Police stops and your rights.
 

Hi guys

Just wanted to ask anyone around here what they know of gaijin rights while being stopped by the police. No rumours or hearsay just what you know to be fact. Having just been stopped recently this subject has just popped up on my radar.

Soo what are my rights?

I'm curious as to why you were stopped?

As long as you have a valid license, you have the same rights as anyone else.

I used to get stopped all the time in my neighborhood, sometimes by the same cop, and asked for my gaijin card. They also searched my apartment when I was at work (building super let them in) and stationed a officer outside my apartment for several months and I was never told why. My translator at my company called them to ask and all they would say is " He is a person of interest". Of interest of what? The only we could guess was that some crimes were being committed and since I was the only foreigner in my neighborhood I was a person of interest.
Japanese law forbids discrimination, but it is only on paper and real life is different. Japan is still getting accustomed to having foreigners living there and their culture makes them suspicious of us so I didn't really take it too personally. I think this is changing now.
Just stay out of trouble and have all your papers and visas in order and you will be fine.

You must have your ID card or passport on you at all times, and you must present it when asked...
Other than that, you`re on the same legal standing as a Japanese citizen. Which can be good or bad depending on how you look at it.

I`ve been here for 10 years now and have never once been stopped. In fact, a recent event of interest; I spoke to a police officer for the FIRST time the other day when one came around to get emergency contact information from residents so they could attempt to notify relatives if something horrible happened. (A new police box was built and opened very recently.) Nothing weird happened, and I gave him the family home`s contact info. And then he went next door and asked them in the exact same way.

Police, the world over, are power hungry. :vsign:

I'd take a Japanese police over an American one any day, especially the cute policewoman who watched my apartment sometimes.;)

Police are generally friendlier if you don't cause trouble. That's true in any country I would imagine.

NOT in AMERICA!! They are like that to...how should I say-Caucasians, but not towards African Americans. I'm African American so I can tell you that police are total assholes when it comes to us. They stop you in your cars when you don't do anything AND they even stop us on bikes. America is one country in which police are assholes to minorities.

People seem to have a lot of misconceptions about the police in Japan. The police you usually see here look a lot like bank security guards. They typically sit in their police box for most of the day, getting out from time to time to ride their white Bridgestone shopping bikes around the neighborhood so the old housewives won't complain about them doing nothing.

But, in reality, police in Japan have quite a bit more power than police in places like America do. In America police need just cause to stop you and question you. In Japan there is no such requirement. In America if the police arrest you, they must give you access to a lawyer, allow you to make a telephone call, and they are required to let you appear before a judge with 72 hours of your arrest. In Japan you can be held for weeks without being allowed to contact or see anyone.

In America police can get in trouble for "getting rough" with you. In Japan people who are arrested often look like they fell down a flight of stairs after they are "questioned". If you are abused by the police in America, you can sue for damages, in Japan the most you will ever get is an apology (and only if you are found innocent of any charges).

Foreigners are often questioned by police in Japan and asked to show their passports or residency cards. If you are asked, you have no choice but to comply. The officer needs no reason to ask you, and if you refuse, you are violating the terms of your visa.

Few western foreigners are bothered by the police, as the police tend to focus on those who are most likely to be in the country illegally, such as those of Filipino or Korean descent. Racial profiling is perfectly acceptable in Japan.

For those who are stopped by the police, just smile and do what you are asked. Once again, you don't have a choice.