This is one of the dumbest takes I’ve ever seen about the police, people heard this and I see unironic comments saying “uwu japan so soft and sweet compared to barbarian usa.” Absolute nonsense!
Japan “boasts” of a whopping 99% conviction rate in criminal cases. This is statistically horseshit, and the only way to “achieve” such a feat is through a lot of lying and through the assumption that, because someone’s been arrested, then that person must be guilty.
The way Japanese law enforcement manages to convict someone, even for minor offences, is to hold them in cells under constant interrogation until they break down and sign a legal confession. The punishment can range from paying a fine to jail time, but the thing is that indefinite detention is a clear violation of human rights. Often they do it without citing any charges. Lawyers can’t access their clients. The police do not make their methods transparent. Why do you think Ace Attorney has you playing on the side of the defense? Because prosecutors and the police often work together to ensure a conviction as quickly as possible. The simple act of being arrested often means you’re fucked. And that’s not even getting into what that means for your social image and employment prospects. Japan also has the death penalty.
That quirky news report about Japanese crime being so nonexistent that cops don’t have anything to do? A total myth. Police make up honeypot traps over trivialities like stolent bikes to amuse themselves while they ignore cases of domestic violence, train chikan, and theft. The police turn a blind eye to organised crime and corruption (the seedy nature of pachinko parlours is an open secret)—often they have close relations with yakuza, and a lot of people say that yakuza aren’t a problem now, but what isn’t a problem about people who make money off child prostitution, loan sharking, and the drug trade?
What about the fact that you can’t film anything if the police don’t want you to? They can totally seize footage related to a detention and destroy it if it doesn’t paint them in a good light. A man was suffocated to death by an officer in front of a police box and the camerographer who filmed the incident was immediately told to turn the footage in to the police.
What about that Nissan exec who was jailed? Sure, no sympathy for corporate types, that’s fine, but isn’t it convenient that pretty much the only high profile arrest was of the Brazilian born French-Lebanese man? Did I mention that the police are racist and xenophobic? If you’re a Nigerian tout in Roppongi the police will absolutely keep a closer eye on you than on the middle aged salaryman groping schoolgirls on the train.
Not convinced yet? How about the fact that leftist activity and group organisation immediately puts people under scrutiny? Does anyone who called the Japanese police “wholesome” want to talk to the Zengakuren student activists who were attacked by them?
Like, it’s good that in Japan there’s a lesser chance of dying at their hands, but I’m honestly baffled that the first reaction people had when reading about them was to fawn and coo instead of getting suspicious over such positive headlines. But the reality is that cops aren’t your friends anywhere. They exist to uphold the status quo, not to really protect people—but that’d be too much of a bummer for the commenters on this thread, apparently. Taking the time to actually read about Japanese police would go against their image of Japan as this desexualised, neutered country where absolutely nothing bad ever happens.
(Before someone wants to call me a liar, I have sources:
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20180929/p2a/00m/0na/002000c
https://litci.org/en/japanese-police-harass-and-assault-zengakuren-student-activists/
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-07-15-mn-142-story.html
https://www.jstor.org/stable/30209411?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2015/12/05/forced-to-confess
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201812230022.html
https://elibrary.law.psu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1094&context=psilr
https://www.tokyoreview.net/2017/08/myth-japans-bored-police/)
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