Being stopped by the police

[CluelessToshika]

I ended up spending a good 20 minutes or so convincing them that the crappy 100 yen store multitool thing I had forgotten deep in my rucksack

The knife laws here are wild. You gave them permission to search your bag presumably?

Yup, I wasn't in the mood to summon my inner Debito or anything.

[RetireJapan]

Yup, I wasn't in the mood to summon my inner Debito or anything.

Ha, ha, he stayed at my house once (when we were launching FRANCA). I am way stubborn and would not consent to a search without a warrant (not sure how far that would get me in Kabukicho )

[Bubblegun]

Well, I have been stopped a couple of times and flashed whatever ID I had, and I was on my way. They were polite and efficient.
Any other interactions I have had have been really good. Some have even stepped up to the plate to help my kids. One officer,spoke to my kids, when they got into trouble. One officer paid my kids fair home, when he didn't have the money. Another cop took our kids to the train station, and not only took them to the train station, but actually watch them get on the Shinkansen and pull out of the station so they didn't jump off.Called us, to confirm the eta. Another officer, also let me off the hook, for something they could have booked me for. Another cop also,stopped my kids for pinching a bike.( they look japanese too) so I dont think this is just an appearance thing. Just as LETS STOP BIKE THEFT thing. As it turned out, my kids did "borrow the bike".LOL. We might grumble, and I don't want to just go down the Debito route (imho)he's very american. screaming racist, profiling. or whatever! Just had a cop iin the UK, had that card played on him, when he shot a black guy, and he was found innocent.As it turned out, the guy had been involved in stuff the night before. I am prepared to put up with stops if they stop other people too.Sometimes the police can be in a damned if they do and damned if they don't to the point that they might not stop ANYBODY for fear of someone saying RACIST. I think my attitude changed when the cops really helped me and my kids. Also we also are aware of a bunch of cyclists riding bikes while totally off their head on alcohol.
I see both sides to this, but i would hate for the police in Japan, to NOT investigate crimes for fear of being called racist. The telford abuse cases in the UK comes to mind. I would be happy for stops and to look in my bag.No problem. The UK has a problem with knife crime, and i think most people would be ok with some checks. In fact supermarkets do more bag checks in store than the police.

[Yokohama]

A year ago, my son was in a small accident with a car while riding his bike. Nothing serious and it was the fault of the car driver. The car driver had called the police and my son had called me while they were waiting for the police. I arrived before the police did.

When the police arrived, the first thing they focused on was checking my ID and asking about my son's ID, which he hadn't with him. It really enjoyed the shit out of me that they first investigated me instead of the accident, which I was not even involved in myself.

[Deep Blue]

I am prepared to put up with stops if they stop other people too.Sometimes the police can be in a damned if they do and damned if they don't to the point that they might not stop ANYBODY for fear of someone saying RACIST.

It's bollocks though. Police shouldn't be able to stop and harrass people for the crime or riding a bicycle while looking foreign... or walking in the street while appearing to be S.E. Asian... or existing in Japan whilst Indian. it doesn't help prevent or solve crimes and just fosters mistrust and resentment.

The vast majority of crimes in Japan are committed by Japanese - shock horror - but the police often harrass foreigners just because they look non-Japanese.

[Roger Van Zant]

I've been stopped here twice in twenty years.
It didn't bother me then (I don't have a chip on my shoulder about the police) and it wouldn't bother me now.
Both times I was on my way within about five minutes....
Never worth making a fusss over.

[Deep Blue]

Once a decade, not too much hassle.

Once a fortnight, it would start to get old quickly.

One of these situations we need to check our priviledge.

[AreTheyTheLemmings?]

Once in 30 years, and it wasn't much more than a glorified training exercise.

I was sitting on a bench outside a station waiting for the missus to arrive. A cop car had been parked nearby since before I got there. There was a senior officer and a (very!) young junior. I could see them looking my way and talking, so I had an idea of what was about to happen. Sure enough, the younger one approached - the older one didn't even bother to get out of the car. He ran through his questions, I showed my card, and we went our separate ways. No fuss.

[Matt_Black]

Just once and it was a training exercise just before the Tokyo Olympics.

I was stopped nearby a large police station, but all three policemen were in plain clothes. The eldest one showed me his badge and did all the talking, he explained that they stopped me because I was looking at my phone while crossing the road. He explained that although it's not illegal, I should pay more attention...
They asked me for my gaijin card, but I was quite puzzled by them not being in uniforms so asked to see all their badges and recorded their names and badge numbers on my phone. They then told me that they are training new recruits before the Olympics.

I showed them my gaijin card in the end and was on my way soon after.

[JimNasium]

Many, many times. Mainly because my hobbies make me a target (Sorry, I don’t want to say what they are). The police even knew me by name. lol But they’ve always been polite and I’ve never had a problem. There was one time where they could have absolutely thrown the book at me. I was blasted drunk coming home on my bicycle. My light fell off and I didn’t notice. The police stopped me, and I didn’t have my alien card on me. They just followed me home and I showed them my alien card there. I got extremely lucky. They could have booked me for drunk riding, riding at night without a light, and not having my alien card on me. Maybe luckily a lot of people say they can’t tell when I’m drunk. Honestly I deserved at least a ticket there. But I’ve learned my lesson and won’t do anything that stupid anymore.