Continued...

The directors have been arrested for making/having customers dance without a night entertainment permit. There is in fact only one establishment in Hiroshima that actually holds all the licenses technically required under the Night Entertainment Business Control Act. Obtaining such a permit however places limits on the hours that a business can stay open. El Barco is registered as a late night business (mayonaka eigyō), however, that does not permit dancing. It is not possible to obtain both a permits, meaning that under current Japanese law it is legally impossible to run an establishment where you can drink and dance late into the night. It thus follows that this is matter of concern for all late night dance clubs across Japan. We also have reservations about the manner in which the arrests were carried out, with over 50 police officers, immigration officials and riot police raiding El Barco late Saturday night to arrest only two people for a permit violation.

OK, let me see if I have this straight.

The club owner admits that he doesn't have a permit that allows dancing after hours.

The club owner admits that people were dancing in his club at the time police raided it, and posts video clearly showing it.

The club owner says that it is currently impossible for anyone, nihonjin or gaijin, to obtain a permit for dancing after hours.

Therefore, it's RACISM!!!!

Obviously the bar never paid off the cops or yaks to leave them alone.

AssKissinger wrote:beautiful people who are being discriminated against in a terrible manner. It hardly seems real.

The no dancing permit violation is seldom used, as you probably know. But when the police use it, it is normally for some other reason. Reports of dope spreading in the place (I know that would comes as a surprise to you AK, that some people might try to light some hemp and stuff it in various body orifices), vice violations, or some other legal matter. That area does have a lot of visa overstayers among factory workers, so it is easy for the police to justify any type of a warrant. However, like police anywhere though, they will use the offense(s) easiest to prove to justify the warrant and violations of the entertainment permit is a relatively free lunch.

The language of interrogation is something else, but if they have caught you with your pants down, they do not have to say "yes sir or madam" and they normally don't! This is part of how one goes about the earning of the FG title. It also sounds like your friends are iced and maybe hoping for the discrimination charges for a way out of the storm.

Dimmer brings about a good point on the payoffs. There is not a large market for this with the police, but the Yaks are into this business big time. You pay them to keep them from having their chinpiras or "youngsai" showing up in your place and driving off customers. Also, if you do not pay them, they like to do that and other things, such as calling the police and reporting you for violating entertainment license statutes, immigration policies and so forth. If you survive this, you are more in tune to having an envelope ready the next time the oyanbun drops in you place.

It usually isn't a problem. Here's one FG bar owner (sadly deceased) talking about how he deals with it:

Wasn't it hard opening up a bar in Tokyo?
Tell me about it!

What did you have to do?
Lie. About everything

Where do you go first?
It's really complicated and a very long struggle. You need to acquire and submit five licenses...The fourth is the one you get from the police. You have to tell them you are running a bar and not a club. They might ask why people are dancing and you just tell them that they are drunk. They give you an after hours license.

However, Tokyoites will remember a particularly severe crackdown a few years ago:

...The root of the troubles roiling clubland? While few were willing to speak on record, both Japanese and foreign nightlife impresarios seemed united in pinpointing the alleged cause - a newly installed police chief, Mutsumoto Yoshitaka, at the Azabu police station (which has jurisdiction over Roppongi) who is determined to clamp down on all-night partying in his precinct. One veteran Roppongi techno party promoter alleged, "The new police chief who has come into Azabu is very ambitious, and it seems there's some kind of point system for promotion in the Azabu district which awards points for shutting down dance and hostess clubs seen to be in breach of the law." A public relations officer at the Metropolitan Police Department insisted that the crackdown was unrelated to the new chief, and that any arrests were business as usual. And indeed, it's clear that the forces at work run deeper than any single individual.

Well known and much loathed by Tokyo club owners are a set of laws governing the operation of nightclubs known as the fuzokueigyoho, which can be loosely translated as "public morals business laws." The laws, originally promulgated in 1949 to regulate Japan's booming postwar sex trade, have over the years been used to force dance club owners into line as well. The laws contain a bewildering thicket of regulations stipulating the size of dancefloors, permissible decibel levels, lighting specifications and, most notoriously, prohibiting dancing after midnight (recently changed to 1am). But police began to enforce this clause only in the eighties, after a woman was raped on her way home from Shinjuku's Zenon, at the time Japan's biggest disco and now home to Club Code. The wide-ranging laws give police virtual carte blanche to shut down dance clubs at will and arouse universal condemnation among club owners and dance culture fans...more...

