2009 August | Japan Probe

Archive for August, 2009

Update: 74-year-old American tourist detained for carrying pocket knife

About a month has passed since the Japan Times ran a letter about an elderly American tourist who was detained for 10 days because he had a pocket knife on his person when he asked Japanese police for directions. They’ve finally managed to publish an article about the incident.

Unfortunately, they failed to get much meaningful information from the police or the US embassy. This means that most the details reported in the article are little more than a rephrasing of the allegations Brian Hedge made in his original letter to the Japan Times/Debito.org. There is a confirmation about the detention actually having taken place, but what exactly happened before the detention remains unclear.

They did, however, get a statement from police about the length of the knife blade (anything over 5.5 cm/2.2 inches is illegal):

One Shinjuku Police Station officer involved in turning the tourist over to prosecutors told The Japan Times the arresting officer’s official crime report noted the blade was 8.6 cm long.

But the tourist’s son, who later responded to an inquiry from The Japan Times, claimed the blade’s cutting edge was only 5 cm long, although it had an additional serrated edge that, he argued, cannot slash anything.

And here’s an interesting statement from lawyers:

Lawyers also criticized the officer for asking, “Do you have a knife?” in response to the tourist’s inquiry about directions to the store.

“Technically, it is not illegal for the officer to ask the question, but it was bizarre,” Suga said.

Being a foreigner may have led police to ask the question because Shinjuku is also home to the Kabukicho red light district, which attracts a plethora of shady characters, including foreigners, the two lawyers said.

Read the full article here.

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38 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - August 26, 2009 at 11:05 am

Categories: Foreigners in Japan

Test : Do you think like an Asian?

East West

On Monday night’s episode of NTV’s　”World Great TV,” excerpts were shown from a South Korean program about the differences between Asian and Western thought. It was presented in the form of several questions that supposedly receive very different answers when asked in “the East” (China, Korea, Japan) and “the West” (North America/the U.K.).

Here are the four questions. After answering them, please click the “read more” and see the bottom half of this post for results on whether your answers were “Asian” or “Western.”

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Question #1: Which group does this flower belong to?

Test 1 - Which group does the flower belong to?

Does this flower belong in group A or group B?

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Question #2: Does the boy in the center of these pictures look happy?

Question 2: Does he look happy?

Does the boy in the center of these pictures look happy?

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Question #3: Look at the above items. Pick the two that belong together.

Pick two of the items in this picture.

Look at the above items. Pick the two that belong together.

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Question #4: Watch this video clip. Why did the balloon move?

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The quiz is over! Now go read the rest of the post for analysis of the results!

Election commercials on Japanese TV: The LDP vs. The DPJ

DPJ LDP

A few days ago, I introduced some of the YouTube attack ads being used in Japan’s 2009 general election. In this post, I shall share two examples of commercials that the two major parties are airing on TV.

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Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Commercial

Prime Minister Aso is speaking about how his party aims to create a peaceful society. He wants children to realize their dreams, young people to have hopes, and for the elderly to have peace of mind. Taro Aso wants to create a Japan in which people of all age groups can move forward without barriers or worries about the future. Aso and the LDP will pursue this goal with realistic and concrete measures. They have a strong sense of responsibility and can protect Japan. The commercial ends with a message asking viewers to think about Japan when they go to the ballot boxes. (“This summer, think about Japan.”)
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Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Commercial

This commercial is addressed to all of you out there who are angry about your taxes being wasted. Viewers are told that politics much be changed before their way of living can be changed. DPJ leader Yukio Hatoyama appears on the screen at the end of the commercial to declare, “first, we need regime change!”
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Which commercial do you prefer?