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Crimes and scams in Japan


Crimes and scams in Japan

Street crime is extremely rare, even late at night. Of course, little crime does not mean no crime, and it is no excuse to ditch your common sense. Women travelling alone should take care as they would in their home countries and should never hitchhike alone. Pickpocketing does sometimes happen: if you take your usual precautions in crowded places such as trains and at Narita Airport, you should be fine. Women on crowded rush-hour trains should be aware of existence of chikan (痴漢) or molesters. A lot of heavy drinking goes on in the evenings and occasionally drunks may be a nuisance, although alcohol-related violence is extremely rare. The infamous yakuza (ヤクザ) (Japanese gangsters) may have earned a partly undeserved reputation of being a bunch of violent, psychopathic criminals due to their portrayal in various films. However, in reality, they almost never target people not already involved in organized crime. Just do not find trouble with them, and they will not bother you. Red-light districts in large cities can be seedy but are rarely dangerous for visitors, but some smaller backstreet bars have been known to lay down exorbitant cover charges or drink prices. In some extreme cases, foreigners have reported being drugged at such establishments and then charged for as much as ¥700,000, or close to $7000, for drinks that they do not remember ordering (notably in the Roppongi and Kabuki-cho districts of Tokyo). Never go into a place that is suggested by someone that you just met, and you will avoid that problem. Note that drug laws in Japan are stricter than those in many Western countries. The Japanese do not distinguish between hard and soft drugs, so possession of even personal-use quantities of soft drugs can land you a prison sentence of several years. Do not assume that just because you have a prescription from your home country that you can take it to Japan. If you have prescription drugs, check with the Japanese Embassy prior to your departure to find out whether or not your medicine is allowed in Japan. If it is illegal, they should also be able to give you information regarding what medicines you can buy in Japan to use in place of your prescription while you are there. Police boxes (交番 kōban) can be found on every other street corner. The police are generally helpful (although they rarely speak little English), so ask if you get lost or have any trouble. They usually have detailed map from the area around telling not only the difficult-to-understand numbering system but also the names of office or public buildings or other places that elp to find your way. Also, if you carry travel insurance, report any thefts or lost items at the kōban. They have forms in English and Japanese, often referred to as the "Blue Form". For lost items, even cash, filling out this form is not wasted effort, as Japanese people will very often take lost items, even a wallet full of cash, to the kōban. If you happen to find such an item, take it to the kōban. If the item is not claimed within six months, it is yours. If it is claimed, you may be due a reward of 5-15%. Japan has two emergency numbers. To call the police in an emergency, dial 110 (百十番 hyakutoban). To call for an ambulance or fire truck, dial 119 (a reversal of the US 911). In Tokyo, the police have an English help line (03-3501-0110), available Monday through Friday except on holidays from 8:30 a.m.-5:15 p.m.

The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Japan

Police and the law

Police in Japan may and do detain people up to 23 days before a prosecutor formally files charges, a privilege unrivalled in the Western world (except during terrorism investigations). During this period, you may be subjected to nonstop interrogation. You can hire a lawyer only if somebody outside pays the fees in advance. Your lawyer is not allowed to be present during interrogations. Insist on an interpreter and consular access, and do not fingerprint (Japanese equivalent of signing) anything, especially if you do not fully understand what you sign: if you sign a confession, you will be found guilty at trial.

So how to avoid this unpleasant fate? By far the most common pattern of how foreign tourists end up staring at the cold, yellow walls of a Japanese detention cell is getting drunk first and into a fight, or even near one, later. Standard police procedure is to detain everybody first and to sort out things later. If anybody accuses you of anything even on the flimsiest grounds, you may be looking at an unpleasant extension to your vacation.

Japan is exotic and mysterious; what seems strange and even appealing to you during daytime, can get obnoxious and annoying to you at night, especially with some booze running through your veins, so control your temper and alcohol level. Police patrol party areas heavily at night and they will bewilling to "rescue" a fellow Japanese from a violent foreigner.


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Japan Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.

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