Prison in Japan: Part 10 “Epilogue”
Blue on May 15 2007 at 12:00 am | Filed under: Japan: Life
This is stippy’s final part in a ten part series (See also parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9) about one foreigner’s experience of being put in a Japanese prison (留置場 or “ryuchijyo”, a prison for locking up people for as long as 23 days until they are convicted, or cleared of a crime).
Below is the epilogue of George’s story written after he had spent 22 nights in a Japanese ryuchijyo. Finally George’s story has come to an end. I enjoyed putting it out there, and I hope that it may have changed just one or two aspects of your version of what is really important in life, and what should take a back seat. For context, you should read the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eigth and ninth parts of this series before continuing on with this final installment of George’s jail journal.
From here is the journal’s epilogue, the final chapter of this 10 part story, again in George’s own words (We hope you enjoyed it!):
All of the previous journal entries were made over the 22 days when I was locked up. I regret what I did and have paid for my stupidity and really, let’s face it; it wasn’t even a spectacular crime. Pretty lame actually. The journal was written in fits and starts as my passion to lose myself in my manga or daydreams, or my depression would allow. Being locked away and not knowing how things were going to work out was obviously an incredibly stressful experience and one that I would have found much worse if I did not speak or even read Japanese. Or have any money in the bank.
I had no communication with the outside world other than with a lawyer who could speak no English. I had accepted him as I had assumed that my case was not complex and would be easy for even the most basic of lawyers to handle. My uncle in law is a famous lawyer and in his opinion my lawyer did an exceptionally good job in reducing my penalties, so I am ever grateful to him. The original charges of robbery and assault never stuck and I came out of it with a fairly deserved charge of “causing bodily harm” as the prosecutor’s translator called it. I forget the Japanese word for it and as I type this, my wife is watching TV. I don’t want to disturb her in that even though she is able to laugh about all this (as am I) now.
I was thankful to the guys in my cell, Mr. W and Mr. H. They were great guys to be roommates with and they supported me with advice and encouragement that all would be okay for me. Probably – for the better – we will never bump into each other again but I will never forget them and I sincerely wish them well in life. I sure hope things get better for them.
I treasured the photo of my wife and boys I was given from the guards from my wife but as much as I love them all, I did not have any urge to see them during my detention. I could only imagine talking to my wife through a glass window as a burning sore that would always taint her image of me and I could not handle presenting myself in that light to her or anyone I knew. My wife was, as expected, quite traumatized by the experience as she only heard the professional opinions of my lawyer, who would give her the worst case scenario so as not to build too much hope. She suffered worse than I in many ways, as she also had to explain my predicament to her closest of friends (including my friend’s wives as word got to my work friends and bosses). She was incredibly grateful to all those wives who supported her and was glad that they could all laugh grimly at the fact that I was doing all of their husbands a favour by setting an example not to be followed. It is no secret that several of my friends could easily have ended up in a similar situation given the part that alcohol (for better or worse) plays in our lives.
When I left the Kasumigaseki prosecutors office on the evening of the 22nd day, ironically, I decided to take a taxi home. I could not get one to stop as the roads were very busy and the taxis seemed full and I had my private boycott of “company fleet” taxis. I started to walk and called my bosses. I could not get through to one who was out of the country but got through to another who I was glad had nothing but real concern that I was okay. I said I could come in and tell him the story but he said to leave it until the Monday. I explained the basics and I felt that it had all been a weird dream of sorts and it was really quite a laughable story. In fact as I recited the story of how it all happened, my stupid actions were so ridiculous that it did bring about a laugh. I wasn’t sure whether or not to tell “the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth” to everyone, as my behaviour had been so appallingly dumb. I pondered that and drifted into a kind of trance, walking on and on, intending to take a taxi at some point but finding a real energy for walking. Passing some tube stations, I thought of going home by train but my stench was so great and it was, after all, rush hour. I just kept walking, enjoying the freedom to move and it was over 5 kilometers later that I eventually did hail a taxi and go home to my family.
No-one saw my disappearance as something for me to be ashamed of and word got around our office quickly that I was “out of prison”. Most of the staff had no idea and had believed the initial rumour that I had been in a motorbike accident. Another friend had thought I had gone overseas without telling him. I had already called my wife immediately on getting out and she had told me of the calls she had been getting from concerned friends trying to confirm if I was in hospital. I received calls later that night from those friends and colleagues, all drunk and laughing as they had been filled in on my whereabouts. Where was the stigma of being a criminal? There wasn’t really anything and even in the office the occasional joke pops up but on the whole, as I had suggested that first day back to work, the subject has been fairly much taboo after that first day of explanation.
What I really found amazing in the weeks of catching up with friends and filling those who I wanted to share my story with, was that there were so many other stories that people had to share. Quite a number of people seemed to have a skeleton in their closet that they could not share with anyone until I gave them this chance. I heard of a friend’s brother who had been locked away for several years and of another friend who holds a highly respected professional job who had smashed a driver in the face during a bout of road rage and driven off. His wife sitting in stunned silence as he completely lost it. These were two people that I would never have expected such stories from and it lifted me to hear them.
