Japanese Prison / Crime Question

[times-up]

I have read alot about foreigners being detained and imprisoned and it seems like there are quite a few of FG's incarcerated in Japan. In my brief internet research I find alot of support websites and with the exception of a few they don't really elaborate on why they were sent to prison in the first place. Is it usually involving drugs? Im aware of the Nick Baker case but what about others is it easy to be arrested and subsequently imprisoned? Im quite curious about this....I always wondered what if you were set up in Japan but it involved drugs im assuming you woudl still bee convicted given Japans high conviction rates. For the record im a law abiding, drug free citizen and dont even leave my apartment much but I am curious about what FG's do besides rape and posses/import drugs that get stheem a fairly large sentence....any personal stories? know of any cases?

[Taro Toporific]

I have read alot about foreigners being detained and imprisoned ... Is it usually involving drugs?

After drug busts, the main reasons for Western* gaijin being imprisoned are assault and drunk driving resulting in a death.
The "assault" charges are seldom serious ---every gaijin would like to pop a sleasy salaryman in the nose for fun--- but the Japanese police throw the book at gaijin who do it and then resist arrest.

*Non-western gaijin are more commonly in jail for theft, robbery, etc.

[times-up]

Thanks for the reply Taro. Maybe you or someone else could answer some follow up questions that I had. For instance recently a Navy man was apprehended for stelaing a womans handbag. For robbery such as this I always figured if you were non military you woudl just be deported am I wrong? Do you know what the average sentence woudl be for something of this nature? How about a fight? Lets say an FG gets into with another FG or a Japanese and its nothing major but it is a fight nonetheless what do you suppose the punishment would be? Im not even sure why I care but im interested as it seems its not terribly difficult to wind up in a Japanese prison or detained by japanese police. What if you were caught without your passport/gaijin card? caught riding a non restered or stolen bike? Sorry if these questions are stupid to some but im genuinely curious.

[Greji]

The handling, or I should say processing, of crimes by US Forces are governed by the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) of the Security Pact between the US and Japan. Crimes under SOFA are administratively handled differantly than that for the average Joe FG on the block. That's not to say the result won't be the same however.

The Criminal Code of Japan sets out a table of punishments for offenses that acts as a guideline for the judges when they rule on a case. But like courts anywhere, it does not confine the judge to a set ruling.

In some cases where it is expedient for the handling of a case involving an FG, they simply make the decision to deport him, or her, thus sparing the time and cost of litigation. But normally, for major offenses as in any country, they are not at all adverse to filing an FG away to where the sun don't shine! Having said that, it is worthy to note that FG's sentenced to the big house in Japan will actually (normally) serve less time than their fellow J-felons. The main reason for this is that the FG has deportation waiting upon their exit from the Slammer, while the J-guy, or gal has to be rehabilitated (?) into J-society.

The nature of what will earn you the right to make license plates or furniture for the J-government is probably about the same as in most countries.

What creates a good portion of the horror stories is the amount of time you can be incarcerated following an arrest. Based on warrant or the apprehension at the scene, the J-police can only keep you for 72 hours. Then, they have to present the Procurator's office with a request for additional detention to complete their investigation. This extension is for ten days and is usually a slam-dunk. The next request for extension must be accompanied with a status report and probable cause for additional investigation. If approved, it will be another ten days. At this point, 23 days after becoming a guest of the J-folks, the police must present the case to the procurator and the procurator will make a determination whether or not to indict the individual. Indictment in Japan means conviction in 99.9999 percent of the cases. Most procurators will not take a case to court if they feel there is a question that might result in a not guilty verdict. Hence, the high conviction rates in Japan.

If there is no indictment, the individual walks. If there is an indictment, the subject maybe released until the trial. Keyword "maybe"! In the case of an FG, they feel there is a good chance of flight (and rightfully so), so they will usually request incarceration until completion of the trial. A lot of FGs busted for these type of crimes either lack the expenses for proper legal representation to help them to get out before the trial, or have a track record not conducive to releasing them (priors) on their recognizance, until the trial, so they sit in the butabako until it is over!

