A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF JAPANESE POLICE AND INVESTIGATIVE PROCEDURES FOR THE
FANFICTION WRITER
Edited by Dave Menard (menard5078NO@SPAMhome.com) remove spamblock to e-mail
Version 1.0 completed November 9th, 2001
First posted to FFML November 9th, 2001
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
[0.0] Intro
[1.0] The boys (or bishoujo) in blue
[1.1] Read 'Em Their Rights: Arrest procedures
[1.2] Tell it to the Judge: the courts
[1.3] A Word About the Mob: Yakuza and the justice system
[1.4] Buying Justice: Corporations and the law
[1.5] Wearing Masks: "Face" in law enforcement
[2.0] Private Eyes
[3.0] How does This Affect My Story?
[4.0] In Conclusion: Acknowledgements and Credits
[5.0] List of Links
[5.1] The Japanese Constitution, Government and Suspect's Rights
[5.2] On Police and Police Department Organisation
[5.3] On Gun Control in Japanese Society
[5.4] On Private Investigators and Private Security Companies
"Japan is a rare bird: a polite police state."
-Harold Ancell, in his reply to my original post.
So you've got a great idea for a 'fic: It's an A.D.Police story written like
an episode of the TV series "NYPD Blue". Leon and Daley are tracking down
Megatokyo's latest mad boomeroid killer. You've got it all laid out; plot,
characters, the gratuitous butt shot in homage to your inspiration, a twist
ending, and then it hits you: How the heck are you going to write a police
procedural without knowing how Japanese cops proceed?
Well, you could fudge it; make up a sort of Miranda-code, borrow heavily
from the American (or Canadian, or British, or whoever) legal system, maybe
watch "Black Rain" for a little inspiration, and you're off. And that'll
probably work. After all, how many fanfic readers actually know anything
about the real thing?
The answer, as I discovered when I solicited the assistance of my fellow
FFMLers for this article, is a whole lot.
So in the interests of verisimilitude, I present this (by no means
complete) resource.
[1.0]PART ONE: THE BOYS (OR BISHOJO) IN BLUE:
[1.1]READ 'EM THEIR RIGHTS: Arrest procedures.
First off, when making an arrest, Japanese police are under no obligation
to inform a suspect of their rights. This tends to speed things up
considerably, as you might imagine. Now, because the Japanese mindset
dislikes unnecessarily embarrassing _anyone_, (more on that below) the
police likely have already reached the conclusion that you've done whatever
dirty deed you're being accused of. Maybe not enough to stand up in court,
but enough to convince their superiors that they've got the right person.
(Of course, they'll arrest you on the spot if you're caught in the act, but
that's to be expected) As to sidearms, Japanese cops _do_ go armed, but are
discouraged from drawing their weapons. Should an officer be forced to draw
his/her firearm in the line of duty, he or she can expect a grilling and
reams of paperwork afterwards. Tonfa-style night-sticks and mace or similar
disabling sprays are carried, and their use is much less regulated.
According to the Japanese Constitution, (which borrows heavily, for obvious
historical reasons, from the U.S. Constitution,) an accused criminal has the
right to the presence of counsel, even during interrogation. If they cannot
afford one, one will be appointed by the court. The arresting officers,
however, are under no obligation to remind the suspect of this right. And
according to (anecdotal) evidence, they rarely do. Which is all to their
advantage, since they can interrogate the suspect as intensely as they like.
Often, evidence suggests, fairly brutally, even to the point of torture. The
majority of convictions in Japanese courts are the result of confessions by
the accused, so it seems that the system works. (at least for the police.)
As for juvenile delinquents, the age at which they can be held criminally
responsible for their actions was lowered in 2000 from 16 to 14.
Consequently, authorities now have the ability to try teens as young as 14
in adult court, with adult sentences. Kinda bodes ill for the Ranma cast if
all that property damage catches up to them, eh?
If interrogation produces no results, the police have the option to hold
the suspect without trial for up to 23 days, (under a system known as the
"Daiyo Kangoku". No info at press time about a translation of that phrase)
during which time the suspect is constitutionally guaranteed to have access
to counsel, but once again, they are rarely reminded of that right. The
Amnesty International report for 2000 reports that, in practice, this
constitutional right is rarely granted a prisoner. If the police wish to
continue to interrogate the prisoner during this time of incarceration, they
may do so at their leisure.
