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Hi Blog. I’ve written at length about how demonizing foreigners will lead to official racial profiling, and how deputizing the general public to target NJ will lead to abuse.
Well, SITYS. (See I told you so.) Check out this article from Nikkan Sports. (Translation mine, corrections welcome.)
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Muslim Woman in Her Forties is Subjected to Wrongful Questioning by Police: Submits Complaint to Tokyo Public Safety Commission.
Nikkan Sports, July 6, 2021, courtesy of lots of people
A Muslim woman in her forties from South Asia living in Tokyo, who was subjected to wrongful voluntary questioning by officers of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police and had her name, address, and other private details leaked to a third party, submitted a formal complaint to the Tokyo Public Safety Commission on July 5. Her legal representation criticized, “This is a use of public power grounded in discriminatory attitudes towards foreigners.”
According to documents from her legal group questioning the Tokyo Metropolitan Police and other connected people, on June 1, the woman was letting her 3-year-old daughter play in a neighborhood park when a man rushed up to her and claimed her daughter had knocked his son down. “Gaijin”, “show me your Zairyu Card”! He then called the police, and six officers rushed in and used rough language towards the woman (who has limited abilities in Japanese), saying things like, “Hey you (omae), you want us to believe you really can’t speak Japanese?” Following that, they took the woman and her daughter only to the nearest police station, and voluntarily interrogated them about two and a half hours.
The woman and her daughter denied that she had knocked anyone down. However, they were not allowed to go home until they had acknowledged there had been some physical contact (boukou), and they had agreed to release their contact details and phone number to the man involved. On a later date, the police told the man more personal information, such as the names, ages, and address of the woman and her daughter so he could begin a civil lawsuit against her. It is said that Child Services were also contacted in case the woman would be unable to take care of her daughter.
The woman claims that being alone and interrogated by four officers during questioning has made her unable to sleep due to PTSD.
Her lawyer, Nishiyama Atsuko, pointed out that even though these are “voluntary” interrogations, foreign suspects often feel they cannot refuse police due to fear of forced deportation. Moreover, “Being a foreigner in itself is enough to justify wrongful treatment by the police. This situation is but the tip of the iceberg.”
The woman herself made the following statement to the press: “My daughter absolutely did not do what they said she did. Now that my address has been leaked, I’m uneasy and cannot live my life in peace. I want the police to be admonished so that they cannot repeat this sort of discriminatory behavior over and over again.”
ENDS (Original Japanese below comment.)
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(More commentary by Debito.org Readers on a separate site from here.)
COMMENT: Look, it’s as I’ve said here for decades, and in a number of books: When you train police to see foreigners as social destabilizers, that’s how foreigners will be treated in most circumstances involving them. When the only tool in your training is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
Nowadays, when you get people who aren’t trained police at all made aware that foreigners have Gaijin Cards (more specifically Zairyuu Cards), and who are now not only encouraged but also empowered by official online apps to demand them, then you have people in a social status so weak that there will be abuses by bullies, or by anyone on a power trip.
And that’s clearly what happened here. Let’s recap: A man accuses a three-year-old kid of assault, gets aggressive with a Muslim woman (and reportedly SPECIFICALLY demands her Gaijin Card), and then siccs six also-aggressive cops on her. Then the cops cart only her and her toddler daughter off to the nearest cop shop for hours of interrogation, and hold her hostage until she releases her private information to this strange man. And later cops give that man even more information in case he decides to sue a three-year-old!
Clearly this has been blown out of proportion. And the cops abetted it! What a nightmare.
I’m pleased the woman sought out legal representation and filed the formal complaint with the Public Safety Commission. But that will probably result in nothing. (I’ve done the same for over-the-top police reactions in the past, and never gotten any satisfactory conclusion.) You can’t expect much when it’s wolves policing other wolves.
So I hope she files an actual civil suit against the police and the person who harassed her and her daughter, so we can get some legal precedent behind this complaint. We need some kind of damper put on all the social damage done by the Japanese police demonizing foreigners for decades, and then deputizing the general public to target them.