Visa violations are a different matter. If you are apprehended, they can keep you under lock and key until the matter of your status is clarified or you are to be deported. That can sometimes take a considerable time, but they generally like to deport as fast as possible, as hearings and boards to determine visa status take to much time and money!

The bottom line is the old saw, "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime"

[times-up]

gboothe and taro, thank you for your contributions. again I must say I dont ever anticipate any problm with me in Japan it just seemes to me that it wouldn't be terribly hard for a person to be framed or possibly mistakenly arrested. I think also in alot (not all) of the horror stories that I have read on the internet are probably not telling the complete story as to how the FG ended up in Jail.

[Taro Toporific]

... apprehended for stealing a womans handbag.... always figured if you were non military you would just be deported

Stealing a Japanese woman's handbag would get you 6 months in the can. Being "deported" would be a rare lucky break.

How about a fight? Lets say an FG gets into with another FG or a Japanese and its nothing major

If it's just another FG the cops will let you kiss and make up. IF a Japanese pushes for criminal conviction on a "nothing major" fight, you are screwed. You'll have to pay 1 million yen "restitution" to get the Japanese to drop charges, but while you are under arrest you WILL AUTOMATICALLY lose your job. Most gaijin job contracts have a "dismissal on arrest" clause.

What if you were caught without your passport/gaijin card? caught riding a non restered or stolen bike?

If it is really a stolen bike, you're screwed. You'll need a lot of money to beat doing jail time. Riding a gomi-rescued bike without your gaijin card, will be 3-to-6 hours of writing gomenasai letters IF you look like a "nice" person.

Bottom Line: If you're the kind of FG who always gets stopped by the cops for bicycling-while-gaijin, you might want to reconsider your appearance (because sooner or later...).

[sillygirl]

Thankfully I managed to avoid arrest whilst in Japan....

But a Phillipino mate got arrested in Dennys toilets for possession of, well, just about every drug you can name. He was married to a wierd J lady who was addicted to cough syrup...

He got 5 years in a Saitama jail, but don't know if he got deported - they had a kid.

Another person I knew, a Columbian. Arrested for driving without a licence. Oh and oops - outdated tourist visa. He got 3 months and deported.

Any more criminal gaijin tales?

[fatslug]

my ex-girlfriend got busted for stealing expensive steaks from the groceries !!
yes STEAK !!! they kept her at the police station until someone came to pick her up which was me....and that was about 7 hrs later........

there was no jail sentence....she had to pay for the steak, got fingerprinted fully....as in side prints, palm prints and of course finger tips.

[sillygirl]

Ooh, reminds me of my Danish hostess mate who got busted for shop-lifting meat.

She burst into tears and pleaded poverty and the Tobu Departo guy....let her off!

Frick....

[dimwit]

A few summers ago Ehime is a veritable kingdom for warui gaijin; 4 ALTs were arrested for stealing tires, for which they spend about a week or two in jail and were deported. Another eikiwa guy was accused of date rape but I never found out what happened to him. Deported I assume. Another Pakistani guy was nailed for some shady used car business. In all cases I didn't feel much sympathy for the accused as they really fucked things up for the rest of us.

[maninjapan]

Been in trouble three times with the polic now

1) Too much noise at a party and the officer came around at 2am. Made my apolhies and let me off.

2) Riding a scooter without a license - again let me off, after we had a chat in broken jap/eng about motoracing.

3) after coming to blows with a mate in fujisawa and having 13 coppers turn up.

[times-up]

3) after coming to blows with a mate in fujisawa and having 13 coppers turn up.

What was the outcome of this situation if you don't mind me asking?

And on a side note I was always curious if there have been many instances where a women claimed she was raped to get some poor FG in trouble. It seems like an insanely terrible circumstance. Would the innocently accused FG even have a chance at defending himself against this charge from a jealous or insane ex lover/sf?

[maninjapan]

What was the outcome of this situation if you don't mind me asking?

Well we were outside, it was about two am, and my mate was unhappy about something and decided to take it out on me. Not a wise idea as I am about 5 inches taller than him and am packing an extra 5 stone compared to him. Not much of a fair fight.