As the investigating officers begin their detective work, they may search
the home of the suspect for evidence. They don't need a warrant before hand,
either. Not that the average Japanese would demand one. In fact, in some
districts, police perform annual house-to-house searches, a sort of
pre-emptive strike to catch things like illegal weapons, drugs, etc. A brief
side note on illegal weapons: For the purposes of Japanese law, a gun and a
sword are treated identically. No word on how this affects family heirloom
swords displayed in dojos, but it's likely that in real-life Japan, Nodoka
Saotome surely wouldn't be allowed to cart that katana around, let alone
brandish it threateningly at family members or passers-by. No info on giant
spatulas, either, but if it's sharpened, Ucchan'd be in deep batter.
For a closer look at the Japanese constitution, visit:
http://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Japan/English/english-Constitution.html
To read the Amnesty International Report of Japan for the year 2000, visit:
http://web.amnesty.org/web/ar2001.nsf/webasacountries/JAPAN?OpenDocument
[1.2] TELL IT TO THE JUDGE: The courts.
Finally, the case comes to trial. What, no "if"? Well, chances are that if
you've been arrested, they've got at least enough evidence to pass a
preliminary hearing. So you meet your attorney at the courtroom, likely for
the first time if it's a public defender, (unless you were savvy enough to
remember your constitutional rights without being reminded and asked for
your lawyer at the police station.)
Just like in most western countries, the charges are read aloud, and then
the prosecution presents their case to the judge. (That's right, not the
jury, the judge. No trials by jury in Japan, so that great idea you had
about Genma Saotome being stuck with jury duty'll have to go out the
window.) The defence counsel will have opportunity to cross-examine the
witnesses, then they'll present their defence, which the prosecution will in
turn cross examine. The judge then rules in with a guilty verdict, at which
point sentence will be passed, or a not guilty verdict, at which point the
defendant is (theoretically) released back into the community. Prosecutors
may and defence lawyers can file for appeals of a verdict to a higher court.
Of course, since judges depend on amassing convictions for promotion, the
likelihood of a not guilty verdict is effectively small. That's not to say
judges in Japan are corrupt, (although, just as anywhere else, there are
some bad apples) but they are loathe to contradict the police, who obviously
had enough proof to arrest the suspect in the first place, and therefore
have no reason to lie, exaggerate, jump to conclusions, or falsify evidence,
right?
...right?
When it comes time for sentencing, don't expect a slap on the wrist,
especially for violent crimes. Japan still has the death penalty, which is
administered by hanging. Life imprisonment is also common, and horror
stories have been told of convicts spending years in solitary confinement.
What does all this mean for your story? Well, if your protagonist is a cop,
they might have to reconcile themselves to doing some unpleasant things in
the pursuit of justice. If your police character is a villain, they have the
opportunity to be a very dangerous one.
For more information about possible human rights abuses in the Japanese
Criminal Justice system, visit:
http://web.amnesty.org/web/ar2001.nsf/webasacountries/JAPAN?OpenDocument
For more information on the official mandate and powers of Tokyo police
departments, visit:
http://www.iej.uem.br/police.htm#stations
[1.3] A WORD ABOUT THE MOB: Yakuza and the justice system.
Yakuza occupy a particular station in Japanese society that allows them to
escape prosecution for most petty or non-violent crimes, such as bookmaking,
gambling houses, prostitution, extortion, etc. Although all of the above are
illegal, an out-of-sight-out-of-mind mentality permeated Japanese police
policies when dealing with the mob. It's only when they get out of line
(i.e., do something that winds up in the papers) that officials crack down,
usually with the blessings of the Yakuza higher-ups, since they don't like
their organisation making waves either. They'd rather just let the money
keep quietly rolling in. Folklore claims the Yakuza was originally founded
as a sort of peasant trade union (grossly oversimplified, but you get the
picture) and has been around so long that it has come to occupy a
quasi-legal status, at least in the eyes of the general public. It is even
rumoured that the reason that the Yakuza are tolerated by the authorities is
that, during the Cold War, they cut a deal with the then-ruling party, The
Liberal Democratic Party, to aid in the suppression of communist cells in
Japan. Shades of the Kennedy/Giancana imbroglio, anyone?