Finally, kudos to Nikkan Sports and Kyodo News for taking this issue up. Here’s hoping more media pays attention to this case. Debito Arudou, Ph.D.
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Original Japanese:
40代ムスリム女性に警察官が不当聴取 都公安委に苦情申し出
[日刊スポーツ 2021年7月6日1時3分]
https://www.nikkansports.com/general/news/202107050001193.html
東京都内に住む南アジア出身で40代のイスラム教徒（ムスリム）の女性が、警視庁の警察官から不当な任意聴取を受け、他人に氏名や住所などの個人情報を漏らされたとして5日、都公安委員会に苦情を申し出たことが分かった。代理人弁護士は「公権力による外国人への差別意識が根底にある」と批判している。
弁護団が警視庁や関係者に問い合わせるなどした結果に基づく申し出書によると、女性は6月1日、近所の公園で長女（3）を遊ばせていた際、園内にいた男性から、息子が長女に突き飛ばされたとして「外人」「在留カード出せ」などと詰め寄られた。男性の通報で警視庁の警察官6人が駆け付け、日本語が不自由な女性に「おまえ本当に日本語しゃべれねえのか」などと発言。その後女性と長女のみ最寄りの警察署で約2時間半、任意聴取された。
女性と長女は突き飛ばしたことを否定。だが警察官に暴行を認めるよう言われ、男性側に連絡先の電話番号を伝えることに同意するまで帰してもらえなかった。警察側は後日、民事訴訟を起こすとする男性に女性と長女の氏名や年齢、住所などの個人情報を伝達。女性が長女を監督できていなかったとして児童相談所に通報したという。
長女は単独で4人の警察官から聴取された場面もあり、現在、トラウマ（心的外傷）による不眠の症状を訴えている。
代理人の西山温子弁護士は、任意の聴取でも、外国人は容疑をかけられ強制送還されることを恐れて警察に逆らえないことが多いとし、「外国人というだけで警察に不当な扱いを受けることがあり、この問題は氷山の一角だ」と指摘する。
女性は取材に「娘は絶対にやっていない。住所を漏らされ、不安で平和な生活ができない。差別的な行為が繰り返されないよう、警察にはしかるべき対処をしてほしい」と話した。（共同）
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13 comments on “Nikkan Sports: Aggressive Japanese man harasses Muslim woman and 3-year-old daughter in park, demands her Gaijin Card; then aggressive Japanese police detain, interrogate, and release the woman and child’s private info. I told you this would happen.”
Oh wow, it requires six brave cops to drag a woman and her 3 year old child down to the koban. Amazing! And of course this guy requests her zairyu card. This is what happens when the government puts up posters at train stations that promote the new illegal card reader. As user Baudrillard once said, Japan is a country where random people somehow think that they have the right to harass and deport foreigners. Now the government even provided a tool for that, so get ready for even more entitled ojisans harassing NJ and demanding to see and scan their cards.
I know its all too easy for me to say this, but I would and have given as good as I have got with such Ojisans along the lines of “show me your card too, then” and have even sicced train staff on them with the threat of calling the police (at which point they backed down).
Still, a non Japanese speaker with a young child might not fare so well in such an altercation.
However, if he has asked and got her address for allegedly wanting to take court action, she can also ask the police the same thing for her counter suing.
And if they refuse on the grounds of violating his privacy, then we know its clear discrimination.
Ah, Japan. So much for the Wa and Omotenashi (wa nashi yo). I got to thinking that such altercations were becoming more and more frequent requiring a siege mentality, until I concluded it was no longer the effort. I came here for a quiet life but those days are gone.
This *article* is actually good news. No, not the horrendous harassment of a mother and her child for the crime of being foreigners. The fact that Japanese media picked this up is good news.