Anyway, things were getting heated and all of a sudden 2 policemen turn up on the scooters. They see us and call for back up I assume. Then anoher 4 turn up in a car. Then another 4 turn up in a van with riot gear. Then three more turn up on scooters. By this time me and my friend have sorted everything out and we're cool.

However the policemen weren't happy. Some neighbour had complained that there were lots of people making noise and maybe a full scale riot is going on - explains the riot gear police. So there is me and my mate looking at 13 policemen. To say I was shi**ing myself was an understatement. I thought damn that's it I'm going to jail.

Yet nothing happened. The policemen were all tiny - seriously none of them were taller than my friend - and they kept telling us to go home. I told them that I couldn't because my train wasn't for another 5 hours and that all my stuff was in the bar. The bar owner came down and apologised and said that he would look after us.

Then all hell broke lose.

My friend started screaming at the police "go arrest the yakuza, they live over there" over and over and over. I wanted to smack him. Not a good idea. We dragged him inside and sat him down and told him to shut up unless he wants to get into serious trouble as we were in yakuza area.

The police took our details done from our gaijin cards and left shortly afterwards - we got a stern telling off from them and told not to do it again.

[Greji]

-snip-And on a side note I was always curious if there have been many instances where a women claimed she was raped to get some poor FG in trouble. It seems like an insanely terrible circumstance. Would the innocently accused FG even have a chance at defending himself against this charge from a jealous or insane ex lover/sf?

There used to be a scam about 2-30 years ago by the bar hookers around the US bases for this. They would pick out a pidgeon at the bar and even buy him drinks (this was usually right before the girl's payday at the bar when a lot of them were broke, or next to it). They would ask the guy to take them back to the base and sneak them into his barracks area where they would provide all the desired condiments free of charge. They would stroke the guy's ego (and crank) with the finesse that only the bar babes have and the dude would take her back to his barracks. They would tell him to take a shower and prepare so they could do the deed. While the mark was in the shower, the girl would remove most of her clothes, exit the barracks and look for the Charge of Quarters or anyone else for that matter, and demand they call the Japanese police because they had just been "violated". The police and base authorities would show and it would become a rape or attempted rape investigation.

The following day, or maybe a day or two later depending on her work schedule, the girl would contact the Japanese Police and say that she didn't want to cause the poor lad any trouble and would be willing to accept a private settlement to end the nasty incident. A private settlement under Japanese law will close just about any investigation. The going rate at that time was 100,000 yen. The police, per requirement, would contact the base and the base authorities would notify turkey one, who would cough up the dust and the case was closed. The "suspect" would be in all sorts of trouble with the military and the hooker would have money to tide her over until payday!

I haven't heard of this happening lately, but it was not an unusual occurance in the so-called "good old days"!

[blackcat]

most foreigners in detention are women trafficked to this rape fettish shit hole.. then when the used by is up...raped some more in detention centres...

of course you wont see a documentary on NHK!! too busy with a story on some 92yo war criminal choking to fucking death on mochi.

[American Oyaji]

There used to be a scam about 2-30 years ago by the bar hookers around the US bases for this. They would pick out a pidgeon at the bar and even buy him drinks (this was usually right before the girl's payday at the bar when a lot of them were broke, or next to it). They would ask the guy to take them back to the base and sneak them into his barracks area where they would provide all the desired condiments free of charge. They would stroke the guy's ego (and crank) with the finesse that only the bar babes have and the dude would take her back to his barracks. They would tell him to take a shower and prepare so they could do the deed. While the mark was in the shower, the girl would remove most of her clothes, exit the barracks and look for the Charge of Quarters or anyone else for that matter, and demand they call the Japanese police because they had just been "violated". The police and base authorities would show and it would become a rape or attempted rape investigation.

That's why I never left the girl alone until after the deed was done.
If I was gonna get charged, I woulda got my 3 loads worth.

[Greji]

That's why I never left the girl alone until after the deed was done.
If I was gonna get charged, I woulda got my 3 loads worth.

You gottit AO!

Wham, Bam, Thank you Ma'm...... Check please!