The Shibuya Center-Gai Patrol: Keeping Shibuya Clean Through Intimidation
A week ago, a television program aired about the Shibuya Center-Gai Patrol(SCGP), a non-police group of volunteers that patrols the main streets of Shibuya to keep the area safe and clean.
Below are a few examples of how the patrol operates:
Video Clip 1 Summary
- The patrolman yells at some young people sitting along the side of the street, telling them to stand up because they are being a nuisance.
- Another patrolman goes after a couple young men who are leaning on a guard rail, telling them what they are doing is dangerous and inappropriate. When the men insist they are doing nothing wrong, the patrolman shouts at them until they leave.
- The patrolmen force other young people who are sitting or crouching in areas of the street to stand up, yelling at them and using whistles.
Video Clip 2 Summary
- The two patrolmen angrily tell a restaurant mascot that he is not allowed to stand in front of his store and wave at customers, apparently because he is being a nuisance to pedestrians.
Video Clip 3 Summary
- The patrol targets some foreigners who are smoking in the doorway of a store.
Video Clip 4 Summary
- The patrol runs into trouble: 2 men holding bags are refusing to move when told they should not be allowed to stand in the street. The men state that they are doing nothing wrong and there are no signs saying it is illegal to stand in the street. The patrolmen react to their statement with anger, shouting insults at them and demanding that they move. The men do not move, and the patrolmen give up.
- A reporter interviews the men, asking why they refused to move. The men reply that they are committing no crime, and that they feel the patrolmen are discriminating against them based on their appearance. Does keeping the streets of Shibuya “clean” mean that anyone the patrolmen regard as “dirty” should be intimidated into moving out of sight?
Reaction
Safe and clean streets are a nice thing, but all I see in the videos is a group of volunteer bullies verballing abusing young people. It might not be polite to stand in the middle of the street with a large bag, but it seems far worse to have a group of pseudo-police walk around the streets intimidating people into being “polite?”
I may think that the young men in the last video look shady, but that’s no excuse that would justify the disgustingly belligerent behavior of the patrolmen. If standing in the street had been a crime, the patrolmen could have simply summoned the police when the men refused to move. They did not, so it seems to confirm that the men were not committing a crime. It’s good to see somebody willing to resist the intimidation and rude language employed by Shibuya Center-Gai Patrol members.
I am not alone in my views of the patrolmen. While searching for information about the SCGP, I came across this 2-channel thread containing criticism of the SCGP’s use of rude language and intimidation. One anonymous poster pointed out that the Shibuya Center-Gai website has a feedback form through which people can voice their complaints with the SCGP’s behavior. Any residents of Japan who don’t like what they see in the above videos should probably let the Shibuya Center-Gai organization know about it.
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You might want to clarify that poll… Although I think I’m reading it to say “Do you approve of the actions (of the SCGP) shown in the video clips”… someone might be able to read the poll as “Do you approve of the actions (of the people who the SCGP reprimands) shown in the video clips”.
It might be important to add a distinction since that completely flips the poll around, if read that way.
The poll has been edited to reflect your very valid point.
It’s been shown time and time again that when you give someone a little bit of power, a uniform, and little to no training that they will abuse what they have.
Being a jerk to someone who’s doing no crime and not really being a nuisance is obnoxious. I’d rather have some guy leaning against a guard rail or some girls sitting down in front of a store than some stuffy men in uniforms telling people what to do.
losers tend to abuse power when they are in authority.
This video should be required watching for all those that say how wonderfully polite the Japanese are. These wanna-be cops charge in hurling abuse (”shut it ya bastard!” level) and do their level best to intimidate innocent people (leaning against a guard rail?? “This is the ward’s guard rail!” is not a reason to move). In contrast, real cops in similar situations are very polite – there are tons of similar shows that show cops, and when they are dealing with this sort of situation (not that they would: these people are not breaking the law, but for example with drunk people being a nuisance) they are generally extremely polite. That defuses the situation a lot. And do these bastards (it seemed to be generally the one bastard in the two clips I saw) have the right to demand ID like they did from the schoolgirls? (”Show me your student ID, and I’ll contact your teacher!”). If they tried anything with me I would so not move.
If the people don’t like that ,they don’t have to be their. Just go some where else. Big deal! Just shop elsewhere.
Wrong. Only the police have any right to tell people what to do. The “SCGP” seem to be self-appointed. And that means that they are the ones who should be arrested.
