Victim of Crime?

[ballbags]

I'm curious, how many of the foreign population here have been the victim of a crime or criminal activity while living in Japan. You know, muggings, pub fights, burglary, theft, bike gang harrassment, anything you care to mention. Most people back home are under the impression that the crime rates are far lower here than most countries, and there is some truth in this.

This is not a Japan bashing post, just a fact finding mission.

[person]

You included pub fights? Can't imagine your rationale for that.

[User Name Deleted]

Stolen bikes, attempted assaults, yep, I've been on the receiving end of both. And remember when one J-guy starts a fight, his mates will all jump in as well. I had to do some pretty nasty things to come out relatively unscathed.


Female co-worker was on the wrong end of several groping incidents.

A mate of mine was nearly run over by a crazy J-girl.

Another friend of mine was hit by a Japanese with a bottle.

Another guy I know was beaten up by a gang of hoods, was put in hospital for six weeks.

My guess is that foreigners (particularly those from non-western countries are far more statistically likely to be crime victims than the locals, and that the police seldom bother to investigate such crimes.

[Kumachan]

Beyond a stolen bike and some drunken jerk on a train once that thought he could "assult the gaijin" (me) with impunity, nothing.

The bike was eventually returned by the cops, and I gave the jerk something to cry about after twisting his thumb back very painfully.

[eku]

several stolen motorbikes (yeah yeah i had a U-lock on, they just lifted the whole thing and once just left the front tyre)

found one bike myself, and of the others only a license plate came back.

hours and hours of sitting in the police station while the guy wrote and rewrote the reports...

one terrible incident when my ex-hubby ran me over with his car and the police spent like 3 hours trying to convince me not to press charges.

personally i wouldn't count on the police for anything

[Blues]

The crime rate is lower here, most crime tends to be against Japanese. Why did you include pub fights- those on average are gaijin against gaijin. Japanese tend to avoid trouble with foreigners. Muggings are almost non existent as on average a person can walk on the streets at 3;00 am (just about anywhere)
Bike Gang harrassment? This is not America. Bike gangs here rather harrass the cops.
Most crime tends to be white collar crime, althought assaults (against Japanese) are going up.

[User Name Deleted]

one terrible incident when my ex-hubby ran me over with his car and the police spent like 3 hours trying to convince me not to press charges.

personally i wouldn't count on the police for anything

Eku, agreed. When a foreigner is the victim, they basically don't give a shite. They are when it comes down to it, racist, incompetent, lazy morons.

[ananda]

Eku, agreed. When a foreigner is the victim, they basically don't give a shite. They are when it comes down to it, racist, incompetent, lazy morons.

now tell me what you really think! that is just like you to paint all people with the same brush. all guys named j.t. are total facking idiots....same same but different?

seriously, not ALL cops in japan are bad. one of my bestest friends is a kind, competent, hard working police officer and so are some of his colleagues. some are arseholes, some arent. do i count on them, certainly not! but i dont judge the collective group based on a few bad apples. that would be like me thinking all guys are like you and writing off the whole male population as facktwits.

eku chan: what did you do? did you press charges?

[eku]

yeah i pressed charges :D took screaming and yelling and threatening... not nice to have to beg for your rights..
at last it was push enough to get the divorce over and done with.

personally i know some nice ppl on the policeforce... just not in the town where i live
here they are notoriously bad for not doing much except hassle ppl on bicycles.

in the last year
a woman was raped in the koban while the police were out... caught on cam, 6 months later no suspects
an old woman was murdered in her home many witnesses saw the 2 guys go in
no suspects

motorbikes get stolen all the time, but the police and the municipal office are having a feud so it is possible to re-register a stolen bike

a friend had a traffic accident and the guy driving the patoka turned up stinking of sake... afterwards there was a royal feck-up in the report... led to no jibaisekihoken payout.

but.. i have met some great policemen in shimane prefecture, tottori prefecture, kobe city central, osaka

what i meant to say is that our local heros are not a force to rely on

i find the younger policemen are more diligent where the guys heading for retirement kinda try to avoid the paperwork. I don't think it has anything to do with the victim being a foreigner... j-ppl get just as shoddy treatment around here.

[MarvinS]

For what it’s worth I suppose I’m lucky but I’ve never met a bad policeman. Two instances come to mind, one when I was drunk and locked away for the night and another when I had a car accident. Other than that, never had any bad experiences when asking for directions, on the contrary found them to be rather helpful. Wish I could say the same for JR and subway workers though, have experienced a lot of rudeness from those guys, however that been said it’s always the older guys that have been rude.

