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mikecash said:It will matter in that the legal drinking age in Japan is 20. It has been quite a while since I was anywhere near that age, and back then they didn't bother with checking ID. I have no idea if they check now or not. I strongly suspect, though, that the issue won't come up. In the last couple of years they have started putting up signs in stores which sell liquor strongly pointing out that the legal age is 20 and that ID will be required for liquor sales. Like so many things in Japan, though, I wouldn't be surprised if the actual action begins and ends with putting up the signs. I would be surprised if you have trouble getting served in drinking establishments.
However, should you get stinko and for whatever reason come to the attention of the police, it could cause problems. What those problems might be, I have no real idea.
Googling info straight from actual Japanese sources (for instance, train info from sites put up and maintained by the railroads) is always a more sure source of information than just asking folks who are either guessing or relying on memories which may either be faulty or out of date.
Always happy to help (really), even if much of the time I do come across as a total ***.
FirstHousePooka said:Jref may be better than google as there ARE people who live in Japan and can give up too date info or who know a variety of decent weblinks they use themselves.
Eg my two train timetable pages I use. No way could I find them via google. Someone had to give them too me.
budd said:^ pretty true
if two foreigners are fighting, police just toss them both in the clink -- maybe let the one who looks more worse for wear go free eventually. bad idea to get into trouble on an island -- get away how?
if a foreigner and a native are fighting? well, who has better command of the language (and can reason with the authorities)?
mikecash said:Another point to keep in mind.....
I wonder if King is aware of how long the Japanese (in)justice system can hold people without filing charges?
Initial police hold: 48 hours
Extension: 24 hours
Initial prosecutor's hold 10 days
Extension: 10 days
So you can be held for a total of 23 days before they have to either file charges or release you.
Further points to keep in mind:
1. You are not entitled to phone anyone and tell them where you are and what has happened to you. If they want, they can hold you 100% incommunicado
2. You do not have the right to contact an attorney until such time as charges are actually filed. You do not have the right to have an attorney present during questioning.
3. Pre-trial bail is routinely denied, and cases proceed at a geological pace. Confinement can continue even through any appeals process. I know of one case where a woman spent 13 years in jail while her case proceeded through the original trial and the two appeals that one can file. When it was all wrapped up, she was sentenced to 8 years. Judges have full discretion whether to credit all, some, or none of the time already confined toward the final sentence. In this woman's case, despite having already been locked up for 13 years for a crime that got her a sentence of 8 years, the judge decided to send her to prison for six months anyway.
4. Illegally obtained evidence is routinely admitted in Japanese trials.
5. Judges largely view trials as a formality, and already have an idea how much time they're going to give you before opening statements are even made.
6. Defense attorneys routinely feed damaging information about their clients to the prosecutor. So that whole attorney-client privilege thing is something of a farce.
7. Prosecutors enjoy a conviction rate of (last I read) about 98.8%. If you go to trial, you can count on being convicted. It's pretty much a foregone conclusion.
8. Investigators face little or no restrictions about how they question you. Sleep and food deprivation are par for the course, with detectives being perfectly content to interrogate you in shifts, perhaps up to 18 or 20 hours per day.
9. Police reports sent to the prosecutor, in which you give your statement, are supposed to be written by the detainee, but in actual fact they are written by the police, who know just how to word them to put you in the most damning position posible.
10. Police reports are routinely falsified and forged. The pages are not sequentially numbered, and it is normal practice for them to write one up which fits with the detainee's take on the matter, have them sign it, and then remove all the interior pages and rewrite them with damning material.
Believe me, King, I have done rather extensive study on the Japanese criminal justice system through reading numerous Japanese language materials on the subject. They not only hold all the aces, they make up the rules as they go along. You absolutely do not want to be the object of their attention. I have no idea how long a visit to Japan you may have planned, but do you really want to waste 23 days of it sitting in the pokey and sleeping on a concrete floor in a cell where the lights are on 24/7, your every move directly observed by cops?
mikecash said:The chances that you will actually have anything at all to be worried about are so close to zero that it isn't worth worrying about. But it is always good to have as many of the practical facts as possible. The non-practical stuff, I wouldn't dream of telling you about. Finding that stuff on your own is 99% of the fun of the trip.