(Note:- My Japanese is week, N5 level barely)
I have been working at my company for more than a year and commute by bicycle. Earlier i used to pay daily but later I got monthly passes whose sticker we paste on the bicycle.
My last sticker got expired on 31st January and I was not able to renew it because I was not in Japan at that time.
We have 2 sections in parking lot one for daily tickets and other for monthly passes.
The bicycle parking near my home where i parked i met a japanese guy in summer who used to park at the same parking lot near my home and also near my work place. We became sort of friends that we would have some small talk if we would bump into each other at the bicycle parking lot near home.
So on 31st Jan when i met him i told him how i dont have contract for bicycle parking near office from Feb and it would be difficult getting up early in the morning to find space in the other parking lot with daily tickets.
He tells me he is just moving out this week and I can use his sticker which is still valid to find a space and then talk to the parking lot officials to pay in the evening for the day’s usage until i can get a new monthly parking pass.
He puts the sticker on my bicycle and I being a dumb ass happily accept it thinking it would be no big deal, just need to talk to parking lot people.
Next day 1st February, i get late in the morning so I late to office so I just park my bicycle and run to office.
Fast forward to evening, i find my bicycle towed and locked with various stickers and told to come today morning.
Today (2nd February), after a lot of discussion with parking lot officials they call the police. I try explaining it to them my misunderstanding and my mistake of believing him but of course difficult for them to believe i did not steal bicycle pass. Given indirect threats of checking footage of yesterday morning also while i defended my position strongly of not being involved in stealing yesterday morning.
I pay the fine, parking fee and take my bicycle out to the daily parking lot. Koban police tells me to go to work.
Sometime later they again call me to koban and start grilling me on the chain of events and i try my best to explain it to them using google translate. Circumstantial evidence is not really helpful for me as well. For example I have the membership card of the parking lot but its been sitting and getting roughed up in my phone cover for so long that most of the important, minute details are now smudged / removed even though it is still recognizable as parking lot membership card.
Now that the guy that talked to me has moved over and i don’t know where, they said that the parking sticker was stolen sometime ago from someone else other than the person i know in January.
I remembered the advice that for police work that even if we know little japanese we should use translator and ask for someone knowing english.
So after a few hours and lots of phone calls they said that a Police detective from the police station will call me and talk to me. Maybe I will have to go the main police station as well.
Now I am scared, what will happen with the detective. I told the police that even though i was not sure about the rules of bicycle pass not being allowed to swap I am still ready to apologize and compensate for the parking tickets and inconvenienced caused to the original parking pass owner. Nevertheless the detective has been called. They told me to go to work and that detective will mostly likely not call today but later.
They have noted my name, country, home address, phone number and identifications details to identify and find me.
In the light of the circumstances what’s the best way forward ? I am especially worried about the nature of the detective, how willing he will he be to listen this strange turn of events and whether he/she will know english or not
Anyone who got into such troubled circumstances please let me know any suggestions on the way forward.
(I hope you all have no need to repeat the stupidity i did and how less believable I am. I am hoping to get a way to avoid getting an FIR, reported, deported).
by Jelegend
