one police man came to ask family members details for emergency case situation, is that normal?

Police man show me his id and was super nice, ask how many people live in the apprtment, want to collect data Incase for emergency case.

For me is super wierd he came by to ask this.

Anyone knows anything about it?

16 comments
  1. Yes, this is normal.

    It’s for the records of the koban and it’s so incase of some kind of disaster they can know who and how many people are in a residence.

    Super dark example: if there’s a fire and they find 3 corpses, but their records say four people live there, they know at least one person is unaccounted for.

  2. It’s normal. It may not always happen, it depends on how lazy the local police are, but technically it is a part of their jobs.

    The local police in my area still haven’t come by, and I’ve been here for several years, but I’m in the inaka and a little distant from the koban, so they probably won’t unless a higher up gets on them.

  3. Yeah I usually get it soon after I move in. (meguro-ku) they came back every week until I dropped it off.

    But when I was in Nakano-ku they sent me a letter in the mail and I would just drop it off at the koban

  4. Yes its normal.

    You’re actually suppose to register at the koban after moving in. They’re also suppose to do a house visit once a year to check up on how you’re doing but usually that doesn’t happen.

  5. It’s normal and for emergency use as others have said. But it’s also at least sometimes to make new police officers familiar with their district. In Osaka we’ve had visits 3-4 times, each time with a fresh faced young recruit doing the rounds in his new job.

  6. I heard that this is common, but I’ve lived in 4 different places in Tokyo over 9 years and have never had them come by. I’m really curious how I’ve avoided it.

  7. Happened to me on Monday. Didn’t strike me as too weird considering my name and address are already on the door. Now they have my phone number and dad’s address in the US.

  8. Yes, completely normal. I stayed with a friend for a while many years ago, and she took me to her neighborhood koban to register me as living at her apartment. They already knew her.

  9. this happened to me like 3 weeks ago.

    Funny thing, since I do not speak japanese, I was trying to reach someone on the phone, then he saw my phone case which has Asuka from Evangelion, he asked me about it I said I was a huge fan and I told him, wait. went inside my room and pickup 2 of my asuka figures and showed to him, he was very impressed. He told me there was an expo in Shibuya, so I went

  10. Yeah, my inaka copper came round on my first day and walked me through what to do in an emergency and all that. Was a pretty chill guy after I got to know him. However the opening line of “I worry you no nothing and will die” was a bit concerning.

  11. That happened to me when I first moved to Japan. I was a bit concerned, but the officer was surprisingly nice. Only happened in that town, though, and not since

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