[1.4] BUYING JUSTICE: Corporations and the law.
Getting a warrant to search the books of an ordinary corporation, let alone
one of the great nationalised Kaisha (or, for the purposes of fanficcing, a
big fictional company like Mishima Heavy Industries, Mendo Corporation or
GENOM) is a nightmare for police. Because of the vast influence Kaisha wield
in Japanese politics, it's next to impossible for law enforcement to
investigate all but the most obvious cases of corporate wrongdoing. In
practice, that means that unless you've got some form of irrefutable
evidence of wrongdoing by a corporation, the police won't even investigate
the matter. Politics, you know.
[1.5] WEARING MASKS: "Face" and law enforcement.
Much of Japanese police procedure in dictated by the need to preserve face
on all sides. The cops need to save face by appearing to do something about
a given crime. The victim or victim's family needs to save face by not being
thrust into the media spotlight anymore than is absolutely needed; even the
accused and their family's need to save face is taken into account. (That's
why the police try never to arrest anyone they aren't absolutely convinced
that they're guilty.) When arresting a suspect (if the suspect isn't caught
in flagrante delecto) the police are very careful to avoid embarrassing the
suspect in any way while in public view, unless absolutely unavoidable. One
correspondent who taught English in Nagoya for three years with her fiance
related the following anecdote:
"When we first moved to Japan, our money was spread pretty thin, so we were
stuck in a small apartment in a not-quite-unsavoury neighbourhood. At least
twice a week, the local bazuzoku (sp?) biker gang held a slow group ride
back and forth through the neighbourhood, usually in the wee small hours of
the morning... We watched them go by the first few times it happened, and
always noticed a small cop car following the last biker about three car
lengths back. They never turned on their siren, but had their cherries going
the whole time. This had no effect on the bikers that we could see, but they
never once turned on the siren, or attempted to pull over any bikers. After
about the third time, we asked a local acquaintance in the building why (the
cops) never pulled anyone over, and she claimed that (the cops) didn't want
to offend the bikers by asking them to stop. They'd rather shame the bikers
into stopping by trying to demonstrate how disruptive they were being. Since
it didn't seem to bother the bikers, no matter how often or how closely they
followed them, we wondered aloud whether the cops would ever decide enough
was enough and pull someone over. Our acquaintance tsked at us, and
patiently explained that just because the bikers were being rude, that was
no reason for the police to be rude right back.
"I should note here that the bikers weren't fighting in the street or
anything, just cruising and showing off their bikes. Our acquaintance
assured me that if any violence or vandalism took place, (or god forbid an
Akira-style rumble) the police would take action at that point. Still, it
was pretty strange to our eyes."
Jack Staik, in his e-mail on this subject, put it this way: "The Japanese
rely more on social control than legal control. Their society is oriented
toward social responsibility and conformity, so more people will obey the
law because it is the law, and not argue whether the government has the
right to make or enforce it." Interesting, ne?
An interesting article that touches on "face" and social conformity relating
to crime:
http://www.ssanz.org.nz/articles/japanese.html
[2.0] PART TWO: PRIVATE EYES
While private detectives in Japan perform the full range of services they
perform in the west, (divorce work, insurance investigation, missing
persons, etc.) one thing Japanese P.I.s spend a lot of time doing is
investigating genealogies. While the Japanese constitution prohibits
discrimination based on ancestry, in practice lineage plays a large part in
who a Japanese will (or may) marry, their education, how far they will rise
in their career of choice, or even their choice of careers. Ranma fanfic
readers are no doubt familiar with "burakumin" (if not, I suggest you read
Susan Doenime's "Poison", (http://www.thekeep.org/~mike/poison.txt ).
Sniffing out burakumin ancestry is a common task for the Japanese P.I..
Genealogical research often plays a less sinister role, though; genealogy is
a popular hobby in Japan, just as it is in the west, and P.I.'s, with their
intimate familiarity with the family registry system are often hired to
assist scholars and amateurs alike.
Just like in the west, strict laws govern the use of surveillance equipment
by private citizens. A P.I. cannot wiretap anyone without jumping through
some pretty impressive legal hoops beforehand. That's not to say many don't
just do it anyway, but they stand to get into a lot of trouble.
