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To take another tack: Where in the world can you get 2 weeks in the slammer for not paying the bill at an entertainment complex, or deported for skinny dipping at a deserted beach? You think that sort of thing doesn't happen in the modern developed world, but it happens in Japan, and I should know, because it happened to me (I didn't get deported for skinny dipping, but I was almost jailed for not paying the bill at a karaoke joint.) For 2 weeks, 16 days in fact I stood at the interface of Japan's gaijin foreigner community and the police, with the full weight of The System bearing down upon me. They tried to beat me, but I won. And now I have the story to tell.
As Blue wrote on his page devoted to gaijin in Japanese prisons, "Being a foreigner in Japan, the process of imprisonment of criminal suspects here was a subject that I was entirely unfamiliar with. Until the other day that is, when a friend of mine wrote to me, and offered to give us a few of articles explaining his terrible experience of being locked up in a Japanese prison for more than three weeks (without being charged for anything, and without any contact with the outside world) - all for one night out on the booze that ended badly. (To make things worse, it was his own birthday party!). He is the first to admit, he did something wrong. But, being locked up for more than three weeks, without any trial or offer of bail for what he did, it is just not fair. "In Japan, suspects for any type of crime, can be held in a type of prison called a ryuuchijyou, under the daiyo kangoku system of imprisonment without trial. Prisoners can be held for interrogation for 23 days without charge, without being offered bail, and without proper legal representation. Both Amnesty International and the UN Human Rights Committee have condemned the practice, which persuades many prisoners to confess to whatever they are accused of in the gruelling interrogation process." I had been living in Japan for six and a half years when I had my own Holiday in Hell. I used to joke that I wanted to experience all that Japan had to offer, I wanted to learn about every facet of society: from the bottom to the top and every particular side. In six and a half years, I had seen a lot. I had spent time in the Japanese education system, working as an ALT in elementary and junior high schools (in 2001/2002.) I had done my share of TV and modelling work, and met some of the stars, such as Ueto Aya. I had expressed interest in taking part in the medical research trials in Kagoshima, to make big money and learn something about the Japanese hospital system. Sooner or later, it seemed, I was destined to get up front and personal... with the law. Japanese style. Thankfully we only got 16 days, which was probably enough for my purposes (ie, the chance to experience the criminal underside of Japan, and then blog about it, and then ultimately someday, write about it.) Two weeks in Hell --- it was a combination of extreme boredom and humiliation, comaraderie and crushing claustrophobia... and now and then the odd eruption of ecstasy! There were some beautiful moments and some really desperate times, but the thing which struck me most, upon my release, was just how REAL it was inside -- the life outside seems a charade compared to the living intensity of Jail. It's the law of the jungle inside, but since Man arose in the jungle, it seems to be the place where he is most at home. Modern life is trivial, that's kind of what I thought upon my release -- actually I didn't think it, I FELT it as an overpowering truth, a spiritual epithany. Those who lived in New York on September 11 know the feeling -- the sudden realisation of the vacuusness of the consumer world, with its fixation on celebrity and consumed experience. The consumer buys experiences to make up for the fact he or she doesn't experience anything. That's not real life, that's a sham. People in developed countries these days have a lifestyle, not a life. It wasn't until I spent my 16 days in lockup in Japan, that I learnt what real reality was all about. At the same time, the whole experience was like something out of a movie (just like September 11, but this time I was actually IN the movie, not just watching it on TV as I was back in 2001. This was my personal 9/11.) I got dragged before the Public Prosecutor 4 times in the huge police department at Kasumigaseki, and she drilled me relentlessly, as if I were some major crim or something (like I said, it was a farce of Monty Python proportions!) You don't have to be an expert in interpersonal relations to understand the reason why they were being so hard on us. As my lawyer said at one of our first meetings: "the Public Prosecutor is one a personal vendetta against foreign crime." And during my first three encounters with her, I could certainly feel her anti-gaijin vendetta coming through. She variously called me a liar, "a disgusting individual", "an arrogant gaijin (foreigner)" and so on. At one point she said: "You gaijin think you can come to Japan and do what you like, and you won't get in trouble. How would you feel if I went to your country and ran out of a karaoke box without paying?" I was going to say: "The police would probably let you off because it is a minor offence", but I thought it would be wiser to hold my tongue. Meanwhile, back at the prison, we were only allowed to take a bath once every 5 days. And the food was horrible (cold rice, bento boxes, water, instant miso soup. The same thing every day. I must have lost 5 or 6 kilograms, which was actually one of the few good things to come out of the experience.) My file was marked "seken kinshi" meaning nobody was allowed to see me except my lawyer and the Australian Embassy staff. Then suddenly, yesterday the guards came to my cell and said: "Bye bye jikan." They gave me my clothes, I signed a release form, and I went home.
This story began in the early hours of May 14 2007 when some of my Australian/NZ friends (Garnet the Australian vagabondist and notorious scammer and spammer, Menace the porn actor and nampa enthusiast, and Crystal Meth the blonde-haired TV star and socialite) thought it would be fun to try running out of a karaoke box without paying the bill. I wasn't that keen on the idea from the start but I tagged along and got caught, along with Menace. For that minor offence, they kept me and Menace in prison lockup for 16 days, and literally threw the book at us!
That's two weeks in jail for skimping on a $80 karaoke charge -- one day for every $5 we had tried to steal from the karaoke parlor company! Justice Japanese style -- I never thought my time would be deemed so cheap! It was the most surreal experience of my life, kind of scary and humiliating at times, but interesting in that I got to see a side of Japan very few foreigners are able to see. It was also kind of ridiculous, like a farce -- they were trying to charge Menace and me with fraud (sagi), and even my lawyer was saying I could spend up in prison if I was found guilty.
This site is intended for those facing IMPRISONMENT in Japan, the friends and
relatives of those serving time in the Land of the Rising Sun, and for anyone having visa and legal troubles in the country. If you need
to find a lawyer in Japan for immigration or general legal matters, this site may be able to HELP. This is basically the blog of an
Australian in an Asian jail... or police holding cell, to be more accurate. In particular, it will tell you what to expect if you find
yourself DOING TIME in Japan: what kind of food you will eat (think cold bento boxes), how you will be treated, and how to play
the game when it comes to dealing with the cops. There is a list of lawyers supplied by the Australian Embassy. Maybe that could help you,
if you found yourself in trouble.
| Prison Japan: Day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
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O | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
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Contact the author at coderot@gmail.com. |
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