Yes, I had been a fool and I did not go drinking again for the following 3 months. I did not even have a beer for several weeks as it took time for me to readjust. The first few days were fine but mid-week I felt extremely stressed from the activity and sudden interaction with so many people. I found myself wanting to go home early and just hide. But I knew that if I battled the week out, all would come back to normal in time - and it generally did.
All I can say is that Detention in Japan is a pretty horrible experience. But I don’t really believe it is so much worse than anywhere else in the world. I am a white Caucasian male of middle-class origins. It is not like I faced blatant racism or a system that is against me because of the colour of my skin. There are worse scenarios that I can imagine. The system in Japan is equally tough on the local population and non-Japanese, as far as I could tell and in fact, as the “Gaijin” I was treated very well by the guards and by the inmates in general.
The Detectives were on the whole good guys. I had to return to the station to pick up my Gaijin card and it was Bad Cop who had called me and had waited around until after his shift to give it to me in person. My wife had told me that he had been extremely comforting to her from the outset. He was in fact not a Bad Cop but just a guy doing his job in a system that encourages him to do his job the way he does it. According to my wife Good Cop (Detective K) and Bad Cop, whose name I found out after I got out, had told her that they thought the driver had set me up. Apparently it is not altogether uncommon for some drivers from struggling companies to pick a target (usually a drunken salary man) and create a scene from which he can make an accusation and potentially get a settlement from. I did not know if this was just a ruse to make my wife feel better but some Japanese friends also said they had heard of these stories. I had “ridden” the gag all the way to the punch line where the guy got hurt. I even took it further by going and turning myself into the Police (自首) the following day to try and fix the situation. Apparently the cops had been on my side all the way but especially after they had met the driver in person around Day 12 or so. They told my wife that the “set up” scenario was highly likely but I had done what I had done and all they could do was feel some pity for me and follow procedure. I was more than surprised to hear that those cops, has said things like this – which they never once mentioned to me when I was on the inside.
The real point to this whole story is that it was a shock to find out that I could be locked away for so long and kept out of society, even though in my home country I expect I would have been let free to go home with a date set at the courts to face trial, fine or settlement. 22 days with no communication and mostly no idea of where my fate lay was tough. There are third world prisons and legal systems that are much worse of course, but in a civilized country like Japan it is quite shocking. Further it angered me that the Police had not bothered to make contact with my friend, the only witness (who was riding with me in the same taxi), until Day 16, meaning that Day 19 was my last day at the prosecutor’s office and a fine was to be arranged on Day 22. Surely if they spoke to him on, say, Day 5 or 6, I could have been home with the kids in 12 days, I thought.
It was an experience I will never repeat and one that I hope no one else who is not a career criminal has to go through either. My physical health has been poor since. I had lost 5 kilograms and was weak from having had no significant body movement for 3 whole weeks. It was emotional. Even when re-visiting and organising these journal entries into readable paragraphs, I had some emotional moments as I recalled how lonely and anxious I had been. How much I missed my family and how much I realized I loved my wife. How much of a fool I have been.
To end, this is a short email message I just got from “George” which he asked me to include:
Just for the record, I did not edit anything for “Blue” except the names of the cellmates and it could obviously have been written better for the purposes of presentation but my actual notebooks were a jumble of entries in a confused order. The actual names were changed but I kept pseudonyms I gave my quirky roommates, as they were the guys who I really got to know, and it was how I expressed their personalities in my journal.
I hope this has been interesting for you all. I found myself glued to Stippy to see your comments and judgment. It was, as my sister pointed out, kind of sad to see people take the comments so far off track at times but such is life on the internet. Thanks to Blue for encouraging me to give him that original email that I had sent to my sister and push me from there. Glad we did it.
Other stippy.com articles possibly of interest:
69 Responses to “Prison in Japan: Part 10 “Epilogue””
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Thank you! it was good of you to share your story with us, now we’ve been warned!
Thank you for sharing with us your story ! It makes me discover Stippy and learned from the justice system in Japan, which I didn’t knew.
A very good read. I found myself checking my feed reader for updates and stopping everything to read the next installment.
A great warning, and a reminder how fragile our freedom truly is.
Good luck!
This has been an outstanding series and especially well written. I have always thought the movie “Lost in Translation” was the best example of a story that explained Japan outside accepted norms. Aftfer reading this series, I think you have the basis for an even better drama, with better pathos.
Part 10 of a Westerner in a Japanese prison…
Here’s the 10th and final instalment from the diary of a Western man who spent 22 days in a Japanese prison. All of the previous journal entries were made over the 22 days when I was locked up. I regret what I did and have paid for my stupidity and r…
Hey. Thanks for sharing the story. It kept me hooked to stippy for the past few months.