Those who suffer it know racism happens daily regardless if it’s reported or not, but broadly speaking the media appears to think that discrimination in Japan is not newsworthy. (Because it’s commonplace?) Articles like these will shock and enlighten common folk. So keep them coming! Kudos to Nikkan Sports and NHK (for the Itako City scandal a few days ago: http://www.debito.org/?p=16674)
The function of the police is never to protect the NJ. I’d argue it isn’t even to protect locals, at least not unless they’re wealthy. Entitled oyajis like the one in the article just do the dirty work of getting into confrontations. And the newly introduced residence card reader only emboldens them. I’d really like to know how the mind of someone works if they think they’re in the right by having a mother with a three-year-old child interrogated because she didn’t want to reveal her personal information to a stranger. The fact that the police did disclosed that information should have every NJ alarmed. Nobody knows what an angry right-winger is going to do with that information and the police is, obviously, not going to help us.
I don’t want to put on my tin-foil hat here, but this country and most of its large corporations are run by people who see resident NJ, at best, as a necessary evil that can be invited to serve capital and kicked out once useless to that end. I’m not aware of an explicit policy on that, but one can’t help but think of the “hostile environment” programme introduced years ago by the British Tory government. Make them feel unwelcome, harass them, encourage ordinary folk to harass them and they won’t want to stay.
If there is any positive spin that could be given the events we’ve recently been reading about in the media, it’s the fact that we read about them in the media. Because Japan isn’t as sealed off from the rest of the world as some of its neighbours, it could be that enough of its population is at least open to even mentioning these issues. It could indicate a tendency that might leave those at the top on the wrong side of history. But I don’t think that’s much of a consolation to anyone presently affected by the cruelty of Japan’s “justice” system.
Japanese police don’t swear to ‘protect and serve’ the community, they swear to ‘uphold the Emperor’s peace’, and to that end, do everything they can to suppress the crime rate to ‘prove’ they are doing their job.
Idea’s of fairness, justice, truth don’t come into it.
In fact, translating 警察 as ‘police’ in English is deliberately obfuscating.
Colin Jones wrote and excellent article about it for the Japan Times way back.
It explained the high conviction rate and the role of prosecutors, and how police effectively refuse to allow the reporting of crimes to avoid lowering the conviction rate. It also explained how not having a legal ‘right to self defense’ permitted the J-cops to threaten to charge both the perpetrators of aggression AND the victims equally, unless both agreed to drop the matter, hence the low official street crime rate IIRC.
Unfortunately I can’t find the link now. JT has been housecleaning?
Jim, can’t find the article, but this one does focus on how laws are not clear because the important thing is keeping the peace (making sure the boat is not rocked):
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2010/06/29/issues/no-need-to-know-the-law-but-you-must-obey-it/
Incidentally, Debito.org recognised it as “an excellent explanation of just how powerful the police are in Japanese society”:
http://www.debito.org/?p=7076
Thanks Gulf, that looks like the article I was thinking of.
Was the Japanese oyaji pushed by a 3 year old and is now claiming damages for assault? Is that the gist of the situation? It seems that the pushing is unclear and from the report I can’t tell if it happened spontaneously or as the result of a prior verbal altercation.
What happened?
—- That’s kinda the point. The police got involved yet their investigation apparently did not conclusively settle the facts of the case, even for Kyodo News.
My read is that the Wajin side of the power equation overreacted because a foreigner (who also happens to be a Muslim) was involved. As I argued here, that is by design. SITYS.
As I understood it the daughter allegedly pushed the son of the wajin. No account given if the son got injured or not. So I think, if it even happened as claimed, the son got not injured. If the pushing or knocking ever happened in the first place, then it was an incredibly silly overreaction to rough but still normal child’s play. Playing toddlers are bumping into each other all the time. Absolutely no need to play deputy sheriff or getting the real cops involved over something like this.
If the wajin child was injured you can bet your bottom dollar there would have been graphic details in the news report: “sustaining multiple contusions” “lacerations” etc.
Takeaway points:
Apparently, if some 3 year old in the park pushes your kid you can abuse the parent and call in the police.
Really. Send in one cop to check on the matter? Maybe.
Half a dozen to drag a mother and child off to the station, separate them and have FOUR officers interrogate a kid not yet old enough for kindergarten? I’m lost for words.