Japanese Private Investigation firms come in all sizes, from Pinkerton-like
corporations (here's an ad for one such company:
http://www.teitan.co.jp/english/ ) to small one or two man firms. The juicy
contracts go to the big fish, as you might expect. Private Security firms
also exist, and fulfil a role similar to western rent-a-cops, selling their
services to corporations, institutions, even government-owned properties
like Narita International Airport. (see the above Amnesty Intl. Report for
info on private security officers and alleged abuses at the Landing
Prevention Facility at Narita) Mendo Private Army, anyone?
[3.0] PART THREE: HOW DOES THIS AFFECT MY STORY?
Well, it doesn't really _have_ to. Nothing stopping you from fudging things
as mentioned in the example at the beginning of the article. Heck, you can
even back it up by saying laws have changed by 2033. There's really nothing
wrong with that.
But...
Sometimes, the mood or plot of a fic requires verisimilitude. Say you're
writing a Ranma fic, where Happosai is finally apprehended (how? Don't ask
me, Mack. YOU'RE writing this thing, not me) and is on trial for multiple
counts of petty theft, trespassing and sexual touching. What's it going to
be like for him in jail? Will he receive just deserts, or cruel and unusual
punishment? And how will notoriously soft-hearted Ranma react when he finds
out that "Jiji" might well be executed for his crimes?
Or say you're going for an original-flavour story. Most anime and manga,
even police- or detective-themed series, don't show the harshness of the
Japanese justice system (Kosuke Fujishima's "You're Under Arrest", for
example. Can you picture the sweet little traffic cop ladies of Bokuto
Precinct taking the phonebook and billyclubs to a prisoner? I didn't think
so. And if you did, shame on you. ~_^) It never hurts, though, to know al
little bit of the realities of the professions you're portraying. After all,
the YUA girls might not go in for "Daiyo Kangoku", but I bet Leona and the
rest of the Tank Police would...
[4.0] IN CONCLUSION:Acknowledgements and Credits
Hopefully, this will be helpful to those considering writing stories
feature Japanese cops or P.I.s. It's by no means in-depth, but it should do
as an overview. Thanks to all the FFMLers who sent information, links and
anecdotes my way, I couldn't have done it without you. The following FFML
members, in no particular order, contributed info that formed the meat of
this essay:
Jack Staik
Allyn Yonge
Whimsy
Adam Brown
Outlaw 1
Harold Ancell
As well as:
Marsha Purchase-Higgins
Matthew A. Higgins
[5.0] LIST OF LINKS:
The following links are excellent resources for those wishing to delve
deeper into the workings of the Japanese Criminal Justice System. Some are
duplicated above.
[5.1] The Japanese Constitution, Government and Suspect's Rights:
http://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Japan/English/english-Constitution.html
http://arapaho.nsuok.edu/~dreveskr/jap.html-ssi
http://www.dotco.com/t3/Aum/TimesWeekly/TheThirdDegree.html
http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/human/civil_ccpr.html
http://www.jcps.ab.psiweb.com/index-e.htm
http://www.jcps.ab.psiweb.com/sc3a.htm
http://web.amnesty.org/web/ar2001.nsf/webasacountries/JAPAN?OpenDocument
[5.2] On Police and Police Department Organisation:
http://www.iej.uem.br/police.htm#stations
[5.3] On Gun Control in Japan:
http://www.ssanz.org.nz/articles/japanese.html
[5.4] On Private Investigators and Private Security companies:
http://www.i-k-d.com/japan.htm
http://www.teitan.co.jp/english/
http://edge.ee.tokushima-u.ac.jp/c/urls/word/d/e/tective+/private.html
http://www.eal.or.jp/DNN/199707/190.html
http://www2.gol.com/users/kaisha/articles/articles.html (also contains some
great info on Burakumin in society)
http://www.privacyexchange.org/japan/jnf/jnf1002.html
http://www.privacyexchange.org/japan/jnf/jnf1106.html
http://www.usinter.net/intersec/e.html
Permission to post this work to any and all FAQs and/or webpages is hereby
granted in perpetuity by the editor, providing that the names of the
contributors are not removed. Any further additions or information may be
sent to the editor at menard5078NO@SPAMhome.com (remove spamblock to e-mail)
to be considered for potential future versions. Version 1.0 Copyright 2001
by Dave Menard.
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