What kind of objects are legal in Japan for proper self defense, especially for women to carry

5 comments

1. Not much apparently. Legit question though.

   Idea…
   Accidentally sharp umbrella? Foldable even. Also potentially useful as a kind of shield. Somebody should manufacture Kevlar umbrellas maybe…

   I got down-voted lots for mentioning self-defence improve stuff in another post’s comments so not gonna add anything else!

2. Those high pitched buzzer you buy at 100shop? I can’t think of anything that could be legal.

   in Japan the term “self-defence” has a very specific meaning, that an action must be defensive and reflect the minimum possible harm inflicted to defend oneself or others.

   Here’s the precise definition in Japan:

   “Article 36. (Self-Defense)

   (1) An act unavoidably performed to protect the rights of oneself or any other person against imminent and unlawful infringement is not punishable.

   (2) An act exceeding the limits of self-defense may lead to the punishment being reduced or may exculpate the offender in light of the circumstances.”

   (http://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/hourei/data/PC.pdf)

   Now there are some important words there. Let’s start with the word “unavoidably”.

   That means that if there’s any way to avoid the situation you need to take it. This means running away should always be your first option. If you can’t run away only then can you look at acting against the other person.

   … and those actions also need to be “unavoidably performed to protect the rights of oneself or any other person against imminent and unlawful infringement”.

   This means that you can only take the minimum possible action to stop the infringement of someone’s rights. You cannot, for example, beat a rapist senseless. You can pull them off someone they’re raping, but that’s it.

   You cannot forcibly detain them if they choose to run away, because their running away doesn’t pose an “imminent and unlawful infringement” of someone else’s rights.

   The bottom line is that in Japan the words “self-defence” have such a radically different meaning from what most Western people consider self-defence that the term is really misleading. The Japanese concept of “self-defence” is closer to the French legal concept of “legitimate defence” (légitime défense).

   Now some of you may point to provision 36.2 and say, “Ah, but more extreme action is allowed sometimes”.

   Yeah, sure. If you want to gamble that a Japanese judge will rule that your actions were reasonable then go ahead. Personally I’m self-aware enough to understand that I come from a sufficiently different cultural departure point to make the odds good that the Japanese judge and I won’t see eye-to-eye on this, and that I’ll end up in the slammer and then be deported.

   As a good rule “run away” is the only real form of self-defence that is safe in Japan. And to be fair there’s probably a koban (police box) within about 500 meters of your location. Unless you have a serious disability then there are very few people who can’t run 500 meters. Also bear in mind that guns are rare to the point of being almost non-existant in Japan. In many places the police don’t even carry guns. So running is a good option that should handle the vast majority of situations.

   So in Japan “self-defence” (within the common Western conception of the word) doesn’t really exist. It’s more “the right to run away screaming for the police”.

3. Laws around self defense in Japan are highly open to interpretation. For instance if you have a chance to escape from the situation, if you attract an offender aggressively, your defense intention is denied. If your defense act was way more violent than that of an offender, then you might get into trouble.

   I see women getting harrased left and right it makes me sad. But back in my shithole country I expect they’ll start giving medals to hit and run, murderers, wife beaters, incest and pedophile and rapists, so Japan is still better.

4. Best self-defense is to run into a crowded street or in front of a cctv camera or to a nearby koban. That said, I custom built a umbrella camera with microphone for a friend of mine who has been followed and stalked a few times.

   The camera is in the Ferrule on the umbrella and saves video to an onboard storage when required and also sends a photo on demand to the mobile phone via Bluetooth (can’t stream video over Bluetooth if you are wondering why photo). When she suspects that someone is following her she turns on video recording, spins the umbrella so that camera can see behind her and snaps a few pictures to check who is behind her (without looking back or alerting her stalker). If she is being followed she turns corners/tries to break line of sight and to find a safe place to call the police and submit evidence. It has helped her once in the last 4 years.

5. A big dog is always a good option if you live somewhere that allows it and want a pet anyway. Else, they sell self-defense jewelry online and gps jewelry [https://www.invisawear.com/](https://www.invisawear.com/) (not sure how either of these function, but seem very legal).