Getting Stopped by the Japanese Police

This post was originally posted on City-Cost on February 13th, 2020

From Wikimedia Commons

Gokufushudo came out as a live-action recently, and I was quite entertained by it. For those that don't know, the manga follows the main character "Immortal" Tatsu, who is a reformed yakuza member and is now a married house-husband. It's a very out-of-the-ordinary story, yet I can relate to Tatsu in at least one way: his encounters with the police as he goes about his daily, mundane, housekeeping-related errands.

The very first time I had an interaction with the police, I was dancing in a popular practice spot near a park. I wasn't the only one there, and the police stopped everyone in the area, so I chalked it up to a random patrol check. The people that were stopped were asked questions and had their bags checked. For me, my limited Japanese prompted them to ask to look at my wallet, and they checked my Zaryuu card (or foreigner ID card.) No problems here, they were just doing their job, I thought.

However, this happened frequently, in roughly the same area. It got to the point where I was being checked about one or two times a month. Sometimes I could understand why I was stopped: I was dancing in an area that was closed for the public, or I was alone in a really dark corner of a park, for example. One time I was stopped and asked what my job was in Japanese in a shopping arcade for laughing too loudly wearing a suit with a Chinese-Canadian coworker. Both of us were in suits, so maybe we set off yakuza auras. I learned at some point that a black waistcoat with matching pants paired with a wine-coloured shirt and solid black tie is basically a yakuza uniform here in Japan.

Those instances made sense, looking back at them, but sometimes the checks didn't. Once, when I used to frequent Shibuya, I was standing by a vending machine, waiting until I finished the drink I had bought before I started walking again when a pair of police officers on patrol singled me out in a relatively dense crowd. I guessed that my clothes at that time screamed at my foreign origins, especially since I was alone in the middle of a lot of Japanese pedestrians. Maybe they thought I was trying to hide from them, I wouldn't know.

I was even stopped on Christmas Day one year, by another pair of officers. I saw them down the street about a stone's throw away, and I guess they saw me too as they made a bee-line straight for me. This instance, I tried to weasel my way out of the bothersome interaction, and heavily relied on my lack of Japanese, even if I knew exactly what they were saying. I tried on my most non-Japanese accent and used as difficult English words as I could, but even with the language barrier, they insisted on checking my bags and wallet.

These police checks haven't happened to me recently. It could be because I've updated my clothing to be more local, or it could be because of the updated IC chips in the cards that could be scanned by a smartphone. In any case, I at least know what the routine is if it ever happens to me again.

Also from Wikimedia Commons.

If you get stopped, don't panic. The officers will usually have some level of friendliness (although I heard officers in Fukuoka can be a bit intimidating) when starting the interaction. They will usually pardon themselves for interrupting you when they approach you, and I think this is their way of gauging your character. Once they figure out your level of Japanese through some short exchange, they will ask for your Zaryuu card and ask if it's okay to look through your wallet and bag. The wallet and bag check usually happens simultaneously.

If you look particularly suspicious, you might get patted down. It's happened to me almost every other time I was checked, but not always. Hold your arms out to your side and keep your feet at shoulder width. The officers will end the interaction with an apology for taking your time and a thank you for your cooperation after they are satisfied. You can give them an "otsukaresama desu" if you want to be polite, but I find that with any law enforcement in any country, the less you say the better.

There are other articles out there on police interactions, but the point is that you don't want to escalate in any way. The process I outlined above seems to be a normal thing, so do try not to be as outraged or annoyed as I was after the fact.

You don't want this to happen. From the Yokota Base website.

May your police encounters be peaceful and lawful!