Japanese Prisons Are Overflowing With Foreign Criminals!
This afternoon’s RealTime News program had a special report on growing number of foreigners in Japanese prisons, which is apparently a new problem for Japan. They sent a team to Tokyo’s largest prison to get a first hand look at the large number of foreign prisoners there. The prison usually never allows the media to film its interior, but they made a special exception in this case. Here are some highlights from the segment:
Their reporter is shown a factory room inside the prison, the prison cafeteria, the exercise grounds, and some cell blocks where foreign prisoners live. In almost every one of these cases, she mentions how there are many foreigners visible. All the prisoners have their faces blurred out, but the camera zooms in on prisoners with non-Japanese-looking skin tones, so that the viewers at home can share her sense of amazement at the large number of foreigners. The prison guards point out that the prison is operating at above the capacity it was built for, which means that some prisoners can’t get seats in the dining areas and bunkbeds must be placed in tiny cells designed to house one prisoner. In addition, these foreigners create trouble for the prison staff, since many can’t speak Japanese, and some cannot be served the same food as all the other prisoners for religious reasons (man, it must be “taihen” to feed those foreigners). We are told that this is becoming a problem for prisons all over Japan. Are foreign criminals causing Japan’s prisons to overflow?
The particular prison featured in the report said that 17% of their prisoners were foreign, which is a pretty large number for a group that represents such a small portion of Japan’s population. But is this a growing problem, as the report seems to suggest? In the case of this prison, a graph that they briefly show on the screen reveals that foreign prisoner numbers haven’t changed very much in the last 10 years:
As you can see, between 1997 and 2007, there has been a very small increase in the physical number of foreign prisoners (red) at the Tokyo prison. During that same period, there was also a much larger rise in the number of Japanese prisoners (blue). It doesn’t take an expert to see that foreigners aren’t the folks one should be worrying about in the case of this prison. Maybe instead of inviting the media into prisons so they can make alarmist reports, the authorities should be building more prisons?
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The foreign population in Japan is what? 2% tops? If 17% of prisoners are foreign, then yes, it’s a problem.
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[first part of comment deleted by admin: act like grown-ups, ok? Name-calling is not allowed. ] The proportion of Japanese nationals to gaijin has stayed the same for the last 10 years.
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No need to act like an asshole. Even if the proportion stayed the same in the last 10 years, 17% would still be a huge number.
Besides, i read that wrong. The 17% figure is only for that particular prison, not the entire prison system. So this discussion is worthless.
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They certainly made it seem like the prison was filled with foreigners.
What I find more interesting is the fact leatherworking is typically the most common form of rehabilitation in prisons in Japan. It’s a useless skill, so why teach it exclusively?
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Association with the Eta, the Burakumin?
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I agree with KokuRyo. They made it “seem” as if it were full with gaijin. It could have been the same black/white men filmed in three different places.
Anyways, it looks like their cell is bigger and nicer than my apartment…
In addition, it would be more difficult for a gaijin to get away with something in Japan… they profile gaijins, therefore, they catch more. Especially with creating a media event over superfluous junk like this, it makes a negative stereotype that just perpetuate the problem.
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It’s just the same sort of crap they put on TV here on “current affairs” shows. They play on public fears, that’s all.
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When they say gaijin account for 17% of prisoners, does that include zainichi? If so, it would be a simple explanation for why such a large percentage of prisoners are ‘foreign’, especially considering the over representation of zainichi amongst yakuza groups.
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The proportion is higher than i would have thought. the zainichi koreans and chinese may account for a big chunk of that.
I forsee race relations in japan deteriorating when the trickle of immigrants turns into a flood. immigrants channeled into and stuck in dangerous, dirty, difficult jobs without anything to aspire to will confirm stereotypes of being lazy and criminal. japan has built a socioeconomic system that may become similar to the ancient greeks – a minority of citizens with wealth and affluence and a majority of noncitizen shitkickers. if they cant allow ethnic japanese brazilians into the fold of national identity, imagine ghettos of south-east asian muslims…
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ONE Prision has 17% percent
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“I forsee race relations in japan deteriorating when the trickle of immigrants turns into a flood. immigrants channeled into and stuck in dangerous, dirty, difficult jobs without anything to aspire to will confirm stereotypes of being lazy and criminal.”
All too likely, I’m afraid. Right now we’re reasonably rare enough, esp outside the main centres, to be associated with “Hollywood” and “America” and such fantasy ideals, no matter how utterly wrong. But bring in too many too poor and too fast and yikes…..
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What I want to know is how many of that 17% is there for non-visa-related crimes. Or would those just be deported?
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[It doesn’t take an expert to see that foreigners aren’t the folks one should be worrying about in the case of this prison. Maybe instead of inviting the media into prisons so they can make alarmist reports, the authorities should be building more prisons?]
orrrrrrrr, japan could relax its drug laws and eliminate probably half of the people who are in there for drug possession, just for smoking weed or something harmless like that. 550 foreigners in that prison, 110 in there for drugs. that’s a heavy number.
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>> the authorities should be building more prisons?
They want to ! But Japan does not have a big land like some other countries, you know. Where in Shutoken they can make a big prisn?
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So if I ever was to end up like these inmates, what’s the best religion to express my faith in, in order to get meals that are a little better than usual? If you know what food hospitals, universities and other institutions serve here, you’d want to be prepared, too.
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i was recently encarcerated in a japanese prison in kanazawa thats the ishikawa prefecture. there were a few foriegners but the majority of them were chinese and korean. and even more mix breeds (half japanese) while i was incarcerated my visa ran out and after my sentencing i was sent to immigration detention which of course was all foriegners.however more than 70% of the inmates were partially japanese ore had japanese wives or children.almost all of them came from jail and almost all of them were there for drugs or stealing for drugs.im not condoning crime but i cant see what good it does to ban me from seeing my children or visiting my wifes relatives. i committed a crime for this i was punished why was i punished twice for 1 crime? after my encarceration was over the punished me again by splitting up my family.
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also what they were teaching them in the prison isnt for the prisoners benfit or for rehabilitation those items are goods for sale some prisoners work making car parts for the major japanese car manufacturers.there are a multitude of goods made by prisoners that they dont want you to know about. those jobs are also forced on the prisoners they dont have a choice its jail with hard labor! if you dont work you get punished!
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