Hello r/japanlife. I am hoping you can help me out.
I’m a long-term PR of Japan, 10 years and it looks like I’m not leaving anytime soon. I live a very average life, which I’m fine with. I’m married with a kid. I work, I go home, I take care of the house and Mrs and the baby.
I am paranoid of being unduly arrested.
I’m not sure what it is. When I came to Japan I read that paranoia can be a side-effect of culture shock but it’s never affected me until now. I don’t drink in public, quite frankly if I drink at all it’s at home before bed. I’m not usually out at night by myself at all. When I’m out during the day I’m very careful to not bump into or speak to anyone I don’t know. I don’t have anything forbidden in my bag like a pocket knife. I 100% don’t do drugs.
Maybe it’s the reddit effect? I’ve read about people on here being unduly arrested and then held without charge for a month, and losing everything. All it takes is one complaining person, one false accusation, and then you’re in the slammer for a month and lose everything.
Not sure if this matters but I live in an average suburb in Kansai. I do not live in a major city. I speak N2 Japanese. (I am stating this to underscore that I’m pretty aware of how things work here and I stay in the lines.)
I do believe mistakes of identity happen and sometimes police are racist. However, I also believe logically my fear is **possible** but highly **improbable** (very low chance). However, this logical knowledge hasn’t really helped my emotional fear.
**To blame-the-victim-type of people:** No, I’m not hiding something, there’s literally nothing I can think of that I am doing to be offensive, let alone illegal. If you want to ask a question then ask, but don’t immediately assume my guilt.
**How do I deal with an irrational fear of being arrested?**
**What do I do if I am arrested?**
7 comments
Sorry to hear about your fear. You may want to consider talking with a therapist if it’s impacting your quality of life.
I’m no expert, but as I understand it, cops here GENERALLY don’t want to even mess with an arrest unless they’re 100% certain that it’ll stick (hence the high conviction rate).
No matter how good your Japanese is, if arrested you should NOT discuss any matters of your case with them in anything but your native language. This is true everywhere.
Likewise, if arrested, NOBODY on the other side of the table is your friend. Around the world, Japan included, cops will use any number of methods of subterfuge, trickery, and borderline psychological torture to solicit a “confession.” The three-week habeas corpus thing here is a great example of that. Eventually, nearly anyone would “break” during that time, just to get “out” of the situation.
Those who know much more than me will likely corroborate the above, and correct any omissions, exaggerations, or understatements that I might have made.
Not trying to fuel your paranoia with the above, but these basic tenets of how to deal with LE are valuable, particularly here in Japan.
An irrational fear is, just that. Irrational. It won’t go away easily, not without some changes on your part.
You have not put yourself in a position to commit a crime. You oft avoid scenarios where there would be any potential situations where you could even be implicated.
Mistaken Identities are rare. Even among the foreign population. Contrary to popular belief, the police don’t believe we all look alike.
Next… If you ever get arrested however unlikely. Don’t try to speak Japanese unless you are literally fluent. Get an interpreter. Period.
Also. The police here really don’t want to arrest anyone unless they are 100% you did the crime. (or are in the process of doing it).
I know others who have this fear or a sense of embarrassment. I wanna say it’s culture shock + something else?
Maybe take a break, don’t read any Reddit/news for a few days and see how you feel.
I sympathize. I think the narrowness of this particular Reddit forum would trigger such paranoia if one is not hearing other counternarratives. It’s common to become paranoid about the probability of such and such a thing happening to ourselves when we see it in the news, right. So, if japanlife becomes your newsfeed about life in Japan for people like you, then your probability assessment cues into such a fantasy. Additionally, you are no doubt healthily afraid of irrational prejudice, in a society where it can be experienced daily.
After casting out the obviously irrational fantasies, my way of dealing with the healthy caution is to work hard on building countervailing forces that help me feel less objectified. For example, have more Japanese friends who one can imagine will provide the trustworthiness we feel we lack as non-Japanese people. Build your social circle so that you feel understood and relevant to a wider network of people, thereby hopefully making you feel less isolated and therefore less vulnerable to irrational attack.
Noticing is the first thing. You say so yourself, this is pretty improbable and irrational fear.
Some other posters have given the basics about what to do if arrested. To be honest, that’s all the information you need. Researching what happens when you are arrested will probably do nothing to help your irrational worries.
I’d suggest looking into different types of therapy that might apply. Even something like a cognitive behavorial therapy workbook might be a good start.
How much does your fear affect your everday life? Do you avoid walking past police boxes? Have you stayed inside when you wanted to go out to avoid the chance of arrest? Have you started any irrational actions based on this (“I’ll wear a blue shirt from uniqlo, that’ll reduce my chances of being arrested”)?
Have you spoken to your wife about this? You say you’ll “lose everything” but perhaps speaking to her might help you realise that’s not so true.
I think living in Japan as a visible minority can be quite paranoia inducing. Often you’re both the center of attention and being ignored at the same time, like when you walk into a shop and the staff talk about which one of them will approach you, or the conversations that follow you around about foreigners and foreigness but don’t include you.
> you’re in the slammer for a month and lose everything.
Why would you lose everything? Yes, it would be a pretty big mess, but you won’t lose your house, you won’t lose your wife, you won’t lose your baby, and, unless it’s black, you won’t lose your job.