RResidents in Japan

Parked at a roadside station at 10pm, police point their flashlight and knock on the door

They said they’re on patrol and asked if I’m single (I assume alone here?), what I do for work, if it’s my car, where I live and what I do here a few prefectures away. Also asked for my license.

Afterwards they said thank you and left again

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Looking at them arriving and driving away, they only seem to check my car even though there are others parked here. I was just sitting in my car being on my laptop which they also tried to peek at for some reason.

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Anyone know what the deal is with this? First time I encountered it and just kinda curious.

7 comments

  1. A lot of people park there to bang.

    They were just making sure you weren’t doing anything immoral.

  2. Did you ask them why they were asking you so many personal questions that have no bearing on just parking by the road?

    They might have been bored and hoping to catch someone doing something illegal.

  4. They probably thought you were looking at porn on your laptop and wanted to see if it was a high quality site they didn’t know about yet so they would have something to look at when they got back to the koban.

  5. They often check cars with distant license plates. In particular, roadside stations are police patrol routes because they are used for illegal drug trafficking. I think they check you because you don’t look like a transporter taking a nap.

    That is their job too. They don’t like to do it, so let’s both feel good and finish the job smoothly.

    I have had my registration number checked when I ride my bike at night, and they are always very apologetic about it.

  6. Had the same around midnight at a Michi no Eki years back as a tourist. At that moment I somehow “forgot” all my Japanese. (was a bit pissed they woke me up at midnight) The only word they could speak in English was passport. They tried to ask some questions – I gave a few blank stares and they f’ked off.

  7. “what I do here a few prefectures away”

    There’s your most likely answer. If they see a new car suspiciously parked, they’ll do checks, no matter if you’re a Japanese or a foreigner.
    One night my friend (JP) was driving home when there was emergency on our online game so I called her and told her to log in so she had to park at a random place then she got questioned. 😂

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