And for the record, I had a run-in with a a crooked taxi driver too. He almost had me till I discovered a security camera caught the whole thing on tape, then he paid damages to me. His claim was I ran into him on a bicycle and damaged his taxi (which if it was true, a scratched taxi cost about 100,000 according to him), which in fact was the other way around. Like yours it’s a long story, but keep an eye out for those type of people, they exist even in Japan.
Thanks again!
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For Alex Woodland: The movie “Lost in Translation” explains nothing about Japan.
So when are you going to get arrested again so I can read more?
Wow, Jap prisons are a joke. They’re better than shelters here.
I’m going straight to Nippon and punching out cabbies asap.
thanks for sharing your story
Your great read was the how I found the mighty Stippy! So I say thank you for both.
Rock on
FR
-for good or awesome
I think “George” triggered the unfortunate series of events, and therefore he is responsible, however I might add the only rude person I ever met in several visits to Japan was a Tokyo cabbie.
I also had an unpleasant encounter with a policeman in Nikko. I was trying to ask a patrolman to return a key to the inn I’d just checked out from. My train was leaving soon and I was unable to make the half-hour trek back into the hills to return it. In a panic that the inn would add a hefty fine to my credit card for swiping the key, I tried to ask a pair of young cops, next to the train station if they would “drop it off” on their routine patrol. They understood nothing I tried to convey (or chose not to) and they invited me into the police station. There I tried to explain my idiotic request to a supervisor, I will call “Sarge.” l could not convey my request to him either, but he just glowered at me in silence. He appeared to grow angrier as time went on. Finally another young cop who spoke English arrived and translated for me. Sarge got even angrier, looked like he was going to begin beating me and I thought for a second he was going to detain me, but the young English-speaker took the key and said something like they would work sometehing out. I wisely retreated to the train station making a mental note to never ask a Japanese cop for a favor again.
I should also add, in Tokyo, policemen in the kobans are eager to help lost tourist find locations.
For Ricardo Posadero: As you say your request was idiotic. Why couldn’t you just post the key back yourself ?
For Mick,
Had Ricardo sent the key back via post. He’d been charged for the key by that time as they would have had to have changed the locks.
For MikeG: Sure Ricardo may have been incurred an additional charge. But failing to return the key at the time of checkout was his problem. Why did he imagine it was the job of the police to return the key ? Their reaction seems quite justifiable to me.
Funny story: A buddy of mine at work here yesterday mentioned that he took a cab from the station to his house, but, like the writer, was drunk and he fell asleep. When the cabbie woke him up, he was at his apartment and the guy wanted 17,000 yen. Should have been about 1,000. When he complained, the cabbie grabbed his cellphone and started to pretend to call the police, shouting “police! police!” My friend said he’d read this article and just decided to pay the asswipe off and not push it any further.
Me, having better Japanese than he, I would have said “Yeah, why DON’T you call the police? I want to see you explain how a 2km ride ended up costing a hundred and seventy bucks.”
But anyway. The point of the story is this: Cabbies can be trouble. Just don’t throw them on the ground and steal their cellphones. That lands you in the pokey.
Oh Mick:
I mistakenly presumed the first two young cops spoke English, and, as it was off-season in a small tourist town, I did not think it was too off to ask them to do me a favor. Many Japanese people in Tokyo seem to go out of their way to accomodate stupid foreigner tourists like me, so I leapt to the (wrong) conclusion that two cops in Nikko would be happy to help me out.
I was anxious to not miss my train and also get that key back to the nice people at the inn up in the mountains. I had not counted on speaking to Sarge, who looked like he wanted to gouge out my eyeballs and skull-fuck me.
Thanks for a great series. Could be the basis for a very compelling non-fiction book. Just have to add though: count your lucky stars that prison rape was apparently never a real concern.
Ricardo: No worries. But it pays to remember that the police are the police. Japan is not all Hello Kitty
I also spent a short time in the slammer once… As long as one hasn’t done anything really bad and as long as the time spent is a short one, the entire time spent in prison could be regarded as well spent, and one will always have a good story to tell …
Welcome back to the world George. Greetings from Berlin !
I spent a couple of night in the slammer too… One in France and one in Czech republic. Both for drunken disorderly conduct and being big mouthed…
I was young and big mouthed then… I’m a bit wiser and stay out of trouble today…
Like you said, the humber of people that disclosed similar experience was quite surprising.
Thanks for posting your journals from prison. I really enjoyed reading them and I will make sure to avoid any taxi drivers with that style of haircut and sunglasses!
Aight bet!
I think I’ll move to Japan. Here in the Netherlands you can be locked up for two years and three months without compensation.
Just a few years ago it was just three months, and people usually got compensation if it turned out they were innocent. I blame the right-wing government and their war on terrorism.
And recently there has been scandal after scandal of police officers trying (and sometimes succeeding) in eliciting false confessions, destroying important evidence, cover-ups…
Gerbrant,
Yes it’s interesting how Western governments so eager to ‘protect’ their citizenry from terrorism have done so at the expense of citizens rights.
