Take a leak for group accountability

Although I have found it to be personally counter-productive to spend much time focusing on discrimination---I know its around, and seeing and experiencing it at times is more than enough without reading about it every day---I can't help but to learn about some of the new tricks that our friends in the government are doing in order to help foreigners behave themselves.

Debito Arudou* has written an article for the Japan Times concerning a "crackdown" in Roppongi in which non-Japanese (and perhaps some Japanese too) are being persuaded to pee for the boys in blue to prove that they aren't dopers. Of course, this seems to go against common sense---how can anyone be non-Japanese without doing drugs?

Naturally people have rights. After all, this is a democracy, not a benevolent police state run by some of the most incompetent goofs on earth. Debito was able to interview a very busy servant of the people (I am maybe going a little too far here by claiming that non-Japanese are people in the same way that Japanese are, or that a bureaucrat is serving anyone except himself or his department, but as usual, I digress.) and in a reluctant response to Debito's questions, our fearless sit-on-the-old-kiester-all-day-in-a-koban fellow clarified our rights should we be asked to whiz for him:

• Urine tests are only done "when necessary."
• Only folks who "look wasted on drugs" will be tested.
• Urine samples are only taken "after persuasion, never under threat." (See your real rights here.)
  

Naturally, we can assume that the urine samples are properly taken and tested and a strict, verifiable chain of custody is followed. Of course, you will be able to challenge these tests, and the police will have to support the procedure in your case in a impartial hearing in a court of law. The fact that you are a foreigner who probably comes from a place where everyone uses drugs, will not be prejudice anything.

I don't really know, but since I used to be very much involved in finding drugs and drug users, some of this seems just a bit questionable. No, not that I doubt that the persuasion will be done without threat: After all, wouldn't a few kind words be enough to get anyone to urinate in a cup? Maybe they could say something like: I'll pee too, if you will. Or perhaps a contest: I bet I can pee more than you! Or perhaps---for men---they'll offer to hold it for you. None of these are threats and there are even more possible ways to politely persuade.

The problem is, what if you are persuaded by the kindness, sincerity, and unquestionable integrity of the investigating officers, and the test comes back positive? A false positive. Whatcha gonna do? Hire a good lawyer who will be able to successfully defend you in court?

Seems the US military went through this sort of thing years ago and got a number of false positives. After they fined, incarcerated, or discharged the "guilty" they found that there had been problems with the testing. Oops! Had to offer to let them back in the military and upgrade discharges to honorable. Things improved as time went by, but those tests have never become infallible. (I am sure the criminal justice system in Japan realizes that and is taking steps to prevent false arrests/prosecutions.)

And really, what does a person who is wasted on drugs look like? Could someone wasted on the drug known as alcohol look and act similarly? Ahh, but the odor of alcohol would be present, and the use of one rules out the other. How about certain medical conditions? Never mind, let's not worry about these things as the police are trained professionals and a mistake here would hurt them more than you.

Unfortunately, I rarely go to Roppongi---especially since the US Embassy warned us about the place. I'd think the best thing to do now is to avoid it entirely (including Roppongi Hills and the other over-priced shopping areas there.) I am sure that the merchants, bar-owners, and massage girls, would prefer not to get money from the type who frequent Roppongi.

Oh, and speaking of competent law enforcement and government, it seems a school boy stabbed another school boy to death on a train platform with a 17cm knife. This was the same day that the ban on double-edged knives with blades longer than 5cm went into effect. Who could have foreseen that?

*I know the fellow is controversial and that he is not perfect. I have even read that he thinks Japan is the US---although not from his writing. However, he is one of the few who are actually trying to do anything about discrimination in Japan. Others write books excusing it.

Murder rate to drop beginning at midnight!

Last year, after the mass murder in Akihabara, the government took swift action to prevent such things from happening again. It outlawed the possession of certain knives---shall we call them assault knives?---with double-edged blades of more than 5cm long.

On July 4, the grace period will run out for those who possess these evil instruments. Failure to turn them in carries a penalty of up to 3 years in prison and a ¥500,000 fine. The knives, that is. The government failed to do anything about the other weapon that the creature used to run down and murder people---a rental truck. These are still readily available for nearly anyone with a drivers license. The much longer than 5cm razor sharp kitchen knives nearly every home has which seem to be used much more often in murders? Not included. Will Michael Moore show up here and do one of his "documentaries?"

This well-conceived law seems to have caused a bit of confusion for those who use double-edged knives for shelling sea critters in Hokkaido, although that is a small price to pay for the increased safety and security it will bring.

Trivia

"Daggers" of over 5.5 cm are now illegal in Japan. This will make society safer than before.*

Murder suspect Kazuyoshi Miura, who apparently committed suicide in LA a few weeks ago, may have been the victim of a homicide according to a pathologist hired by his attorney. No motive for the supposed murder has been suggested by the lawyer, but if we wait, he will make one up---oops, I mean discover one. I hope this lawyer has some real evidence behind his claims, but the only surprise would have been if the pathologist whom he hired had found no evidence of foul play and had agreed with the LA coroner that it was a suicide.

*Or not. A bill banning them has passed, but it has not become law yet. The danger remains!!!!

Woman, 79, slashes two at Shibuya

Female pair wounded; suspect says she fled shelter, is broke, wants police to care for her.

A 79-year-old woman slashed two women with a fruit knife..."I thought police would take care of me if I caused an incident." JTOnline

Well, gotta add fruit knives to the list of knives to ban. Could it be possible that there are other problems that the government of old, never-had-a-new-idea-and-never-will geezers should look in to? Could it be possible that neither making new rules for the type of knives that can be legally sold, nor attempting to return the the "Beautiful Country" imaginary past will solve them? Could it be possible that there will be no perfect solution? Could there be problems with social welfare that should be looked into? Would the country not be better served by the LDP/DJP actually doing something? Will Fukuda et al take action? BAHAHAHAHA! Is this really an increasingly common problem, or does it just seem so because of the juiciness of the stories for the media?

2025: I love blogger. I can change the font size in "compose" mode with the target highlighted and nothing happens. Then I can check in "edit html" and supposedly font size is "normal", but yet when published it is extra large. Blogger does not have not 12/14 point sizes. That's why it's free(?)

Good God Man, where is Inspector Clouseau?

Only about 30 percent of nearly 2,400 stores across Japan selling knives considered highly lethal, including daggers, check the buyer's name, age and other information, the National Police Agency said Thursday.

If we can get the other 70% to do too, it will have a big impact on stabbings and slashings in Japan. Let's say that you are a nut and that you want to die so you decide to kill others so that you will get the death penalty. Wouldn't having to show your ID when you purchase your dagger stop you? Of course it would! Especially if the plan to make certain size and style of daggers illegal becomes law. (Oh. What if you decide to use a regular, freely available at your local grocer kitchen knife as most murders have been doing? Let's not think about that as it would cause confusion.)

The survey [of the shops] included daggers, survival knives, Gurkha knives and other types of blades considered likely to be used as weapons. Everyday tools such as kitchen knives and box cutters, in addition to hatchets, axes and other industrial tools, were not included. Japan Times.

24 August: And they still have not taken any action to restrict the availability of rental trucks. The Akihabara murderer used one to kill several in his rampage through the area.