[User Name Deleted]

now tell me what you really think! that is just like you to paint all people with the same brush. all guys named j.t. are total facking idiots....same same but different?

seriously, not ALL cops in japan are bad. one of my bestest friends is a kind, competent, hard working police officer and so are some of his colleagues. some are arseholes, some arent. do i count on them, certainly not! but i dont judge the collective group based on a few bad apples. that would be like me thinking all guys are like you and writing off the whole male population as facktwits.

eku chan: what did you do? did you press charges?

That's not nice. What have I ever done to you to deserve such name calling?

[eku]

kids vs kids muggings are rife and largley uninvestigated.

hittakuri outside banks (ppl on bicycles and scooters snatching purses) has picked up a lot in the past few years.

never mind motorcycle and motorcar theft which is filed and forgotten.

bicycles are fair game too...

and don't forget the great suburban umbrella conspiracy. :D

cat theft is common too and goes through spates in different areas... pets are stolen and sold for shamisen or for research or breeding.

[ballbags]

Heh guys, thanks for all the posts. Been a bit busy..sorry.

So, why include pub fights? Just happened to enter my head as I was composing the original post really. I should have obviously said being pick on by a group of people and taken outside for a bashing. Sorry for being unclear.

"QUOTE - Blues-
Why did you include pub fights- those on average are gaijin against gaijin." This maybe true, but you missed the point. I didn't make any distinction between who committed the crimes. I'm just interested in knowing if any foreigners have been on the receiving end of ANY type of crime, however trivial, whether from another gaijin or a Japanese.

Personally, I've only had my motorbike stolen three times from outside the apartment, locked up, covered up, and like Eku, found one of them myself (next to the adjacent building - stripped of everything). Also had the fuel lines slashed at the train station parking a while ago, just for fun.

A mate of mine got picked on by a group of local guys a few years back, in a bar near Tennoji, Osaka. He was given a right going over outside, and the cops, while sympathetic, didn't do more than take a report.

On the subject of crime against foreigners, and the cops not giving a shite, I left my wallet at the ATM in the mall three years ago. Made a report to the service desk, and then to the local cop station, to an English speaking officer. Signed the report. Two days later I called them to check up. They said they'd had no reports made of anything like I was asking about, and that I must have the wrong station! I called the prefectural HQ to complain and they in turn called the main man at the local cop station, but nothing came of it. The international desk of the prefectural cops told me never to make a report at the local station without first calling them, so they could first kick the right ___ into gear and ensure I was taken seriously.

Also, as I said, I didn't wish to turn this into a Japan bashing post, so please show a little restraint.

[User Name Deleted]

Also, as I said, I didn't wish to turn this into a Japan bashing post, so please show a little restraint.

You are after facts, I gave you facts. Is it Japan bashing to say that the Japanese police are generally incompetent racist morons? Absolutely. Is the statement true? Absolutely.

[franc]

friend of mine (american) walked into a convini and was asked questions by a japanese man...he said sorry i cant speak japanese.
the guy followed him into the store and attacked him with a knife (broad daylight) cut his arm needing many stiches.

the cops came and interviewed the guy who lived near the convini...he admitted he did it cause he "spoke english to him" the cops left without arresting him, weeks later my friend asked the cops what was happening to the attacker...the cops said "we can`t find him" CASE OVER.

to add insult to this my friend had to put up with all his eikaiwa students claiming "he must have been korean"

[User Name Deleted]

[QUOTE=franc]friend of mine (american) walked into a convini and was asked questions by a japanese man...he said sorry i cant speak japanese.
the guy followed him into the store and attacked him with a knife (broad daylight) cut his arm needing many stiches.

the cops came and interviewed the guy who lived near the convini...he admitted he did it cause he "spoke english to him" the cops left without arresting him, weeks later my friend asked the cops what was happening to the attacker...the cops said "we can`t find him" CASE OVER.
QUOTE]

Typical bumbling idiots. It doesn't matter when a foreigner is the victim, it just doesn't matter.

[User Name Deleted]

to add insult to this my friend had to put up with all his eikaiwa students claiming "he must have been korean"

I worked for a wee while at a company that dealt mostly with corporate clients. One of the company students started sexually harrassing a female teacher, and this was soon sorted out by school management with the clients, and the student was banned from the class.

One of the school secretaries said to us that 'his mother was Brazilian', the implication being that a 'real Japanese' would not do such a thing.

Why are some Japanese so slow to admit that their compatriots can be equally as bad, if not worse than people of other nationalities?

[Blues]

Hey JT still trying to pad your posts? Still trying to catch up with "The Man"?

[User Name Deleted]

Hey JT still trying to pad your posts? Still trying to catch up with "The Man"?

Blues,

I have realised the futility of such a venture. The post padding thread ended up being deleted anyway.
I'll keep posting of course. Grandmaster pot status isn't far off.