Looks to me like the terrorists have won!
George was clearly the author of his own misfortunes. Foresaking the company of a wife and two children he chose to be with ‘friends’ to indulge in a baccanalia on his 36th(!) birthday then ran afoul of the law when circumstances showed that he’s a mean drunk. Get a grip George, and get yourself to AA !
George,
So what will your next hi-jinx be? Don’t fuck shit up too bad. Throw in some hot prison girl action, or more magna. Look to the mighty movie ‘STORY OF RICKY’ for ideas and inspiration. Oh ya one last thing; please keep your readers up to date with up-to-the hour posts.
Good luck and thanks again.
For good or Awesome
The Fried Ricer
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To GEORGE,
I can’t believe after all you have been through you a) find it funny and b) are still drinking. I would have thought that you would have learned your lesson. If not even for yourself, think about your wife and children. I’m sure you are aware that should you get into any such trouble again, your boys will be older and better able to understand what’s happening to Daddy. I hope you will be able to explain it to them so that they, too, can have a good laugh. It never ceases to amaze me that people who get drunk and do stupid things think they should somehow be pardoned because “they were drunk”. Please!!!!! Remember when the sake is in, the wit is out….so don’t think it is unlikely that you will not have a repeat of what happened and this time you might not be sooo lucky.
Anyway you write very well, so you could make a bestseller out of it or even a movie deal. Hey…that would show those unscrupulous taxi drivers eh.
I was just wondering though, did your friend try to contact the police on your behalf with his side of the story?
did you actually agree on a settlement? how much did you pay him in the end? Did you find out if 1.5 million was a large or a small amount?
Yeah, good read.
My God! That “Eri” on Stippy Friends is HOT HOT HOT!!!! Sweatheart if you are reading this: I love you. I’m gonna log in and send you mail…
E RI ……….
George,
Thanks for sharing your story. It gives all of us a much better idea of what it is like on “the inside” and more reason for us to avoid it. I was also glad to see that your experience also made you realize what a supportive family, great friends, and how even some people who don’t seem to kind at first (i.e. “bad cop”) can often be different than they first appear. Good luck in the future and I hope you stay out of trouble… Although your story was informative and interesting to read, for your sake, I would rather not read a “Prison in Japan - Part II”
To Gourmet:
” did you actually agree on a settlement? how much did you pay him in the end? Did you find out if 1.5 million was a large or a small amount? ”
- My 1.5 million was according to my lawyer and uncle in law a good deal considering all things. The Prosecutor, when I told her how much the settlement was, seemed genuinely amazed at how high it was - hence I think they gave me a lesser fine to pay of only 300,000 instead of the expected 500k.
George, thanks for your posts. I don’t remember how I found Stippy but this is the best Japan blog I’ve ever come across. You should seriously think about publishing this, or making it into a movie… maybe even a Japanese TV company would take up your story. I’ve seen so many re-creations in Japan… they LOVE reality TV, and I’m not talking about shows like Survivor or Dancing with the Stars.
Japanese people love recreations, real events, and your experiences will definitely sell to the Japanese TV producers, as long as you are sensitive and don’t put any anti-Japanese spin on it. (I think you’ve been very fair and non-judgemental in all of your postings). Well, just an idea. As long as you don’t have an agenda to pursue (Japanese don’t like to make waves), and you just sell it as an interesting story from “the inside” I think the Japanese TV stations would eat it up.
Sorry this comment just got out of control…
To Webangel and others concerned about my moral fibre:
Sorry, yes I do still go out on occasion - I have a social job and I have a social life. I don’t stay out as late or drink as much - except for two occasions (friends in town and the team Xmas party). As before, these days I have a few beers with friends once a week or every two weeks. I don’t think that is massively damaging to my children or my wife. In fact she goes out just as much as I do!
My wife and I honestly don’t think that alcohol is my biggest problem (though it was the key catalyst on that stupid night). My major problem is/was dealing with stress (I have a high stress job and living here compunds this). Yes, I also have some anger management issues. Believe it or not, when things go beyond a joke, yes, I have totally “lost it” on two occasions in my life. The day of the event that lead to my becoming “George” was one of them. The other was when a punk kid on a scooter cut me off and nearly knocked me into the path of a truck at 80 kilometres an hour on my own bike. Again though, I never punched the the little prat - I just let him know in no uncertain terms that he should ride more safely. He was very scared. As I play regular sport, go to the gym and weigh twice as much as the taxi driver, I’d consider him very lucky I am not the type who will instigate a punch up. My “losing it” with him led me to yell and smack his Navi, etc etc, then I fell over while illegally grasping his property, dragging him down with me. Even as I type this comment it strikes me as just so damned embarrassing. But it happened, so I have to live with that.
