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Just a little caveat: the instant someone starts mentioning "pigs", "fascists", etc. this thread will be closed without further warning.
Just a little caveat: the instant someone starts mentioning "pigs", "fascists", etc. this thread will be closed without further warning.
Well it all depends.
rule number 1: never ever speak Japanese. They will assume you understand everything, and unless your Japanese is really perfect it's a trap.
As Glesnki said,
I guess it all depends on the policeman, his experience with gaijins and your behavior. My first job was in the night club in Roppongi and trust me 9 years or so ago it was a jungle. Iranian mafia running around with 1m long kebab knives, cuban drug and dealers, russian pimps , yakuza and chinese mafia.
That time, for the first time I saw a cop standing in front of the police station resting on a stick called 窶点 窶堙壺?堋、, and thought wth? Is this matrix? They way they act is very Japanese. Japanese have meeting in my company for 9h, discuss things fort weeks and things never get done. Beaurocracy (whoever invented this word should be shot, twice, once for its spelling and once more for the implications) is ridiculous, so if you get into koban or police station, make sure you have a whole day for it. Imagine, to get into a gym for one day trial you need to fill out tons of forms, which takes an hour or so, and possibly leave a urine sample.
Human right are nearly non existent in Japan, and if you are a foreigner it is even worse. So if they are nice you will be ok, if not you are screwed.
On a side note, I have never seen police using force. People that got caught just walk along like sheep for slaughter. I reckon the amount of the cameras around makes any escape futile.
Personally, I have never met a rude cop, but my fellow gaijins have. Still, in my opinion action sparks a reaction. If you play cool, you should be fine.
Well it all depends.
rule number 1: never ever speak Japanese. They will assume you understand everything, and unless your Japanese is really perfect it's a trap.
I disagree completely. Not being able to speak in Japanese (or pretending to not being able to) makes it awkward for them and they'll just want to be done with you quickly. It's counterproductive if you're looking for help or information.
Also, you can often avoid being taken to the koban if you just explain yourself. I was stopped on my bike once but I forgot my wallet at home. Since I was close I asked them to follow me home and I showed it to them. They told me to not forget it next time and wished me a good day.
Pretending not to understand would have wasted a lot of time and I may've had to pay a fine.
Another time I was waiting for a friend in an alley at night and a cop car came. They asked me for my papers, asked me what I was doing there, ect. They later told me that they patroled because a crime took place a few minutes ago and that I should leave the area. If I pretended that I didn't speak Japanese they would've taken me back for questioning.
You attract cops, obviously
Forgetting alien card may get you into trouble. After all, you are on another planet.
In all seriousness, also because you guys are so very serious, it depends on the situation. But from my experience, when I pretend to be a dumb foreigner works marvels. They do not ask you all kinds of retarded questions and let you go quickly. It got a bit trickier after i got my 窶ーiツ住ナ陳?, though. But in all those years I had to deal with cops only twice (knock on wood).
It has been my experience that anyone who is treated harshly by the Japanese police it is usually because they deserved it whether they be Japanese or foreign. As Glenski mentioned, foreigners can be perceived as too aggressive and forward here and that only leads to trouble. Remain calm and be as polite to them as they are to you.
What a novel approach... Who would think that in a country that was not your own that being polite would actually help you...I never had a problem with police in Japan. When I encountered them, they were always courteous and professional -- even offered me a smoke a couple times.
But then, I always tried to maintain the perhaps novel-to-some attitude that I was a visitor in their country, and they were the appointed authorities.
No...I am at home; I live here. I've lived well over half my life here in total and almost my entire adult life.
If you have little enough dignity to do the dumb foreigner routine when you are capable of more then you are beneath contempt. I have had numerous dealings with the police here and in every instance have found them to be courteous and professional. Greeting them with the appropriate ご苦労様です and conducting your business with them in Japanese in no way places you at a disadvantage. I've never had "all kinds of retarded questions" from them, merely those questions which were pertinent to the matter at hand.
If you're going to live here under an 永住権 then act like you're home and stop playing that lame-assed dumb foreigner crap. Tourists have an excuse; you don't. You're a foreigner who has chosen to make Japan his home. So how about making the effort to assimilate and live your life under the same conditions as everybody else?
Have a little dignity for God's sake. Or at least quit embarrassing those of us who do make the effort.
What a novel approach... Who would think that in a country that was not your own that being polite would actually help you...
Ryuurui, do you think it was possibly just a once in awhile situation? That wouldn't happen in a perfect world. They would have checked the security cams, and done their job the best they can. However, much like the USA, I guess the kind of cop you'll get depends on their attitude, your attitude, and where you're at.
I got a ticket in January '09 for "running a stop sign". In reality, I hit the breaks slowly on a patch of ice in front of a stop sign, and a cop was coming from the street to my left, saw me go into the middle of the lane, turned his sirens on, and wrote me up a $70 ticket for it. He also cited that I am lucky his speed gun wasn't working, or lol, he would have also ticketed me for going 30 MPH(48 KPH) in a 35 MPH(56 KPH) zone.
In addition to that, my car broke down on a highway once. A state police officer stopped as he was driving by, ticketed me for broken glass on my left rear light, and was kind enough to drive off afterward and call a tow truck, whereas I told him a relative was coming by to pick me and my car up.
Last but not least, in high school, I had some very wrong cops come by my house in the wee hours of the morning and try to arrest me for punching/assaulting the son of our town's fire department chief at a music joint I've never been to, based on a photograph my school gave to the police when they asked for any students with my last name.
Cops can really suck sometimes, ryuurui. I just try not to let the idiot cops ruin my opinion on all police officers. I can't say that I haven't met some good ones before.
In any case a bright smile plastered on my blond haired, blue-eyed face (no matter how I felt inside) has done wonders for me in dealing with people here, police or whoever.