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What kind of incidents show up in Japanese police records?

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user74118

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The following post is quite long, so please bear with me.

While living in Japan, I was in three separate incidents that resulted in police involvement. In two cases, a Japanese man, both strangers, verbally and physically accosted me without provocation, and I responded in self defense. (I'm female.) No notable injuries were sustained on either side.

In both cases, both parties were taken to a police station, fingerprinted, ID'ed, and questioned separately . I'll clarify here that no one was arrested. By the time the police arrived, we had stopped fighting and were waiting for them. The police asked if we would come to the station, and we agreed.

During questioning, the police did not accuse me of breaking or violating any specific laws, although they scolded me a bit. Both cases concluded a couple of hours later with everyone agreeing to apologize to each other, after which we were free to leave. No charges were filed on either side, and there were no court summons, convictions, fines or incarcerations. Although the police wrote detailed reports for their records, which both parties had to sign, they didn't issue a written citation or any other kind of document.

The third case involved a Japanese man who slammed into me with his bike while I was on a sidewalk, knocking me into the street. He ditched his bike and tried to run away, but I chased him down and cornered him (no physical contact), while I called the police. The police questioned us separately onsite, but no one was taken to the station or fingerprinted. ID's were checked and cleared. The man tried to blame me, but it was clear from the bloody scrapes on my leg that he was lying, so that was quickly debunked. The police asked if I wanted to press charges, and I told them, no, I just wanted him to be penalized according to the law. They issued him a written citation, and we went our separate ways.

My questions are:

- Would any of these incidents appear on my Japanese police record and/or show up in background checks, even though I wasn't charged or convicted?
- If they are entered on my record, how would they be categorized? Would the police mark them as misconduct or violations (i.e. simple assault for the first two incidents)? I'd think (hope) they would have clearly informed me of this during questioning, but can't put confidence in assumptions.
- Is there a way for me to look up my Japanese police record without going through bureaucracy?
 
I doubt very seriously you anything resembling a "police record" from those incidents.
 
@YBates, I'm guessing you are applying for a visa, and want to make sure that your previous encounters with the police won't throw a wrench in your gears before you fully invest in the process?

Although none of that sounds like it would make it onto a criminal record, surely there is some kind of record of it somewhere... I guess the question is is there any way of actually looking up any mention of an individual in police paperwork, or is it pretty much filed away in paper somewhere, and unsearchable unless someone knew exactly where to look?

Either way though, these incidents don't seem like anything that would negatively impact a visa background check, if that is your aim.
 
@nice gaijin, thank you for your response. I'm checking for purposes of a job application. The position requires security clearance, so background checks will be more thorough than those conducted for most jobs.

Because honesty is critical, I'll be noting these incidents down on the application, regardless of whether or not they appear in any background checks. However, I'd like to make sure that the Japanese police records are consistent with what occurred, i.e. no charges, fines, convictions, etc. I don't trust the police officers who handled those cases because they showed clear bias toward the Japanese men involved, and tried to pressure me into taking 100% of the blame. I adamantly refused to cave in, which is why the eventual conclusion was an exchange of apologies with no charges/penalties.

Because of their behavior, I'm concerned that they may have put a mark or note of misconduct or violation on my record somewhere without notifying me. If their records don't align with what I write on my application, it will look like I'm deliberately lying, which would immediately disqualify me. I'm trying to head off that risk by doing this research so I can try and resolve any discrepancies before submitting the application. (I can't simply call and ask the police department, or apply for a police certificate, for personal purposes. They require me to submit an application with a note/form from the organization requesting that information for an official purpose.)
 
You think out of racist spite the police marked their records showing you have criminal charges, fines, or CONVICTIONS ?!?!

You are the racist in this, not them.
 
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Perhaps you have some race issues yourself if you jumped straight to that conclusion from what I said. Of course I'm not ignorantly judging you as such because I don't know you -- just as you don't me.

I never said they were racist, nor did I think they were. They were biased. People can be biased without being racist. And people can be biased without being spiteful. People can do strange things due to bias... of any kind. Were you present during my cases? Are you omnipotent? Unless the answer is "yes" to both, you can't speak as if you know what happened or what could have happened.

Furthermore, without knowing my ethnic background, you're being quite presumptuous yourself. Did you assume I was white or black? That sounds like racial profiling. My roots are in Japan... so I guess I'm being racist against people of my own ethnicity. I'm going to stop replying to you here because it's utterly distasteful stooping to your level.
 
Yet you still suspect the police of marking you with charges, fines, and convictions because you're a gaijin..... So you're not racist, just an ugly American. Some improvement!

They're not bashful. If you had any charges, fines, or convictions, you'd know about it.
 
I agree with nice gaijin that there is some type of record of the 3 incidents. Obviously, there is no conviction or citation against you, but the whole point of the police taking down information is to keep it for future reference, and in this case it's my guess that the reference is merely statistics for the area and year.

Go ahead and be "honest" about this when you apply for a job, but keep in mind that there were no arrests, convictions, or citations on you. HOWEVER, although you were the innocent party in the third incident, I have to wonder whether you started the scuffles in the other two. Yes, it sounds like minor fighting, and yes, you said you "responded" to their verbal and physical abuse, but you did something physical. Period. Who can say how this is recorded? We don't know any more details of the first 2 incidents, and I'm not asking you to describe them, but you did get physical, which can potentially look negative on your record. That's all.

It may have appeared that they wanted you to take 100% of the blame, but are you 100% sure of that? Again, we are hearing only one side of the issue. Rhetorical question, but keep it in mind. Frankly, I'm surprised because you are a woman and it was men, not other women, who accosted you. But I wasn't there and I lack a ton of detail.

Security clearance for what, if I may ask?
 
There were some jobs that I was looking at a year or two ago (not for me) that specified US-only citizenship--no duals/multis allowed. Security clearances were a part, too. (in bio-sciences/chemistry, probably dangerous stuff)
 
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