Sorry this is getting so long…
Some of the comments genuinely crack me up. I liked the one from the guy who seems too paranoid to get in a Japanese taxi again - wow, he needs to get a grip. Don’t forget, people, I am a human being with frailties like every single person I ever met, even the best of them. This “event” taught me a lot about how to keep a lid on “losing it” and to avoid the “stressors” in my life better than before. A big plus is my improved attitude to life and to Japan and things Japanese in general: I don’t let things bug me like before, am more optimistic and probably a better person. 3 weeks in a cell to ponder what a dickhead I was has had a long lasting impact. I am sure I can still be a dickhead at times but not as often as before, I’ll wager. I hope it lasts.
The people who know me have almost forgotten about the event as it just is not the type of thing they associate me with (or so it seems and so I hope). The exception to this comes from the lads at the office when they want to give me a bit of a ribbing. Fair enough, I like a laugh as much as them and don’t mind laughing at my own stupidity.
The fact that I find it “funny” is because it is just such a bizarre situation for me to have been in and it will never occur again. The taxi driver was a jerk, so I have less sympathy for him than possibly I should but, if he wasn’t such a jerk, it would not have happened. My friends found it funny for the same reason; as did my sister, wife, team/staff and bosses. My parents will never hear about this.
By the way, a lot of people ask why I was “stupid” enough to go to the Police. Simple: with two amazing little kids and a wife, I did not want the paranoia haunting me that the cops could just turn up and bust me. I am tall and bald and around my neighbourhood fairly easy to recognize. The driver knew where I lived. Plus, yes of course I wanted to make sure he was okay and to apologize. Translator cop admitted they would probably never have investigated and never have come and found me, but prior to my getting “booked” I didn’t know that and even if the same thing happened last night, I would still go to the Police today. And seek professional help. Incidentally, the night before I went to the Police I did send a mail to a psychologist we Googled to discuss “anger management”. 3 weeks later when I checked my hotmail, I found the mail had bounced.
Finally, like the Fried Ricer, a lot of the above folks ask me what my next act of stupidity will be. Stay tuned… as I said, I am human so probably something embarrassing will happen again. Sorry to disappoint but it won’t be as daft as this one, that is for sure.
Ever grateful for the comments above. I am in fact psyching myself up to write a book. Though that will be work related and boring as hell for anyway who isn’t in my line of work.
Cheers to you all.
“George”
GEORGE
Thanks for responding to my post. You did not get to the question I asked though….I was wondering if you friend had tried to tell the police your side of the story before they contacted him.
My friend had no idea that anything had happened. When he left me with the taxi driver everything looked like it would end well. He got in his taxi and went home while I tried to end things with the agitated driver. My wife had tried to contact him but it wasn’t until the Police finally caught up with him that he knew something was wrong. When getting phone messages from the police and not having any idea what the messages were for, he did not feel obliged to hurry and call them back. Thankfully he did follow up when they finally explained what the issue was about and he was assured that he was not a suspect.
I had asked my lawyer to contact him asap to get him to explain to the police - hence my wife had tried to make contact. I am glad that the police got to him before my lawyer did as it could be seen as an attempt to change his story to be more like mine. In the end his explanation was even more vivid than mine, which was to my benefit as it proved a number of points where the driver was blatently wrong.
George - I gather from your story that even though your employer knows about what happened to you they didn’t terminate your employment. May I ask what type of company do you work for and is it a Japanese company ? Thanks in advance for your answer.
Hi Mick - the bottom line is that whatever I do for a living is fairly inconsequential in terms of the industry category. But yes, the fact that I work in a non-Japanese company made a big difference as my direct bosses are gaijin who could see my side of the situation. I happen to be a senior guy at my company and though not indispensible, after getting through this and not being canned, I am probably both lucky to have bosses that understood and a position in the company that probably helped that outcome to be reality. If I was a newbie or a younger man, I could have expected a far more miserable result. I was however, needless to say, very worried about how this would be taken by staff and bosses and feared for the worse. Maybe the fact that I have a family and no track record of being such a bad guy helped.
George - Thank you for your answer.
Marvin, did you get hold of Eri? Was it Stippy love in the making??
I’m stalking her as we speak…
George - Thanks for your story. I have read many articles critical of the Japanese justice system. Your story was pretty much in line with those articles. The police here are a bit lazy and prefer confessions to actually doing any investigative work. The 24 day prison stay is designed to help them get a confession. I try to avoid any contact with the police, so I even drive the speed limit! I guess other people have been hard enough on you and it sounds like you have learned your lesson. You are very lucky to have such an understanding wife. Go and sin no more!
Come to think of it, my Japanese wife had a “ballistic” moment last Saturday. On the way home from celebrating her birthday with some friends (she was plastered), I recounted an old story about her daughter not giving me a piece of the birthday cake I had bought her daughter. She went on a five hour rant that I had ruined her birthday. No amount of “gomen nasais or moshiwake arimasens” seemed to quiet her down. I think alcohol might be a definite problem. She is so sweet at other times, but I walk on eggshells when she is drunk. Maybe pent-up stress just explodes under the influence of alcohol.