As Greji says, either the police use this pretext to bust clubs because of some recent fights or reports of drugs and prostitution on the premises or else they go throught the motions from time to time to pick up some easy collars. I'm very surprised that the owner, Richard Nishiyama, says he didn't know about that law but maybe that is an indication of how rarely it has been enforced in Hiroshima. If he had known about it, then perhaps he would have made a point of sending the local police station regular summer and new year's gifts. That wouldn't have stopped the raid but it might have got him kinder treatment.

The fact that immigration staff were present seems to show that they were looking to pick up illegals as part of the action so it could well have been a response to the case of the child-killer. If I was in the position of the owners right now, I would certainly be chasing up local support by getting people to write testimonials to keep the club open but I would stay away from criticizing the police if they want to remain in the business. That law isn't changing anytime soon so good relations with the local police are essential otherwise they can keep you out of business permanently. There is a reason why "few were willing to speak on record" in the Metropolis article above.

The no dancing permit violation is seldom used, as you probably know. But when the police use it, it is normally for some other reason.

Well, that is Japanese culture all over now, isn't it? I mean, you make everything illegal, but only enforce it when it is useful to do so. The great truth in Japan is that you are always breaking the law. Don't worry about it too much -- everyone is -- but still, there is always a number of convenient ways to bring you to heel.

On the FG we had this thread from February: No All-Nighters For Roppongi.
I met a guy recently who spoke with a club owner in Shibuya. It would seem he spent a few weeks in jail (or detention, or whatever the exact term is) for the very same violation as in Hiroshima. The owner is an FG. The club had been going for two years without a problem.

I think GB is probably on the right track. This violation is an easy bust. If the cops want to chase down something more serious this is just the excuse.

Captain Japan wrote:I think GB is probably on the right track. This violation is an easy bust. If the cops want to chase down something more serious this is just the excuse.

I looked through the report again, and it looks like the guy was just held for questioning and released with no charges filed.

uh, yeah, held for questioning for ten days.

As far as the police are concerned, the club serves its purpose as a little watering hole where FG's tend to gather and can be easily rounded up for inspection at any time. There's no reason why they should close the club, force the FG's to disperse, and thus make their own job more difficult.

amdg wrote:uh, yeah, held for questioning for ten days.

You understand that the police are allowed to hold someone for questioning for ten days, right?

It's possible for owners to lose their licence after a raid so I'm sure they are worried about that in Hiroshima. And then there are people like Ma-chan of Tokyo's 328 who have been been held in detention and fined on countless occasions but get to keep their place. I think the El Barco guys, understandably angry, are in danger of overstating their case because they don't know how this law gets applied around the country. Take this claim:

ABUSE
In my opinion the police overreacted in the way in which they treated us in comparison with the way they generally treat Japanese citizens. They deprived us of liberty for ten days just because we lacked a license for dancing.

By comparison with Maezono, they were better off:

"I was jailed for 15 days at the Azabu police station and then released after paying a misdemeanor fine."

They also say:

FALSEHOOD
It is hard to believe that such a huge operation could be carried out on the basis of lacking a license for dancing.

and yet that's exactly what does happen. The police come mob-handed and usually on a busy night for maximum impact.

If the motive for the raid was a crackdown on Latin American FGs following the murder then that is objectionable and that's where I would be looking for support. I hope all the bar staff had valid visas or else that weakens their argument. I don't understand one thing in the statement:

Why then, did they only focus on us? Why did they come along with US agents?

US agents? Did they involve Military Police? They do mention that the customers were divided into three groups - Japanese, foreigners and military. I don't recall that in Tokyo but I might be wrong. Greji would probably know.

I few months ago one of the local gaijin hangouts here got nailed for serving minors and the entire staff got hauled off to jail but were released the day after. When the police raided the place, they didn't bother with any of the customers, they were just kicked out. Who made the complaint? Nobody said. Hiroshima from what I have heard is more thoroughly infested with gangsters so my guess it was a non-payment issue.

Charles wrote:You understand that the police are allowed to hold someone for questioning for ten days, right?

23 days, actually. 3 days initial interrogation period, extendable twice for periods of ten days each with the (almost guaranteed) approval of a judge.

dimwit wrote:I few months ago one of the local gaijin hangouts here got nailed for serving minors and the entire staff got hauled off to jail but were released the day after. When the police raided the place, they didn't bother with any of the customers, they were just kicked out....