Police do not have the right to tell people what to do, they merely have the right to enforce the law.
I kinda wanna go up to Shibuya and get harassed now. You Tube gold!
There’s a related, less organized, guy that does this in Oceanside, CA harassing people who he believes are “gangbangers.” Absolutely hilarious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLxtX84QVEk
Lots of bad language on this clip so its pretty NSFW.
I posted this. I wonder if it will have an effect.
“Suck my hard enraged throbbing member. If one might say that your organisation is a hive of faggots then I would be most inclined to agree with them.
Yours faithfully,
Busta Hymen.”
I’d like to see them go to Roppongi and see how they chicken out if a few US Marines decide to lean against a guardrail.
Too bad Youtube removed the videos, guess the 2chers right wing thug squad bitched about them.
These police wannabes are pathetic, but their provocative behaviour is specifically for the purpose of getting you to react violently so they can then make a quick call for the real police, who ARE in on this scam.
If it were me, I’d just keep calmly asking “Who’s being a nuisance? Who? Who’s being a nuisance?” until the jerks were screaming at the top of their lungs and drawing a crowd. But I think the irony would be lost on them.
Maybe throw in a Intalian-style soccer fall if they even came close to touching me.
They were removed because they’re copyrighted clips, not because of “2ch right wing thug squads”. Actually, if you look at that 2ch thread that was linked in the OP, many of the 2channelers feel that the SCGP are a bunch of doinks too.
Removed? The videos are still up and playing for me.
Same here, but that might be as they are in my browser cache, if my browser (Firefox) caches video as well.
I have checked the YouTube account they were uploaded with. They have not been removed.
Hah, I would threaten to sue the shit out of them if they yelled at me. What a bunch of power-tripping assholes.
That’s a little extreme. Japan is not the sue-happy place that the U.S. is. You’d be basically throwing away money in legal fees. Also, I doubt a lawyer would take your case, because you have none in this situation.
But the SCGP – Talk about an earsore. Reminds me of the crazy Japanese woman who would scream at her neighbors at all hours of the day (including the very early morning).
Its funny coz one one the guy used Osaka Ben !
Aho Ya !
this is hilarious
my school is in shibuya and shibuya is my choise of .. doing-stuff-place..I have yet to see these guys!
they are hilarious! I love that raw-japanese!
but Im not too sure they should be “cleaning” up normal people just standing around..
well that american who was smoking and yelling kinda needed a good whooping though..damn n…
WTF ? Who are these idiots ? They are not police and the people they are harrassing are not breaking any laws.
My shibuya-ku taxes better not be going to those idiots in any way shape or form.
I was going to say something obnoxious about these guys, but I have been doing the same thing to a guy who keeps peeing outside of my house.
More people should respond with a strong, ‘Thanks for your opinion about my behaviour. Now fuck off.’
this guy think that he is robocop or something like that?? If i’ll find this “goofy troup” in my next travel to japan (in less than 1 month) and start to bother my i think that i’ll kikck his ass
um……
…
…
I got it, douche bags!! Maybe I will head down there with a few (10 or 12) drunk marines and my XL-H1 to get some nice high-def fight footage.
The guy with the cigarette should have put it out on the rent-a-cop’s jacket.
Good on the guys for not moving from the rail. And in the end, they were left alone. I am guessing the rent-a-cops have no right to use physical force (cuffs, physically moving them etc) so all they can do is shout and abuse.
Wonder what the shop owners think of it? These “nuisance” people are their customers no? whats going to drive their business away more, some cute girls sitting around chatting or these guys abusing and shouting at everyone.
That’s actually what I was going to say, if they’re patrons in a place frequented by young people, would it not make it look MORE attractive to have them hanging out than it be deserted and unwelcoming? How are people leaning and sitting doing anything negative? Obnoxious ji-bokes out of their element like that are the ones who don’t belong. If they ever did something like that to me, I’d walk circles around them heiling and marching and yelling “Hitora-san! Heil! Hitora-san!” calling as much attention to the situation as possible.
ridiculous these geezers. especially the mascot vid and the last vid. The line, “There are other stores here, and you can’t be the only one that gets customers” was bogus! so are they going to do away with capitalism(sp?) now??!!!!
totally agree with the kids in last vid as well. why are these geezers judging on looks alone? too old school man. SCG is gonna become boooooooooooooring, just like Hollywood Blvd is now.
All you guys are making a big deal out of nothing!