I totally agree HappyinJapan. I always ride with the light switched ON on my mama-chari (even during the day) because I don’t want to create an excuse for the satsu to pull me over for a “chat”. And even if they did, these days I doubt if I’d bother reading out Debito’s quotes from the law. (I would have 10 years ago). I even speak to them in Japanese these days to get it over quickly!
Yeah, I know the feeling guys. I’m too scared to leave my house in case them coppers see me. WTF?
thx for sharing your experience George. My dear friend is locked up in Japan now for being sabotage of carrying drug in her luggage. Your story has given me some insight n taught me ‘a thing or two’ of how things might be for my fren there. God bless you=)
You’re a tool for doing what you did, you paid the price, so why do you try to make out that you’re innocent? Did you not unintentionally damage the guys car, panic him, try to stop him calling for help, scare the crap out of him, then wrestle him to the ground, injuring the dude, then run off home?
You got what was coming to you, so why all the crap about ‘oh if only they interviewed my mate who was asleep at the time’ and ‘oh i didnt lunge at the guy and assault him from behind, it was more to the side’.
Depressing stuff, really.
Hi all, and George;
Very interesting story. I was truly amazed at how nice the guards and in general how the dention center was. Like others here, I thought the story was about Prison, which I have heard stories about.
In my travels throughout Asia, I have run into this type of Japanese man and the likes of him in PI, Thailand, HK, Singapore, and Malaysia. What they all have in common is a lack of self esteem, and a big American like George is most definitely a target for their hatred. I am an American also, and live and work in Japan. I have run into a few of these tough guy wanna be’s as well.
One time My wife and I exited a cab next to a wall that was a bit too close. As we squeeze out of the back of the cab, the driver thought now was the time to speed off while jerking the door shut. The car door banged my wife up pretty smartly,and we ran down the street trying to get the guy to stop. Fortunately, a stoplight did the job for me, as I was waving at the guy to open his window so I could communicate what he’d done, he merely blew me off and sped away as the light turned green. In the meantime, my wife got a good glimpse of the license, cab number, company name and his last name in bold letters on his Taxi license on the dash board. She wrote all this down quickly and we proceeded to the nearest koban to make a report. Well my wife being Japanese wasted no time filing a report against the cabbie. Being a neighborhood Koban the local cops thought the matter could be concluded without all that paperwork if they just called the company and have the guy report to the Koban. Well a half hour later, we are confronted by a snaring, growling angry cabbie in this little Koban who proceeds to tell the cops that first he’s never seen us before, then recanted when the cobs demanded to see his log of stops, then he tried say we were somehow undeserving of his courtesy, because well, you know we were a mix couple. Of course he thought the cops would go for that. Well, the police had had enough of his beligerance and told him apologzie to the young or we book you now. The growling cabbie whirled around to say something to my wife, but the cops caught him hauled him upstairs to the holding pin. We filed the paperwork, and went to the medical clinic to get my wife examine by the doctor. (The results were included in the police report.)
Long story gone short. My wife would have accepted a sincere apology and left it at that. But the guy was too proud for that. So he spent a night in jail for hitting my wife with his car door, and fined 100,000Y for unintentional bodily harm with a motor vehicle by the court. His cab company lawyer and ours agreed on a 200,000Y payment to my wife and the company paid the lawyers fees. SO for his temper, racism, and pride, he paid over 400,000Y, or I should say his company did and they are garnishing his wages for the payback. about a month or so later, my wife got harassing calls from the cabbies’ wife and some undisclosed big mouths threatening my wife. I had enough of all this was like George ready to let loose on this guy and all his BS, when my inlaws stepped in and said don’t worry “we got this” Ok I said. 3 days later, the cabbie’s wife called and apologized and said she was really sorry for all the “bad words” she used. Turns out one of my inlaw (uncles) had a couple guys from his company stop by the cabbie’s house let the family of wannbe tough guys know thy’d gone too far and things were going to get messy in a permanent way. I love that talk…lol He actually said “messy in a permanent way”. Chalk that one up to one lesson learned by a rude cabbie. The lesson we learned? Never accept the place the the cabbie decides to stop . Hell make him pull up to a safer spot.
Awesome
Marcus - wow, what a story! Yep, plenty of moron Japanese around just like anywhere. Not sure where some people get off thinking that Japan is so perfect and nice. Good place and all but there are dickheads here too.
Does this encourage people not to drink alcohol? It should.
Indo_dave,
Nope, not at all.
Does seeing a story in the newspaper about someone stabbing someone else discourage you from using knives? It shouldn’t.
It is all about whether alcohol is drunk in excess or not. Nothing is dangerous (except arsenic maybe) unless we abuse it in large amounts.
Someone didn’t read stippy!
http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/411984
George’s detention felt a bit unfair, but this one is appalling! 7 months!
http://www.debito.org/index.php/?p=537
WOW!!!!!!!!! great story, man i must have been naive when i was in japan from 03-06, because i couldnt understand why the cabbies in tokyo wouldnt want me in their cabs, i guess if they dont want your $ f*ck em.
