Finally had it happen to me: getting stopped by police in a station

28 comments

1. >I didn’t know the police can just take your stuff by force and goes through it just because they feel like it ?

   They really can’t, but it’s hard to get any kind of accountability.

2. Police are dicks, what’s new. Welcome to
   Kanto!

3. No, they can’t. They need permission or a warrant to do that. Did you say anything? Sounds like they took your stuff but you just “let” them go through it without opposing.

4. hmm lots of chikan molester stuffs happen around kanto stations. Police was hoping for a catch of chikan on this suspicious moving guy. But was turned down by your zairyu card. Bad luck to the police

5. > I didn’t know the police can just take your stuff by force and goes through it just because they feel like it ?

   They legally can’t – but it’s your word against a cop’s unless you’re in view of a camera. Hence you being taken to the corner, and out of view of the cameras.

   > dude tapped me in the shoulder

   That part’s illegal too. They can’t touch you unless you’re presenting a threat.

6. They can‘t. People on this sub need to learn that just because the police does something, doesn‘t mean that they have the right to do so. You can file an official complaint. Won‘t do anything and certainly won‘t make the police change their racist ways, but at least another pig will have to read your complaint, „investigate“, and answer back to you. You should decide for yourself if it‘s worth your time though.

7. [removed]

8. You got your cherry popped. Welcome to the club.

9. Yoo same!! I got stopped by the police too right near the 改札 last week, I was so shocked but I guess my sunglasses and being too tall and foreign looked suspicious.
   But I guess it was kinda sketch that I walked in to a McDonalds without buying anything and leaving right when they appeared, making it look like I was running away from them or something.

10. They’re cowards who go after people who have no power. They’d cower in fear at the sight of a real, violent criminal.

11. Now that I have one, I’m tempted to carry my Japanese passport on my person. See if they’ll apologize if it’s a fellow countryman.

12. acab

13. These dumbass cops don’t realize that these experiences make us more inclined to be uncooperative and/or uninterested when we might see legitimate crimes in Japan.

14. I keep expecting it to happen to me and it never does. I’m a night owl and am often walking/exercising in the middle of the night. I also often wear a hood (which I would think to them is suspicious of itself) but sleveless, so you can absolutely see my arms and legs from any angle and notice I don’t have the same skin colour as the locals.

    And yet, I’ve had officers bypass me on their bicycle patrol route when walking with my hood up.
    I’ve gone for a jog coming up to an intersection with a police car following behind me; they will reach the intersection before I do and then happily wait 10 seconds for me to get there and cross; then heading off on their merry way. I even gave them the classic English thank you wave, so they definitely say my face.

    I’ve even just been given the ole “konbanwa” at one point while walking past police in front of a Koban. Every time I see police I start panicking internally but still yet to have my bubble burst.

    The Kansai police have been good to me so far. I’ll be sure to be extra cautious if I ever head to Kanto…

15. Is video recording legal in japan ? I think people should just video record policemen when they search their stuff. Like, if the policeman takes your belonging without asking, you say “i didn’t agree with you searching my stuff”.

    Also, i heard that they won’t look at your pictures if you say you have nudes or p*rn in your gallery (not because law, but because japan). Is it true ?

16. The same happened to my japanese friend when she lost at Shinjuku Station trying to get where is the gate she was looking for. Seems like it’s usual pattern for officers.

17. These cunts stopped me 4 times within a year near Shin-Okubo station. I’m pretty sure the same female officer with glasses stopped me twice on different occasions. Made me late to work once. I’m East Asian but they always somehow pick me out of the 30+ East Asians standing outside. Another time, I was walking down Ikemen street near the small police office and halal food shop and the cops stopped on the middle of the road, got out of their car to ask for my zairyu card.

    Japanese cops are such useless pieces of shits.

18. Sadly, the police who are supposed to be enforcing the law in fact doesn’t know the law and thinks they are the law too many times.

19. Could be worse, Bangkok cops will stop and frisk and conduct urine tests in alleyways looking for drugs, they’ll even pull you over if you are in a taxi.