Hey, was that the place you and I were drinking at the last time?:drunk:

Mulboyne wrote:US agents? Did they involve Military Police? They do mention that the customers were divided into three groups - Japanese, foreigners and military. I don't recall that in Tokyo but I might be wrong. Gboothe would probably know.

Their story is beginning to smell. If the JNP brought the military it would mean that SOFA violations were indicated or suspected. Status of Forces Violations do not say a helluva lot about dancing.

As I mentioned before, the police will seldom use dancing only for cause in a raid. They really don't care about that, but when they do use it, it is on most occasions used to gain entry for another investigation because it is the easiest warrant to obtain. Having said that, the police could have, or had more warrants in their possession, which could have been served if they needed them. If they found cause to arrest or detain the people they were interested in, they might not have needed to serve additional warrants and could even be holding them in obeyance.

The presence of Military representatives rasies another question about their story. Gut feeling would indicate that this case may well be a result of a military investigation, hence the presence of their people. The reason I say this is that if they do not have to, the JNP do not like to have the military presence if there is a possibility of arresting SOFA personnel. The reason for this is that if they arrest a USFJ member in the presence of military (usually law enforcement) personnel, the custody of the arrested individual tranfers to the US military per SOFA requirement. Then the military will make the suspect available when the police want to question him. The JNP cannot jail the suspect until an indictment is returned and must always return the suspect to USF's custody following interrogation. Therefore they prefer when possible to apprehend these people without the military law enforcement present and then make the required SOFA notifications after any apprehensions. That way they get to keep any USF FGs for the full 23 days.

Also, just to further explain what Hold thy Shaft said on the investigative period. The Criminal Code allows JNP to incarcerate any person they have legally arrested for three days. They then must submit a document for probable cause to continue investigastion (usually interrogation) to the Procurator for Foreign Affairs. If the Procurator concurs and they usually will (at least for the first extension) the incarceration will be extended for ten days. They may request one more ten day extension from the procurator, but these must be more exacting and show more cause for the investigation. At any rate, if the full period of 23 days is reached, the police Report of Investigation has to be referred to the Procurator for a decision. If the Procurator indicts the suspect is bound over to court. If there is no decision to indict, the suspect walks.

Didn't he say they weren't military?

Yeah, on the videos page - "one eyewitness asked if they were military police, to which they replied that they were not and that they were federal officers"

amdg wrote:Didn't he say they weren't military?

Yeah, on the videos page - "one eyewitness asked if they were military police, to which they replied that they were not and that they were federal officers"

Military Police would mean MPs and SPs. AFOSI, CIDC and NIS agents on the other hand, are federal, or by title, Special Agents and they would be the ones normally working with JNP on a joint bust involving USF people. Any other federal agents would have to be from the respective government, i.e. embassy. Whichever, why were they there if this is the case?

The story smells a tad, does not make much sense yet. Like so many of these things, especially when they are throwing out prejudice, or whatever, as part of what is happening, the general rule is to wait awhile, cause the story is usually going to change big time from its initial airing!

gboothe wrote:Military Police would mean MPs and SPs. AFOSI, CIDC and NIS agents on the other hand, are federal, or by title, Special Agents and they would be the ones normally working with JNP on a joint bust involving USF people. Any other federal agents would have to be from the respective government, i.e. embassy. Whichever, why were they there if this is the case?

The story smells a tad, does not make much sense yet. Like so many of these things, especially when they are throwing out prejudice, or whatever, as part of what is happening, the general rule is to wait awhile, cause the story is usually going to change big time from its initial airing!

Yeah, I guess that's true enough.

The US agents angle is interesting. They would usually call MPs or shore patrol if a ship had pulled into a port that isn't around a military base. As someone mentioned they were probably NIS (Navy, Marines) or CID (Army). There is a real small USArmy base outside of Hiroshima but I suspect most of the military came from MCAS Iwakuni. If the NIS were called it was most likely a suspected drug bust but from the videos and article it doesn't sound like they were searching for drugs. Sounds like more of a harassment/immigration raid.

Blah Pete wrote:The US agents angle is interesting. They would usually call MPs or shore patrol if a ship had pulled into a port that isn't around a military base. As someone mentioned they were probably NIS (Navy, Marines) or CID (Army). There is a real small USArmy base outside of Hiroshima but I suspect most of the military came from MCAS Iwakuni. If the NIS were called it was most likely a suspected drug bust but from the videos and article it doesn't sound like they were searching for drugs. Sounds like more of a harassment/immigration raid.

