Get Arrested
 

Yea! you heard right "get arrested" in Japan and you will laugh your socks off. I do not recommend this to the faint heart or idiots out there but any of you hard core crims should see the inside of a Japanese police station on your visit.

I got done at 3:30 am for moving a bycicle that was dumped in a bush. I thought I was doing a public service but under JP law moving another persons bike is an offence...
I suspected it was a plant (a setup) when I was caught moving this bike out of the bush. They wanted to take polaroids of me and the bike after the fact to which I refused. I was placed into the lovely Toyota police car with leather seats (plz take note crims) and rear electric windows and door releases in the rear.
At the station I was treated like a good criminal and was permitted to smoke at any time I wished tipping my ash into a police station custom ashtray. After complaining several times that I needed ramen I got a good bowl of the stuff and a box of cigs to keep me going.
I am not sure but I think the head honcho came to interview with me which allowed me much bowing practice. Damn! bow enough and these guys will let you off anything.
So in the end I asked who was the owner of the bike? they could not provide me with the ownership so I protested that I could not touch a bike that had no owner and be guilty. they agreed and drove me home in the lovely Toyota police car.

BTW. while in the police car I managed to play with the interior lights and electric windows with no attention from the JP police.

LOL that made me laugh so much. Did you dealt get arrested for moving a bike out of a bush? Those police must really ha e nothing beter to do

Don't touch the bike next time.

Maybe they didn't become so serious because of nature of the crime(?).

But my experience of police in japan is, well, kinda funny. I did not get into any trouble myself seeing as I am so well-behaved, but some things I saw during my 4 months there:

* A drunk american _punching_ a police officer in the stomach after beeing asked to come along, and the only consequence was that they (bout 4-5 officers) continued to ask him to come along with them.

* A police officer running a good 50 meters beside a drunk(seemed like) guy on a bicycle trying to get him to stop (and not just grabbing him)

* Another drunk guy in my guesthouse involved in, let's call it a domestic disturbance. Policemen came, tried to talk to him. He countered by screaming the police officers down, acting really bad. The policemen subsequently left and there were no consequences.

Man, I would never even imagine to punch a swedish police officer, let alone whilst surrounded by several more. Damn just to think of how fast I would be planted on the ground after something like that, lol.

But as you can see, I think I have to respect the japanese for this. They have the up most respect for people that they don't consider only themselves in the situation. Every one is intitled to a bad day, Your not the only person living in this world.

The Japanese are anal about bicycles, its probably because like 90% of the crime in Japan is related to either bicycles and umbrellas, don't even think about biking while drunk, it carries the same penalty as driving a car >.<

Just lol'ed. Don't really know if i understood you correctly, but I kind of hope not..

I don't see how a group of policemen failing to restrain a violent, drunk man earns anyones respect... That's not about having a bad day, it's about beeing an asshole (the man, not the police).

what?

I have been arrested in many countries due to the overuse of alcohol but in Japan I was very shocked to see the level of policing down to a matter of fact situation. It was almost as if the police were playing at being poilce and having a fun time wearing the costume.

At one point I asked an officer about his uniform and he proudly let me inspect his badges and buttons posing for me as he turned around to display his uniform. At any point if I was a bad criminal I could have done very bad things to the police officers knowing I would be ok.

In conclusion I would be very happy if I were a A+ No.1 criminal in Japan. I could pretty much f%ck up anyone including the police and feel happy in my job as I would never get any trouble from the law. It would seem that the police in Japan are more focused on the title of the job then the actual duities of the job.
I was treated with great respect and allowed to do what I pleased within limits inside the police station, this is something never to be seen in the UK.

You almost sound pround, odonata.

oi thats where your wrong odonata, the police don't seem to do a lot but help lost tourists and smile because there job isn't needed as much due to Japans stricter sense of values and the fact that organized crime in Japan generally refuses to prey on tourists. The Koban help drunk salary men into taxi's on a regular basis but it is a huge mistake to think that they are pushovers. Japan can hold you for a long time in jail for no particular reason other than you are a suspect or may have information to a crime, they like to be nice to foreigners especially when they think you may not know about the crime or custom (I mean come on moving a bike is a bit weird of an offense) but once you cross the line your not a innocent gaijin your a public disturbance and the Japanese do not like that. Oh and before you plot your carrier as the number 1 criminal in Japan I'll tell you one thing, the Yakuza are criminals that see themselves very nationalistic and they will kill you if you cross, trust me.