[kurogane]

I'm curious, how many of the foreign population here have been the victim of a crime or criminal activity while living in Japan. You know, muggings, pub fights, burglary, theft, bike gang harrassment, anything you care to mention. Most people back home are under the impression that the crime rates are far lower here than most countries, and there is some truth in this.

This is not a Japan bashing post, just a fact finding mission.

I am forced to look at those feckin Takarazuka freaks on the goddemn posters on the Hankyu Kyoto line every goddemn morning. They scare me.
I'm thinking about going to the cop shop and making a complaint. Any other Hankyu line riders want to get in on the action? I see a fat class action lawsuit in the future.
"You got to fight for your right to not be forced to look at willfully freaky looking peeples"

[eku]

if they bother you so much... just close your eyes and think of all that gurl on gurl action going down in takarazuka... should warm your cockles some :D
who says there is no victim compensation?

[kurogane]

if they bother you so much... just close your eyes and think of all that gurl on gurl action going down in takarazuka... should warm your cockles some :D
who says there is no victim compensation?

But they look icky, eku-nee, ICKY!!!!!!!!!!!

(this is not a homophobic thing; it's a icky-phobic thing!!!!!!!!!!!)

[eku]

i know i know...hush hush
its all that brilcreme and blue eyeshadow
enough to give anybuddy the creepies...

thats why i drive :D at least then i can run them over if i see them.

[kurogane]

[QUOTE=eku]bicycles are fair game too...

yep...I've had 6 bicycles stolen, but far, far worse than that is the huge amount of underwear that's disappeared from the line and even once from the washing machine itself ! As I can't fit into Japanese underwear it was a tad annoying. Now I just dry it all inside.

On top of that I've been groped, followed home, grabbed, dragged into a park by my hair and almost raped and once woke up to find a strange man in my bedroom ( fortunately my boyfriend was also there and chased him away). None of the men who did any of these things were ever caught. The police were nice enough but basically said it would be almost impossible to do anything about any of the things that happened to me.....Things got better when a male friend gave me some of his underwear to hang outside and a pair of men's shoes so that it looked like there was a big, strong man living with me.

OUCH! The worst that ever happened to me was getting my favoritest 28 inch bicycle stolen four times (it only came back thrice), and getting jumped by five punks outisde the Mister Donuts in Kanazawa. They weren't eating many donoughts for quite a while after that, although when the police came, they were quite reasonable, even though the main instigator was lying in a rather large pool of his own blood.
I sympathise for you wimmins folks. This place can be creepy for wimmins. Esp. when the police won't do anything.
Kurogane not happy to think this.

[User Name Deleted]

OUCH! The worst that ever happened to me was getting my favoritest 28 inch bicycle stolen four times (it only came back thrice), and getting jumped by five punks outisde the Mister Donuts in Kanazawa. They weren't eating many donoughts for quite a while after that, although when the police came, they were quite reasonable, even though the main instigator was lying in a rather large pool of his own blood.
I sympathise for you wimmins folks. This place can be creepy for wimmins. Esp. when the police won't do anything.
Kurogane not happy to think this.

It's always a numbers game with J-guys when it comes to fighting.
I've never had anyone try and fight me one on one, always large numbers to contend with, requiring some quite nasty tactics to get rid of them, deliberately breaking the arms of attackers for example.

[Mon]

I've had underwear stolen from my line too which really pi$$ed me off.(The ba$tard took the most expensive pairs) My area doesn't have many neighbours which makes me think someone in my own apartment blck was stealing them...and there's only 12 apartments. Creepy. Needless to say I never hang them out anymore, only my boyfriends.

[enigmatic-alien]

Happy to report that i've never had any experiences here in Japan concerning being a victim of crime nor being apart of any criminal activity. It doesn't mean i'm not aware of issues concering money and other property, but in general i think the Japanese around me are far more trustworthy, than those in my own country. Everytime i've flown back home, i've been on edge with my bag and other gear. No underwear has ever been stolen, i think that's because where i live noone could reach it:) But back home, i had it stolen constantly, so in the end i couldn't hang it out. There are certain types of places i wouldn't go to here, because they make me feel uncomfortable, and i think some places are bound to cause trouble.I think it's a matter of having the foreseeability of potential criminal risks and avoiding them.

*Great topic, as i'm currently working on a crime and procedure paper*

[kurogane]

It's always a numbers game with J-guys when it comes to fighting.
I've never had anyone try and fight me one on one, always large numbers to contend with, requiring some quite nasty tactics to get rid of them, deliberately breaking the arms of attackers for example.
Yup. And arms? Wow, that's rough. The most fun I ever got to have was breaking the nose of a punk that whipped me like a dog with a piece of wire. Mind you, he did look pretty funny with his nose back around his ears.
Broke my hand, though. Ouch.

