Scary experience in Dotembori today! Never had anything like this happen before in any country (let alone Japan!)
My brother and I were in a FamilyMart in Dotombori today to pick up some groceries. There was a tall man screaming at a tiny woman in the store and she was getting very distressed. As we were paying she came up to us and showed us a Google Translate message saying “he is hitting me and won’t let me leave, I am scared.” I wrote back “do you want to come with us?” and she said yes. The dude became very angry as we tried to exit the store and lunged at the woman and grabbed her around the collarbone. I tried to get between them and he knocked me down into the street. Then my brother got between him and the woman and he started wrestling with my brother. My brother pushed him down and we turned to flee with the woman while the dude sprinted after us.
The FamilyMart cashier called the police and they quickly showed up while the guy was screaming at us in Japanese (as we tried to keep him away from the woman). Like 8 police officers showed up and talked to all 4 of us. A nice old woman came over to vouch for us and told the police we were only trying to help the woman. The guy laid down and started moaning and acting like he was seriously injured, even though he did not have any blood or bruises or any indication of damage. The police called for an ambulance and the guy was taken away on a stretcher. They called for a police car and told us that we were being taken to the police station.
We went with the officer to the Osaka Police Station and we were interrogated separately. We spent about 3 hours with the police were we all explained what happened. The police officers noticed that it was my birthday while reviewing our passports, and several officers wished me a happy birthday which I thought was pretty funny. They brought in an international crime unit detective who could not speak any English, so we talked to him through a police interpreter. They had us go over what happened several times and told us that we needed to wait while they reviewed the surveillance video. (We were in separate rooms.) After a while, they came back in and told us that we were free to go and one even said “you are good people!”
I am grateful that the police officers were kind and reasonable and let us go. They wanted to make sure we knew our way back to our apartment and offered to drive us. Still a bit shaken up, that was a pretty wild experience that I would not have expected to have in Osaka!
https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/17xc1kj/interrogated_at_osaka_police_station_after/
9 comments
You were lucky: people in similar situations have ended up jailed for days while the cops investigate, and you have *very* little legal room for self-defense in Japan, even if the other guy attacked first.
> They brought in an international crime unit detective who could not speak any English, so we talked to him through a police interpreter.
Of fucking course.
This is why you see the locals run when something like this happens. They don’t want to get caught up in hours of police BS.
Brave of you to stand up for them, and lucky you weren’t arrested and kept in jail for a week. 90% of cases like this they side with the native regardless of any evidence.
In hindsight, it might’ve been better to call the police and tell them about it before engaging yourself. Glad it worked out though
Japan is so hilariously bad at anything related to English. I know it’s not the focus of the story, but Jesus Christ, for an “international crime unit” staff member, at least hire someone who can speak English or give them English training.
The fact that you were all interrogated and questioned for so long when you were pretty much doing a good deed is WILD.
People (boys really) are always like “man if some girl asked me for help from some abusive dude I would kick that guys ass and rescue her”
Never thinking that he is gonna maybe kick your ass, or that the police are going to have to sort the whole thing out later and that is going to involve spending a bunch of time down at the station, of not in court.
I salute you for being on the other side of this learning experience. Mazel tov!
People are talking as if this is some kind of potential doomsday event and uniquely Japanese, while conveniently ignoring the fact these guys would be even more inconvenienced if it happened to them in the US.
Wrong course of action, and you’re lucky you got away with just some time wasted.
Never, never, NEVER get involved in a dispute between locals. Doubly so if it’s any chance of being a couple.
Aside from the obvious (they can tell their side of the story better than you can), there’s the presumption that as a foreigner, you might flee while the matter is under investigation.
When it’s a man and woman in a fight, if there is any possibility whatsoever they are a couple, you really need to just walk away and call the police. The reason is, however mad/afraid/injured she is right now, they have a history. They have romantic ties, social ties, financial ties, possibly children together. Once the situation has calmed down, there is a very high possibility she will throw you under the bus to keep her man out of jail.
I’m aware this isn’t what people want to hear, but this is how people in chaotic relationships think. Step back and call the police.