WEll there was a guy from my ship(yeah i know now I lost any credibility) that went to japanese jail for breaking a window, and he said it was the best jail he had ever been to!!!
I enjoyed reading this piece as it brought back a lot of memories for me personally as I have spent 30 days in a juvenile detention center in Japan. Even though it was a truly frightening and desperate time for me too, I can look back and laugh like he can, at the situation you somehow managed to get into. I’d worry about someone who couldn’t look back at laugh their mistakes. George articulated himself well and came across as a bright, realistic and good man. God help any of you eejits who are castigating him if any of you make mistakes…one flash moment in your life can change everything and it’s how you deal with it and react to it which shows what kind of person you are. Also I find it quite hilarious how some of you are calling for him to go to AA meetings. Give me strength. The man is an adult and has a right to a social life. I don’t think you people live in the real world. Hope you are happy George.
Thanks for posting this story. It was a very inspirational read and gives a clear message of how things can get out of hand for even normal people. I had a similar run in with the police in Japan 5 years ago. Some punkish chimpira wannabes blocked my entrance from entering the combini, in a country town. I had many drinks at an izakaya and a long heavy work day prior. I was with 7 Japanese guys so the odds were in my favor. In my case, I dont remember what happened, just the wrestling around on the asphalt towards the end. I have to take peoples word for it what actually happened (nihonshuu truly does knock you out of your senses) Apparently these yanqui youths 18 and 19 heckled me when I passed thru them and I started pushing and kind of flipped out…dont really know though I dont remember, I could have run away but I stayed got placed in a police car and taken to the station. I dont know why but it seemed like a big joke (it truly wasnt) but I had only been in Japan for a couple months and it could have been Mars for all I was concerned, I was singing Jim Morrison tunes in my ‘karaoke box’ at the police station…to make a long story short I lost my job out of the deal because I had to tell them where I worked to get let out and I paid out 100,000 to the kid apparently I wrestled and lost his diamond pierce. Anyway I have been a good boy since then. To the lady that slammed you for drinking again, obviously she doesnt understand whats happening here at all…I have am a social drinker and this was not the cause of this at all. I would never blame my behaviour on something external from me…guns and alcohol dont kill people, people kill people. In my case, I am naturally high strung and I have to get plently of exercise, play guitar, do yoga etc to balance, if I dont it comes out in negative ways and thats just…hey who we are…I really look down people that judge from their slant on life so…. thanks for posting man, I never look down on you or judge you, could easily have been myself especially if i felt threatened by the taxi driver.
Clive McKay
It is good to look back and laugh at your mistakes; but it even better to learn from them. One does not make mistakes and go right back to doing the same thing that led them to the mistake in the first place. Even adults sometimes need advice and a “social life” does not have to include drinking too much or even drinking at all. I know that might be hard for some to believe, but it is true. You don’t need alcohol to enjoy yourself….even in Japan.
John David Thoreau
You obviously didn’t your father (or is it your brother), Henry David Thoreau’s, philosophical genius, did ya? I lived, worked and studied in Japan for 8 years and have seen people do a lot of stupid things under the influence of alcohol (both Japanese and foreigners). Social drinkers do not drink themselves senseless and while you can relate to being drunk and losing control of your self and senses, please don’t kid yourself that the alcohol did not play a big part in your actions. I doubt it very much if either you or George would have reacted the way you did had you not drank too much. I don’t think you can tell me what else is happening in Japan that I don’t know about, but, hey, if there is some other thing that will excuse your behaviors, please enlighten me.
since I can’t ” tell (you anything) happening in Japan that (you) dont know about”
doesnt seem worth my time to have dialogue with you, your totally enlightened my brother
please speak forth so all can hear your NOVA experience
Alcohol does and did play a part in my actions but its not the root cause
its as if to say video games or anything else are the reasons people do the things they do
but its ignorant to judge a man when you have not walked in his shoes
needless to say alcohol accentuates what already exists in a man
not the root cause. there is a lot that stays lodged and private in a person
that comes out when one drinks…and it is an inappropriate means for
releasing that emotion or tension (in my opionion) but it could be argued
if one learns from it and it doesnt hurt fellow man it could be productive
if as you say one learns from ones infraction, which indeed i did.
LOL @ NOVA experience. ROFL \^o^/
I won’t prolong this discussion by responding to your first comment (because I am very sober and don’t want things to get out of control. LOL)
Anyway, I totally agree with your second comment especially where you said that “…if one learns from it and it doesn’t hurt fellow man it could be productive…” You are sooooo right on!!! Good on you!!
John David, your RIGHT ON thanks for posting, been there done that!
Wow, I was glued for an hour reading your prison story. Well done for surviving the ordeal.
I remember one of my friend’s boyfriend was in a detention centre for about ten days, and I have never seen such a lively, spirited guy, be reduced to tears and depression so quickly.