    Dodgy cops everywhere, at least you get to live in Japan.

    Best way to minimize this shit is dress as high status as possible and look rich and someone who can summon lawyers and have a look that says you will not tolerate nonsense.

20. Is it me or the number of posts regarding “being checked by the cops” has increased recently?

    Usually I used to roam around without my zairyu card, but might just keep them with me for the time being, just for being on the safe side.

21. 1. Ask to be questioned in an area where it’s public, has cameras.
    2. Ask for the police officers ID
    3. Show your ID if asked
    4. Any other requests should be done under supervision of at least two officers or with public cameras etc
    5. Stay safe and diligent

22. But lots of tourists in Tokyo too. Causing trouble often. I wonder why they don’t seem to ever get targeted

23. Meh… I’m white skinned with euro features (Italian) and in a tiny town where lotsa Russians jump ship to do dodgy stuff (I get mistaken for being a big Russian dude all the time). The cops stop me every month or so and I don’t take it personally. They just stop me, ask for my ID (always forthcoming) and I move on.

    Think I’ve shared it previously but the only time I had a run-in with the cops was when I was sick as a dog (headache/fever all week + all block up) and finished work at ~10pm after a 12 hour shift. I was riding my bike to a ramen joint to chill out and some cops slowed down to check me out. To avoid them (because I was sick and just wanted my ramen) I turned into a street and took the back route. FAIL! Suddenly sirens were sounding and ~5 cop cars had me cornered in the said backstreet. They asked what I was doing. Answer? ‘Getting a ramen’. Why? ‘I’m hungry’. Showed them my ID and rode off to get my ramen.

    Ironically the one time they totally coulda slammed me, they didn’t. I’d been drinking HEAVILY at a bar and rode the owner’s bike home without his permission (he’s a close friend so it was all good, but it was registered to him and I was drunk). The cops caught me taking the back route home at ~2am and asked what the fuck I was doing. I stood ~3m back from them to hide my obvious alcohol breath and gave a complete bullshit answer that since it was the GFC and the economy was bad, I’d gone for a bike-ride to release some stress. They asked for my ID, saw my house was nearby and showed a lot of genuine concern about my wellbeing (with suicide risks…etc). They then advised me to go home, and that things would get better… ganbatte. I rode home with a grin on my face going ‘fuuuuck, so lucky they didn’t do a breath test or check who owned the bike!!!!’

    IMO the cops in Japan are quite friendly. I have no problem with them doing their job of stopping me regularly. When I’m not drunk or sick as a dog, we usually have a good chat. One told me he’d had a wedding near my hometown and pulled out some Italian, which was lotsa fun.

24. I love these threads. I’ve been stopped a few times and it’s ultimately been a quick ordeal and quite friendly. I am a proper talky cunt though so it kinda backfires when they need to leave but I have questions about Toyota Crowns, what kind of car the panda is, how long they have to patrol for in summer, how they deal with the heat, etc.

    Some of them ‘got a call and had to go’ 😂 Doubt they’d stop me again if they saw me. 🙁

25. I’ve had my moment with the local cops and now they steer the f**k away from me. Been here long enough and done nothing that when they see me they look straight ahead.

    It depends on your luck and how far you’ll go before they realize it ain’t worth it. It also helps if you have a Japanese abahchan that sics onto them lol

26. That’s odd. I’ve had an officer ask me if I needed directions when I looked lost in ueno station but he didn’t ask me for anything more. I was just looking for the Shinkansen entrance and he helped me.

    I know everyone has different experiences with cops here but I found that most don’t bother foreigners. Compared to other countries like Mexico where some cops will actually rob you I’d say Japan is pretty chill.

    Some cops in Mexico city will target foreigners walking saying hey where’s the drugs? Take your phone and cash. Sometimes even enter your apartment and take stuff. It’s happened to quite a few expat friends of mine living in Mexico City. Japan’s cops are really nice compared to many other police forces around the world.

27. Don’t local prosecutors in Japan have something like a 99% conviction rate?

28. Police doing this is part of the reason Japan is safe. Just deal with it and move on, some of you just want to be victims.