Police have been calling on my apartment intercom when I am at work. Should I visit the station?

23 comments

1. Probably just a new cop in the area coming to introduce themselves. If there is no note, no need to go to the koban.

2. Have you recently moved into the apartment? Officers from the local koban will often pop round to introduce themselves and familiarise themselves with who’s in the area.

3. From what I’ve heard, police stationed at the local koban do that to confirm who’s living where in their area. No big deal really. You could pop by their police box if you have a minute if you feel inclined. Sounds awkward if you can’t speak Japanese and they couldn’t speak your languages. Otherwise no need to worry about it.

4. don’t proactively interact with the police unless you need their help

5. Any unpaid vehicle violations 😂🤣

6. How do you know they are visiting when you are not home and they are not leaving any messages?

7. I’ve had police ringing my intercom in my first year. Turned out someone who stole my galaxy pad tried to pawn it off along with other stolen items. I’ve never reported my Galaxy pad stolen tho cos it was an old one which I kept for a spare. In fact, I didn’t even notice that it was gone. The thief probably swiped it off my hotel room when we first got here and was still looking for an apartment. The police said they tracked the emails I sent back and forth with my real estate agent which was on my pad back to my apartment. They just wanted to inquire where I lost it and to inform me of the procedure until it could be returned to me after the case closed. He wasn’t the typical uniformed koban officer tho. Just shirt n slack like those detective types in cop series.

8. I work from home and police came couple of times to warn residents about scams. Basically telling people to don’t be stupid, clicking on phishing links etc…
   Could be same thing

9. Don’t go. Wait for them to come. If it was important from the start, they would have put some kind of note in your mailbox.

10. It could just be a mistake? I had the same thing happen and it turned out they wanted to talk to someone in the same apartment in another building in the complex but they had the wrong building number.

    Edit: I wouldn’t seek them out; if it’s important they’ll come back.

11. They probably want to ask you something, for whatever reason. Had this happen before.

12. Could be to drop off one of those surveys they give to get emergency contact information. Probably not a big deal

13. I don’t even answer the door for them when I’m home.

14. Neighbors might have complained about you (they can be extremely petty out in the boons). You probably put the recyclables in the burnable section of the trash and now police are coming for you.

15. They just want to know what type of foreign lives in that building.
    Where you work, why you in Japan, what kind of work you do, your phone number, when you work, etc.

16. They might be trying to update their emergency records.

    In a few places I’ve lived in Japan, I’ve had police come round every couple years. They ask for your place of work and an emergency contact, as well as how many people live in the place. They’ve always been pleasant and show their badges and explain which koban they’re stationed at so that I know they’re real cops. After the first visit, they come back a few years later to update their records.

    I asked why when they first came around and they explained that in emergency situations like earthquakes. They’ll have a rough idea of how many people could be in a building, and have emergency contacts in case anything happens.

17. sometimes the police goes around and inquire if the stated people actually live in their apartment or if there has been any changes, doenst matter if you answer or not

18. Visiting the police station would just be a waste of time.

19. Yeah so I live close to Mie in Aichi and yeah I see the police everyday. I bow and/or wave as I go by and they do the same. It took me more than 3 years living here for my heart to not start pounding at the sight of a cop walking my way or car at a crosswalk. It’s probably different in Tokyo because all crime in Japan is committed by foreigners /s

20. I had a police dude stop by my apartment quite recently to tell me about the stabbings happening recently, assure me we are all protected, asked if I knew where the closest kobans are and wanted me to fill out some form, probably so they have a record who lives where. (I skipped on the last part).

    So might be just that.

21. I once came across a corpse in the woods behind a shrine. I called the cops, who considered me a suspect until they confirmed the person had died of natural causes and had been behind the log where I found him for about a week or so.

    They really wanted to know why I was at the shrine, which was at the base of a hill on the outskirts of town, at that time of day. They didn’t believe me when I said I was intending to check out an old kofun burial mound, but had mixed up the address.

    I think I was lucky not to get hauled in to the station.

22. No note, no problem.

23. The mosr innocent explanation I can think of is one I was given about 30 years ago, which was that they wanted to know who （or more importantly, how many）lived where to facilitate the response to natural disasters.
    （Building fire/collapse – how many bodies do they need to find before they can call off the search.)

    I wouldn’t worry about it at this stage, if it was anything serious they would bust your door open at dawn and serve a search warrant.!-)