63% of people with foreign roots in Japan questioned by police

15 comments

1. The problem here is that random police checks are considered fine by most. Around 20% of all Japanese people and 30% of Japanese males have been questioned by police. Visible minorities are more susceptible to this because there is the additional factor of visas.
   On a COPS type show there was an officer proudly saying “We would question a 100 people. 99 times it would be nothing but if we can get to that 1 person we consider it a job well done”.

2. Japan is tolerant, but I wasn’t satisfied with just being tolerated, so I left

3. Never been checked once in over 20 years

4. [deleted]

5. Wife and I were sitting in the car outside a coin laundry one night and got approached by Police who’d seen us a couple of times on their patrol.
   He started laughing and apologized when he saw two grown-ass adults sitting in their pyjamas playing Animal Crossing.

   Guess we weren’t a threat!

6. I’m in the multiple times per year category. One really infuriating experience, others just mildly annoying.

   The most hilarious experience was being stopped on my bike for supposedly not having a light on when it was automatically on at all times. Meanwhile, high school kids with earphones in both ears zoomed past me and the cops.

7. I’ve been stopped well over 10 times in my first few years living in Tokyo. I live in a smallish suburb of Tokyo where there are no Americans (as far as I’ve ever seen) and I think it took every cop here to stop me, for BS reasons, to then know who I am. Since then I haven’t been stopped in over 5 years.

8. Always an interesting topic, this one.

   I’m a white guy, a little over 180cm, normal build, pretty nondescript.

   I’ve been in Japan closing in on 20 years. I’ve been stopped once and it was 100% justifiable (and in the end nothing came of it).

   There’s a koban barely a hundred meters from my local station and it’s quite common to see police around at all times of the day. They barely even look at me.

   Maybe the cops are instructed to target certain people. I dunno.

9. Never being stop in 9 years, foreign co worker either (Sri Lanka/ India / Russia / etc)

   Now a Brazilian Nikei when he stayed at my house got stopped lol, and he look 100% Japanese 😂.

10. Meanwhile I’ve been here over two decades and have only interacted with police by approaching or calling them.
    I feel left out. What am I doing wrong, dressing too well?

    Edit: Come to think of it, I have been stopped by police once in Japan.
    But they were Shore Patrol, and I was out after curfew looking right fit with a suspiciously high and tight fade.

11. I’ve been in Japan now nearly 15 years. White American. Ive never been questioned or asked to show gaijin card. Except when my friend who was born in the US but whose parents are Filipino came to visit. We were stopped at almost every train station in Nagoya. And on the street, too. I really dont know what that’s like for them.

12. Been here 12+ years and only questioned by a jcop once because I was sitting on the curb waiting for the crosswalk light to turn green. I looked sus I guess.

    I am Filipino born and raised Canadian. I blend in and even more so with my mask on.

13. Hmmm… I feel completely left out. Almost 30 years living in Japan, inaka, Tokyo, nowadays Makuhari. I can’t recall been stopped once. Never. I commute to Tokyo daily and ride the Shinkansen at least 3-4 times per month wherever work takes me. I must be “too ordinary looking” I guess lol

14. If you’re Japanese and have tats they’ll treat you the same.

15. Been here for 15 years, and I’ve been questioned twice, both times in the middle of the day. I’m blindingly white.

    – Once stopped on my bike to prove I hadn’t stolen it (near Ikebukuro), and apparently being able to prove I hadn’t stolen it was suspicious behavior, so they then checked my gaijin card and wrote the number down

    – Second time going back from some paperwork at the ward office, at Oimachi station. I was stopped by a plainclothes policeman who flashed his badge at me. After I stopped, two other plainclothes officers emerged out of nowhere to have me surrounded. They told me very clearly that they were stopping non-Japanese looking people to check their visas (which was already illegal at the time. Effectively not looking Japanese was suspicious behavior). It was surprising to me they were so open about it.

    I haven’t been stopped in 5 years or so though!