This experience will bring about positive aspects and who knows, you may even publish your story in the future.
All the best and hope things work out for your future George.
A bad man (alleged child molester) was stalking my ex wife. I warned him repeatedly to stay away from her and our daughter. He didn’t take me seriously. One night I smashed his face into a bar room bathroom wall while my friend held the door so he couldn’t run. Thank God I didn’t have a gun, I probably would have killed him. The cops staked my house out for three weeks before they invited me to come with them to the station. I admitted everything and signed their very myopic coerced statements and they didn’t lock me up. It was only a few grand, but I couldn’t pay the fines so I fled the country. That was 5 years ago. I’ve been paying for it ever since. George you are a blessed man. Keep your head up.
I would like to return to Japan but I’m afraid that I’ll get sent home or to jail or both, especialy with the new imigration entry procedures.
I also experienced being locked up here in Japan. I understand how George felt because I felt it the same way. I was thinking about my past experience being detained for stealing say shoplifting. I search the web and came out stippy. I know its really tough emotionally and psychologically. Imagine you have no idea whats going on about your case when your in the cell. I will never forget the experience the rest of my life. Especially my first night when the guards put me in my cell. The sound of the steel doors when they lock it. When I read this journal, while reading it I can hear again in my ears the sounds. The echoes, the footsteps, the murmurings and the snores. George stayed 22 days. Ive done 100 days inside the ryuuchijo before moving to the next level, detention branch kouchijo(拘置所) before waiting the trial. I spent a month there in a single cell alone. The cell is half smaller than the cell in ryuuchijo. Made me really claustrophobic. Really depressing. Youre not allowed to move free in your cell. You are not allowed to do things which are not in the manual. You have to sit in a position in a designated place inside the cell. Guards periodically roam around to watch the inmates.The day I received the verdict the judge says “guilty” and sentenced “suspended 1 year prison 3 years of probation”. That day I’m a free man. One of the happiest moment in my life is to be freed. But I was a different person I was before. I should stay out of trouble for the next 3 years or else go to prison instantly. Now I live happily with a nice job and with my loving wife and daughter. Good luck to you George and God Speed.
MattK
Thanks for your post. You seemed to have learned from your experience. Good for you!! You are brave to stay in Japan, I think I would have left the country the day after I became free. Good luck with you life.
I hope this is fiction. Otherwise this guy comes across as a self-serving dickhead whose so full of himself that he’ll never truly understand how big of a fucking knob he is. And that’s the only travesty of justice in this story.
I like that by the end, the cops feel pity for him, he’s lost 5kg, and he’s been emotional. The poor guy. And it was the evil scheming cab drivers fault all along, it turns out, everyone can see that now.
“My physical health has been poor since. ”
It’s fucking baffeling how full of shit this guy is. He gets drunk and smacks some guy around, goes to jail, gets out, and then has the gaul to moan on the internet that he’s stiff from sitting in a cell for three weeks?
What about the cab driver? The asshole who had no choice but to ferry your drunk ass around it all hours of the morning, whose head you dropped against the curb because you’re bigger than him and started getting pushy?
Yeah, let’s never mind that, how’s your back from sitting. Cause I know how hard sitting can be on a persons psyche.
It’s just amazing. In his head he’s managed to turn the whole fucking thing from him being a biligerant drunk cunt throwing his weight around like the asshole he is, to him being an affable, misunderstood, “not-perfect-but-down-deep-good-guy-in-a-bad-spot.” He’s not like those guys in prison, he’s a winner, he’s a good guy.
How fucking shocking, SHOCKING.
Better still is that despite the fact he’s ashamed of it all, despite the fact that he couldn’t bear to have his wife see him in that condition, that doesn’t seem to stop him from spewing his tale-of-woe across the entire Internet for everyone on the planet to sympathize with.
Yeah that’s a classic earmark of shame.
What endless garbage. This entire thing is a big ego-wankfest, with bullshit lip-service paid to responsibility and guilt.
It affected him so much he couldn’t drink for 3 entire months. Fuck you. What a joke.
I know lots of self-obsessed fucking knobs like this. You’d hope prison would have shone some honesty into this guys life, but he got it so fucking easy he came out thinking of himself as somehow worthy of some measure of pity.
I REALLY hope this is all fiction but doubt it. He’s just another asshole who thinks he’s special, goes through piddly shit nothing, but manages to stretch it out into a ten long segments of endless whinging bullshit.
Oh, and he even says real Japanese jails are easier than what he went through, REALLY, he says that, go back and read the end of section 8 again.
Seriously, “George”, you better hope those draining three weeks of *sitting* are the closest you ever get to reality, because you live in a fucking dream world.
“My physical health has been poor since. ”
Everything about this guy makes me realize why the cabbie would want to fuck him over. I meet these kinds of assholes every day, and if I could fuck him over worse than just by trying to point out what a joke he is in writing, I’d probably do it too.