[JayJay]

It's always a numbers game with J-guys when it comes to fighting.
I've never had anyone try and fight me one on one, always large numbers to contend with, requiring some quite nasty tactics to get rid of them, deliberately breaking the arms of attackers for example.

You got in trouble with the police right?

Hell, I knew a guy who got in trouble for being attacked (he didnt acutally throw a punch) by Japanese, so I find it hard to believe you (a gaijin) can get away with acutally fighting a whole group of them.

[User Name Deleted]

You got in trouble with the police right?

.

No, you need to understand the dynamics here. When the police came, I emphasised a number of points.

1) My advanced education, and my occupation as a teacher
2) The hair colour of the J-trash, and their obvious lack of education
3) The numbers against me.

Helps when you speak Japanese. I might add.

[kurogane]

You got in trouble with the police right?

Hell, I knew a guy who got in trouble for being attacked (he didnt acutally throw a punch) by Japanese, so I find it hard to believe you (a gaijin) can get away with acutally fighting a whole group of them.

I followed the ancient tradition of King Arthur, and Ran Away.

[JayJay]

No, you need to understand the dynamics here. When the police came, I emphasised a number of points.

1) My advanced education, and my occupation as a teacher
2) The hair colour of the J-trash, and their obvious lack of education
3) The numbers against me.

Helps when you speak Japanese. I might add.

Thanks JT. My Japanese is mediocre (ie understandable but idiotic sounding) but the factors you listed above may prove useful oneday.

I myself have kept out of trouble for 2 years, and want to remain so, but you never know, eh.

[kurogane]

Thanks JT. My Japanese is mediocre (ie understandable but idiotic sounding) but the factors you listed above may prove useful oneday.

I myself have kept out of trouble for 2 years, and want to remain so, but you never know, eh.

You are the Chosen One!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Griot]

I was attacked by a Japanese guy with a large stick. I was hit by surprise and received a fractured rib. Upon the second attempt to hit me, I promptly removed the weapon from his hands, causing a cut on his head. This cut was the result of me disarming the attacker. For this, I was arrested and held for 22 days incommunicado! I wonder if it is true, that people (claim to) have broken arms and noses or if imagination rules the day. Although I was attacked, I was charged with causing injury and fined \100,000.

[User Name Deleted]

I was attacked by a Japanese guy with a large stick. I was hit by surprise and received a fractured rib. Upon the second attempt to hit me, I promptly removed the weapon from his hands, causing a cut on his head. This cut was the result of me disarming the attacker. For this, I was arrested and held for 22 days incommunicado! I wonder if it is true, that people (claim to) have broken arms and noses or if imagination rules the day. Although I was attacked, I was charged with causing injury and fined \100,000.

So many such incidents have occured, where innocent foreigners end up copping the blame.

Knowing Japanese, and knowing which buttons to push always helps, it certainly saved me from what could have been a custodial service.

[maokin]

Never be too complacent. An itinerant American Indian sexually abused one of my students, here in Okinawa. 3 lawyer's warnings resulted in her stalking her. 3 police official oral warnings resulted in him stalking and threatening me.

When he received his first official written police warning, he broke into my apartment and was arrested. He was held for 9 days and is now free to continue his lawlessness.

i think all teachers and foreigners have an obligation to look up the provisions of the totally 'toothless' Japanese stalking laws. Your female students, your loved ones are not adequately protected. Be forewarned.

The stalking law provides for the offender to be given 3 oral and 3 written warnings, before any real action is required!

[eku]

I was attacked by a Japanese guy with a large stick. I was hit by surprise and received a fractured rib. Upon the second attempt to hit me, I promptly removed the weapon from his hands, causing a cut on his head. This cut was the result of me disarming the attacker. For this, I was arrested and held for 22 days incommunicado! I wonder if it is true, that people (claim to) have broken arms and noses or if imagination rules the day. Although I was attacked, I was charged with causing injury and fined \100,000.

in japan, self defence does not include hitting back. strange as this may seem to us, it is the law. unless your life is very very much in danger... do not attempt to fight back...

i know a brit guy who was in jail for 3 months and then deported after 8 guys started beating up him and his friend.
he only hit back once but caused bleeding, which seems to hold much more weight than broken bones.

i have tried to find out more about so-called self defence in japan... but it is a very grey area with the police deciding on the spot who is the victom and who is the suspect.

[Che]

Sorry, haven't read all the other posts, but to the OP, "no", haven't had any criminal acts against me, and this has been directly responsible for me committing very few myself.