How old are you, honestly? Personal freedoms are a big deal. “Squads” like this one are how fascist organizations get a foothold, and that may sound alarmist, but no one should be able to be told what to do by another merely because the malcontent finds what EVERYONE is doing unpallatable. Go fall asleep in your miso, geezer.
The SCGP, the Mosquito, etc, is all simply the last battle in the war of Old vs Young/New. Fortunately for the Young side, the Old will die before they win.
The most important thing for us New, is to ensure that we learn from the stupidity of the Old, and not become like them.
I am not old Just mature and wiser.
If one had told me about this association [i]without[/i] viewing the videos, I might have concluded it was generally a positive thing. Near my mostly residential neighborhood, a few years ago, there was a small invasion of Chinese [i]massagi[/i] girls and their touts taking over the streets near the subway station exit after dusk… bringing in a little bit of Kabukicho to the otherwise clean streets. Calling the cops often did nothing as the touts kept careful lookout. They even threatened one of the shopkeepers whom they suspected of complaining. Somehow (by appealing to the Tokyo Governor’s office I was told), they managed to get increased policing action, and the streets are now tout-free.
Now if this shopkeeper-funded association had similar admirable aims, I’d probably be supportive of them. However, judging by the video, they look like they are mean-spirited small-dicked bullies. If/when the local [i]yakuza[/i] park on the sidewalk, my guess is that they bow deeply and offer to shoo away the gawkers or polish the hubcaps.
I hope some of these fake cops get murdered. Then they’ll be sorry.
That’s a joke or some kind of buzz right?
No? OMG, can’t believe it :s
The real question is: in what light were those cops presented int the television show? Was the show trying to push it as a good thing?
I hope that someone who saw the show can answer.
fascism in italy started in a similar way. dont’t give up freedom for security because “The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either”- Benjamin Franklin.
from http://www.maxhodges.com/2008/02/diy-law-enforcement-shibuya-center-gai.html
Anyone who’s ever had any training with conflict resolution or policing can see that these guys are doing everything wrong. You can read by the body language of these guys; the swaggering, getting into people’s faces and personal space, they’ve been watching too many cop dramas.
Watch the scene with the foreigner smoking and you see them kind of circle around behind while the main guy stands in front. This is a move that is used to intimidate the subject. Police (real police, that is) would use this in the case of a threatening subject, because it can be used where you want to keep someone a little unnerved and vulnerable to a take-down. It’s a definitely overkill in this case.
And the scene with the German Shepherd dog that they have – what’s the point of that? As these guys are not police, I can’t think of any legitimate reason they would need a dog to do their “patrol”. The only reason you’d have a dog like that is to attack or take down a suspect, protect the handler or search for contraband, so I am assuming it is another intimidation tactic or just an accessory for their “freelance police” cosplay.
Yeah, aren’t their anti-gang laws in Japan? What’s the difference between the activities of SCGP and those of a street gang:
-both use intimidation to wield influence over a neighborhood
-both congregating in groups often loitering in the street
-both signify their membership in an exclusive group with the use of special clothes
SGCP are harassing and intimating people with strong language, the use of confrontational body language, uniforms, dogs and whistles.
How would the police react if a group young males dressed up in some uniform and swarmed around drunken salarymen with dogs and whistles and berated them for being low-lifes and a nuisance to society?
Hi, I used to help run a British Street Patrol Team in my local town.
We have watched those videos about the Japanese Volunteer Patrollers and feel that some of the tacktics they use are just. However I DO feel that they ARE targetting young members of the public and rarely saw them talking to older members of the public.
As a Volunteer Street Patroller myself I can see that their hearts are in the right place but they are going about it the wrong way.
I feel that they need to invest in Training and in hiring younger people to join them in their fight against crime.
The more young members they get the more the younger members of the community will listen to them.
Even to me, at the moment, it just looks like a bunch of old men with nothing better to do after retirement.
These guys, like I said, have their hearts in the right place and are doing an honourable deed but they REALLY need to change some of the ways they talk to people and how they approach a suspect in the street.
It seems Japan is a prison,
and these men are the guards.
Discriminating the youth,
not eating sushi..
is that a haiku?
One of these days I am going to learn why and under what circumstances the Japanese often use roman letters and english words in print.
For example, why is there a roman letter acronym on the back of the jackets?
Similarly, I was recently watching video of a Japanese game show, where all the contestants were speaking japanese, onscreen text was kanji, EXCEPT when the contestants failed or succeeded, which was indicated by giant flashing english words.