This goes back to what I was saying about multi-warrants. They may well have had the other warrants for dope or whatever, but just used the "Dirty dancing" shot as the easiest way in to the place, even if it was just to include some harassment fun and games!

What would the agents most likely signify? Would it be that the local police had an agenda but, because there were likely to be US miltary in the club, they called in a US presence to make sure that didn't get ugly? Or would it be possible that the US agents had the agenda and the local police were prepared to use the easy warrant as a pretext to assist them? The first sounds most likely.

Mulboyne wrote:What would the agents most likely signify? Would it be that the local police had an agenda but, because there were likely to be US miltary in the club, they called in a US presence to make sure that didn't get ugly? Or would it be possible that the US agents had the agenda and the local police were prepared to use the easy warrant as a pretext to assist them? The first sounds most likely.

The JNP will on occasion notify US Forces if a presence is expected and they want assistance in control, but as I said, this is very seldom because if the USF authorities are present, JNP cannot take the USF personnel away to their lockup and have to let the USF take them to the base lockup.

SOFA requires notification by either side of an offense, but there is a bit of leeway in when you have to report it. The JNP would prefer to make the arrest notification immediately after they shut the cell door (and are obviously within their rights to do so).

If the US agents are present this changes only the activities concerning the USF personnel. But, as I said before, their presence before any apprehensions could well indicate that it was a case developed by them.

Although it does not appear to be the case here, another thing that many people do not know or understand, is that the Investigative Agents of USFJ may obtain and execute a military search warrant for outside of the military reservation, or in other words, downtown. Any evidence seized from such a search, is admissiable in a US Military Court, or a Japanese court should Japanese authorities assume prime jurisdiction. These type of warrants may also be done without the permission of the Japanese courts or JNP (the JNP are normally notified before hand as a matter of protocol) in the appropriate conditions related to military personnel and their place of residence.

I've noticed that the local constabulary hardly ever act on their own volition.
It wouldn't surprise me if a third party is pulling strings. Perhaps a dissatisfied local or a development organisation looking to shut the place down.

The US barely enforces its own immigration rules in the US, so I'm hard pressed to imagine why they would be (even if legally possible and somehow the J agencies actually agreed to it) involved with Japanese immigration issues.

A new Japan Times article about the raid/dance law

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20061031z1.html

.."All foreign customers were penned into the corner at the back of the club, while the Japanese customers were separated and allowed to leave. "They checked all of them, one by one, and only when they were sure that there were no problems with their documents did they lead them to the street and let them go -- like they were letting animals out of their cages," says one eyewitness..."

Speaking from personal experience - both times I have been stopped by the police (once for not having a light on at 5pm - it just started to get dark and the other for fighting - that's another story altogether) - they didnt ask, they demanded to see my gaijin card, and they spoke English.

I informed them that they have no right to see it - as stated in Japanese law. Of course this just made it worse. Threats of being put in jail and deported were said.

Don't get me wrong - some police officers are helpful and there to do the job - however, some of them are blatantly there for the power trip and ego boost.

maninjapan wrote:Speaking from personal experience - both times I have been stopped by the police (once for not having a light on at 5pm - it just started to get dark and the other for fighting - that's another story altogether) - they didnt ask, they demanded to see my gaijin card, and they spoke English.

I informed them that they have no right to see it - as stated in Japanese law. Of course this just made it worse. Threats of being put in jail and deported were said.

Don't get me wrong - some police officers are helpful and there to do the job - however, some of them are blatantly there for the power trip and ego boost.

While the police don't have a legal right to randomly stop an FG or anyone else for ID, they can ask if you're suspected of doing something illegal.

ya know what? If performers stopped coming to Japan to protest this (And I mean big names) then this crap would stop real quick.

With the presence of US officials, maybe they are looking for "terrorists", but the Japanese bigwigs have a different agenda. They want to make Japan more "Japanese" maybe. THey are doing nothing but hurting Japan when doing crap like this. Those who return to their countries will speak badly about Japan and encourage others not to go.

Samurai_Jerk wrote:While the police don't have a legal right to randomly stop an FG or anyone else for ID, they can ask if you're suspected of doing something illegal.

There's suspected of doing something illegal and then there is SUSPECTED of doing something illegal.