Good follow-up article by Tokyo Shinbun on this matter. The mother has apparently filed a formal complaint. Good.
見知らぬ男性に公園で詰め寄られ、警察は3歳長女を1人だけで聴取…南アジア出身の母親「あまりにひどい」
東京新聞 2021年9月8日 06時00分
https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/amp/article/129485
「娘は今でも警察や公園に行きたがらず、ひどく傷ついた。なぜ、警察は男性に勝手に名前や住所を教えたのか」と憤る母親＝いずれも8月12日、都内で
東京都内の公園で面識のない男性とトラブルになった南アジア出身の４０代の女性が、長女（３つ）と一緒に連行された警察署で不当な任意聴取を受けたうえ、同意なしに名前や住所や携帯番号を男性に漏らされたとして、都公安委員会に苦情を申し出た。代理人の西山温子弁護士は「外国人への差別と偏見に基づいた聴取で、人権侵害であり違法だ」と批判した。
◆３歳長女は心に傷
申し出書によると、都内に住む女性が６月１日に公園で長女を遊ばせていた際、長女は男性から「俺の息子を蹴った」と怒鳴られ、突き飛ばされた。男性は女性にも「在留カードを持ってるか、出せ」などと詰め寄った。通報で警察官６人が駆け付けたが、男性の言うままに長女に対して「蹴ったんだろう」などと言ったという。
女性と長女は蹴ってないと主張したが、最寄りの警察署で約３時間の聴取を受け、「蹴ったと認めろ」などと言われた。途中、長女だけで事情を聴かれる場面もあった。さらに警察は、民事訴訟を起こすと話す男性に女性の名前や住所などを教え、女性が長女を監督できていなかったとして児童相談所にも通告していたという。
長女はこの後、公園に行くのを拒むようになり病院で「心的外傷エピソードによる不眠」と診断された。
西山弁護士の聞き取りに対して、警察側は男性に個人情報を伝えたり女性の同伴なしに長女から事情を聴いたことを認めているが、いずれも女性の同意があったと主張しているという。一方で女性は同意を否定。西山弁護士は「警察は男の言い分だけで親子を連行するなど許し難い。警察の対応は問題だらけだ」と批判する。
警察署は取材に「個別案件については回答を差し控える」と回答した。
◆警察は男性に住所や携帯番号を伝える
不当な取り調べを受けたと訴える南アジア出身の女性は、警察が男性に名前や住所を教えたことについて「なぜ許可なく住所を教えたのか」と憤るとともに、「男が嫌がらせにくるかもしれない」とおびえている。
トラブル時に公園を通りかかり助けに入った３０代の男性によると、警察官は公園で、女児に男性の息子を蹴ったことを認めさせようとしていたといい、「警察は男性をいさめず、親子に差別的な言動を続けていた」と本紙の取材に話している。
女性によると、長女が疲れて「家に帰りたい」と泣いても警察での聴取は終わらなかった。長女が１人で聴取された際には、泣いて目を真っ赤にしていたといい、女性は「胸が締め付けられそうになった」と振り返る。
その後、警察官から「携帯番号を男性に教えないと帰せない」と言われたが、女性はこれを頑なに拒否した。しかし、警察は男性に携帯番号だけでなく住所や名前も教えていた。さらに、警察は９日後の６月１０日に「母親が娘の監督を怠った」と児童相談所に通告したが、児相は女性らから事情を聴いた結果、問題なしと判断している。
女性は「外国人だから差別的に扱ったのでは。娘はひどく傷ついた。警察のやり方はあまりにひどい」と訴える。（望月衣塑子）
【関連記事】【動画あり】「外国人監視に市民を動員」入管庁が在留カード真偽読取アプリを一般公開 難民懇が問題視
She did:
Muslim woman hopes for justice ahead of verdict on racial discrimination by Japan police / 「警察から人種差別」 裁判に訴えた外国人女性が望む安心社会 (Japanese language paywall version)
From the article:
I am not optimistic about the outcome (i.e. owing to the fact that there’s no law on the books against racial discrimination), but let’s see what happens.