The first time I got into trouble with the police in Japan was about two years after I’d started living there and already spoke the language fairly well. I’d borrowed a friend’s car but hadn’t been able to return it before going away on a 3-day skiing trip, so I parked it in a quiet suburban street. When I returned I found lots of plastic tags tied to the car’s wing-mirrors. In some countries, when you park a car illegally they clamp the wheel or tow the vehicle away. In Japan they just clamp your mirror, believing that drivers will be embarrassed into paying their fine immediately. I am not easily embarrassed. But I didn’t want to cause my friend any trouble. So I phoned to say I would go straight to the police. “Just be very apologetic, “ she advised me. “And don’t speak Japanese!”
When I arrived, a huge cop led me into a small room with bars on the windows. So it was easy to feel apologetic. However, since he didn’t seem to speak English, it was hard for me to avoid using Japanese. But I decided to speak it as badly as possible. The big cop told me I had committed a very serious offence and the fine would be heavy. Then he looked up and changed to English. “Hmm, seem you not live in Japan so long. Maybe not understand Japanese customs. Ok, just go. But next time no parking.” I have often wondered how much I would have had to pay if I had spoken in fluent Japanese.
I realise some foreigners don’t get treated so kindly (especially if they are from Asia or Africa). But I’ve heard many tales from English-speaking friends about how they escaped trouble – as long as they didn’t use Japanese, or Chinese, or Korean, or whatever the language of the place they were in. Perhaps it is because the police are busy and don’t want to go through the embarrassment of explaining things in English unless a serious crime is involved.
While most Asian police officers hardly speak English, I have come across several exceptions, such as a very fluent young Tokyo cop who came to investigate when my New Zealand colleague had his apartment burgled, and a Bangkok friend who had to study English, often with foreign instructors, in order to enter the commando force there.
And then there are the tourist police. Countries whose economies rely heavily on tourism, such as Indonesia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand, have special police forces to deal with crimes against (or sometimes by) tourists, and they have to be fluent in English.
Thailand’s Thammasat University has produced a textbook entitled English for Tourist Police. Its chapters, which include Giving Directions (“Make a left turn.”) and Complaining and Showing Sympathy (“Oh that’s too bad!”), give an idea of what situations Thai police expect to encounter when dealing with foreigners. A section on robbery has a story of a foreigner being given whisky with sleeping pills in it; another is about getting refunds from jewelery shops who overcharge tourists.
China made English lessons compulsory for officers in Beijing during the Olympics. It even produced a 252-page book: Olympic Security English. This has the usual sections on traffic accident, thefts and lost passports, but seems to hold the view that foreign men are likely like to get drunk and molest local women. It is full of expressions such as: “Please blow into the intoxiliser” and “Don’t take too many liberties with the waitress”.
I don't know the Japanese polices are good polices of the world. Because, I'm not helped that. When I was in the U.S. , I looked the police at downtown. He was very kind to a sightseer. I was very surprised. I think the Japanese police isn't kind. Do the police be kind to a sightseer??
ReplyDeleteHi Joe. We inevitably draw generalisations from our personal experiences. Generally I have found the police in Japan to be helpful and polite. That does not mean other people (e.g. other foreigners, maybe from different cultural backgrounds from me) find the same thing. Neither does it mean that I have never had problems myself.
ReplyDeleteA couple of months ago, for example, I saw a car run through a red light and nearly knock over a lady with a child. This was right in front of the police box so I immediately rushed inside to tell them, showing them the car as I did so because it was still there, stuck behind other cars. They replied that they had not seen the incident themselves so could not interfere, but I asked them at least to speak to the driver: if he denied running the red light then they could probably not take any action, but at least it might make him drive more carefully in future. Instead of speaking to the driver, whoever, the police were more interested in investigating ME! They kept asking for my alien resident card for example. (They do have the right to demand see it if they give some kind of reason, but I thought it had no connection to the incident and was wasting my time.) As they were questioning me, the car that had run the light drove away, never to be seen again.
One quite funny thing about this incident was that the police kept telling me how fluent my Japanese was. Maybe they thought this was suspicious! Anyway, I thought they should have been listening to what I was saying, not how I was saying it.
What you did wrong by parking the car?!
ReplyDeleteIn Japan there is no right to park on a public road. It is often tolerated for short periods, such as when you have to deliver something, but not for hours on end, let alone days. In fact you cannot buy a car in Japan unless you can prove that you have an off-road parking space.
ReplyDelete