jpn person in the set for their ID.

Since absolutely everyone needs to show proper ID to get into Narita in the first place when arriving by any means (car/bus/train/plane), once inside the facility, only asking visibly non-Jpn for ID is straight-up racial profiling.

The initial entry check is of a low-level security type so sure, perhaps more checks inside the building enhances the appearance of security, but then the police need to ask everyone equally.

Wouldn't the Jpn guy who turned off the cooling system at Fukushima before the tsunami be someone they really should be looking for, or perhaps the Tepco executives who held back such info for the last 2 months...

yep yep...are not the usual justifications for racial profiling are race-based statistics on crime and whatnot? Even the screwy crime statistics released here account 97-something percent of foreign crime to nationals of China, Korea, etc. etc. Take into consideration Japanese crime with that and how bad Japanese are at visibly judging the nationality of people....and statistically speaking, visibly non-jp are the last people they should be targeting.

[Greji]

how bad Japanese are at visibly judging the nationality of people....

I don't know. I'm around 6'3", red hair and blue eyes. Your basic chuck and after staring awhile, most J-people are normally able to come to the conclusion that I'm not a zip.

[pheyton]

Irish luck or not, but every time I have been stopped was while I was minding my own. Been may a time when I was on an abandoned chari or the likes and was never stopped.

Been through the good cop, bad cop scenario at the station too. Just played nice, got on my knees and said sorry and it all went away, not before a few gray hairs though.

On a whole, I've found the J-cops to be a fuck of a lot nicer and easier to deal with than the LA cops. Although, that was 6 years ago.

I still have yet to be harrassed by those hot, DD, uniformed, female J-cops we see in movies and anime though.

[matsuki]

I still have yet to be harrassed by those hot, DD, uniformed, female J-cops we see in movies and anime though.

Shit, if those existed, we'd be figuring out how to get them to play good cop bad cop with us