Japanese justice system (Phoenix Wright related)

[Discoalucard]

From this page:

www.debito.org/whattodoif.html#arrested

Japanese criminal law tends towards the Napoleonic (i.e. a suspect is presumed guilty, and must prove his innocence).

Interesting stuff. I guess the context of Phoenix Wright makes a little bit more real life sense, considering it's "innocent until proven in guilty" in America.

There's a lot of other interesting stuff on that site as well.

[kyouki]

It's an interesting site, but kind of a nightmare to read thanks to the organization.

Seeing as how he is a citizen of Japan and is active in matters such as human rights and such he definitely knows more about the inner-workings of Japan than me or anyone who isn't living there. My only problem with his site is that he takes his personal experiences and extrapolates them across Japanese society in general.

Now I do the same thing, and I suspect a lot of people do. I've had bad experiences with all sorts of organizations and groups of people and I've unfortunately let those experiences color how I view society.

However, I wouldn't go formulate a theory based on that. Or at least I wouldn't formulate this theory and then make a huge campaign about it and publish it on a website.

Check out his entry on the alleged safety of Japan. His wife had a terrible experience with the police and he is using that to argue that Japan is not as safe as it traditionally has been reported. Maybe he's right- but one personal experience (which he himself has not had!) does not prove anything. In fact, his own experience with the police in this piece was positive- they came out to check on the damage to his window, and told him they'd increase patrols in the area. What else can you do? That's certainly better than what happened when my car got broken into.

There's a lot of neat information on that site, but take it for what it is- a blog about living in Japan.

[baggie]

I live there.

While he makes some good points, he is a bit of a neurotic, who does things like riding his bike round and round police stations just to see if any of them will ask for his ID - which they are entitled to do to all foreigners, and when they see a Western-looking face, they assume that person is not a citizen. I often wonder why he gave up his US citizenship.

A lot of the frustration of foreigners living in Japan is that while racism isn't that much more wide than back home, there is nothing you can do about it. So politicians quite unashamedly shoot their mouths off about dangerous foreigners committing crimes and polluting the Japanese way.

Japan isn't as safe as it's cracked up to be, but the cities are much safer than the US and the UK, at least in terms of street crime, not sure about industrial pollution etc.

Debido has become very addicted to his celebrity status.

[kyouki]

He seems to be deliberately antagonizing The System. That's fine- he's trying to raise awareness by doing so. But when you do this you have to understand that you are going to experience a lot worse treatment than if you just went around minding your own business.

I'm not saying living one way or another is worse... just that if you deliberately attempt to break barriers down, you're going to crash into a lot more of them than if you just rolled with it.

[baggie]

This will be my last post on this thread, as I don't want to come across as someone on a personal crusade. But anyone interested in just how racist Japan can be might want to order the following publication from amazon japan.

www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4754256182/?tag2=eichicojp-22&tag2=eichicojp-22

THE GAJIN CRIME FILES...brought to you by Amazon Japan. Also available at your local Family Mart. Some highlights include...

Back Page:
“ú–{‚É‚¨‚¯‚éŠOl”ƍߌ””NŠÔ47000Œ!!

47,000 crimes by foreigners each year!!
There then follows a edanger ratingf (ŠëŒ¯“x) of each country, scattered on a world map surrounded by knives, guns and syringes:
China: 14
Russia: 5
Korea: 9
Brazil: 8
Colombia: 3
Etc.
None for the USA, Canada, Australia or the whole of EuropecI guess the NOVA 7 didn't make the print deadline.

Article about crimes by Iranians:
ƒCƒ‰ƒ“l‚ð•ß‚Ü‚¦II
Catch the Iranian!!

Article lamenting Tokyofs demise into lawlessness:
•s—ÇŠOl–\—Í“sŽsII
City of Violent Degenerate Foreigners!!

Article about foreigners scamming Japanese for money:
Ÿz‚ç‚ê‚é“ú–{lBwƒVƒƒƒ`ƒ‡ƒTƒ“AATMƒRƒbƒ`ƒfƒXx
Japanese getting conned. gTheesaway to ze ATM, Meester Managing Directorh

Feature of foreign guys picking up Japanese women (What this has to do with ecrimef is unclear)
YELLOW CAB REAL STREET PHOTO
‚¨‘O‚ç‚»‚ñ‚È‚ÉŠOl‚ªƒCƒC‚Ì‚©‚æII
You sluts really think foreign guys are so great, huh!!
‚»‚è‚á‚ “ú–{l‚͏¬‚³‚¢‚¯‚ǁBB
We know Japanese guys are small, but.. ( )

Picture of black guy touching a J.girls ass in Shibuya (obviously consensual too)
‚¨‚¢ƒjƒK[II“ú–{•w—Žq‚̃Pƒc‚³‚í‚Á‚Ä‚ñ‚¶‚á‚Ë‚¦II
Oi N***er!! Get your *beep*f hands off that Japanese ladyfs ass!!
(c yes. It really does say ƒjƒK[ )

Picture of dark-haired foreigner kissing J.girl in Shibuya (again, obviously consensual)
‚±‚±‚Í“ú–{‚È‚ñ‚¾‚æI‚Ä‚ß‚¦‚̍‘‚É‹A‚Á‚Ä‚â‚è‚ȁI
This is Japan! Go back to your own *beep*f country and do that!

Sure this crap exists in the West, but the difference is that it's sold under the counter and passed around at KKK meetings. Here it's being sold at local convenience stores.

Japan is a great place with some great people - you just have to ignore the many d*******ds

[Malroth]

Baggie, have you read any of the radical leftist, rightist "literature?" It's probably just as bad, and is available at your local bookstore. I completely agree with you, though. You have to ignore the asshats.

[baggie]

One last post, seeing as a reply was addressed to me.

No, I haven't read it, although I am sure it exists. It was just a shock to find this for sale in my local convenience store. A quick search revealed discussion elsewhere on other forums. It's not even all crime-related - most of the photos are of foreign guys with Japanese girls. My wife (Japanese) and I go to some of the places they show, and while I realise some people think like that, it's sobering to think that someone could take a covert photo of us today and put it in a magazin entitled "Foreign Crime".

[kyouki]

baggie said:

This will be my last post on this thread, as I don't want to come across as someone on a personal crusade.

I just want to mention that nothing you have written in this thread would lead me to believe you were on some kind of crusade. I for one appreciate your experiences. It's always nice to get information on living in another culture from the source.

[bioniccommando83]

I just read an article in the most recent issue of the Economist pretty much backing up the above link nearly word for word. Some of the highlights are as follows:
Japan has a 99% conviction rate, stemming from a 95% confession rate from those arrested.
Also a single acquittal can be seen as career ending for a prosecutor (probably explaining some of the zealous prosecutors in the PW games).
Coercion into signing said confessions are paramount despite guarantees against it.

There's a movie on this subject, titled I Just didn't Do It describing a two year ordeal following a wrongful arrest.

For the article in question, it's in Vol. 385, Feb 10-16, page 41.