Paolo fromTOKYO
3 HN recommenders · recommended in 4 months, 2020–2026
14:24 · 8.6M views · Aug 16, 2019
Paolo fromTOKYO explains why foreign tourists get arrested in Japan, covering strict laws and the justice system's very high conviction rate.
Commenters mostly use it as a lead-in to recommending interviews with Japanese lawyers about detention and the justice system, and one says they learned from it.
4 comments from Hacker News
Current resident of Tokyo. Can be a little scary when getting randomly searched. I could argue, but my Japanese is intermediate and the police are always right. A youtuber interviewed a trial lawyer [1] last year and I thought it was really good. I wasn't aware that the holding days could be extended for each crime that you "commit." There's an entire scheme to this: 3 days - initial detainment 10 days - judge determines whether you can be charged or not 10 days - possible extension. If you commit two crimes, that could be up to 46 days in detainment. Basically, don't come to Japan and do anything questionable and everything should be fine. In the unlikely event you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, you should know how to wield Japanese well to try to get yourself out of it. On the other hand, I watched an interaction between a couple of foriegners and the police one day. They were drinking in the park one day (legal and common) and the police were called on them for unknown reasons. After the police arrived, they basically told the police to go away for an hour and refused to show their resident's card (both also legal). Backups and backups of backups were called and eventually they dispersed. I think this is a good example of how there is a lot of restraint with regards to police here. I believe in most other countries jail would have been imminent out of disrespect. The thing about Japan is that once you're caught up in the system, it has no mercy. 1 - this video
Here is a short interview with a Japanese lawyer on how the law screws over foreigners: this video After watching this, i could understand why Carlos Ghosn did what he did; it is an abhorrent "Hostage Justice" system.
I enjoyed learning from this video years ago, which introduces the topic of how you are treated when arrested in Japan: * Paolo fromTOKYO - "Why Japan Arrests Foreigners" this video (14m23s) [2019-08-16]
Habeas corpus is not a thing in Japan, they basically hold you until you confess. There's also no bail. I like how the lawyer in this interview doesn't seem impressed by the system he has to work in. this video