Police holding cells evolving to meet Japan's changing demographics

Nice piece of PR overall, but the introduction alone is basically saying "we have yet to discover the concept of presumption of innocence, but the good news is we've heard about human rights, cool stuff!"

Nice piece of PR overall, but the introduction alone is basically saying "we have yet to discover the concept of presumption of innocence, but the good news is we've heard about human rights, cool stuff!"

exactly. This is a BS PR article trying in vain to laud Japan's so called humane justice system after it has been cast in the spotlight for its 3rd world human rights abuses. Nice try! Anyone who has lived here knows better.

What a massive fluff piece! I couldn't read all of it because it is such a massive assault to logic, might try again later once my breakfast has settled a little more.

Another remarkable trend is the surge of foreign detainees. Of 20,195 people held in 2017, 3,515, or 17.4 percent, were from outside of Japan, the MPD said.

Something is really fishy about this statement. At the VERY least, the full story is not revealed, or at worst (and it would be so very far from the first time!) the numbers are completely false. But yeah, let's blame foreigners for the need to implement human rights and increase in crime in Japan...

Seriously, Japan once again proves that it CAN, in fact, sink lower in its race to the bottom.

Setsuko Miura, a director of the first detention administration division of the Metropolitan Police Department, says, "We try to create an environment where each person can take the time (to reflect)."

I think she meant to say, "... (to reflect) on whether to admit guilt and sign the confession that has been placed before them or refuse and suffer the consequences." 

S

*"We try to create an environment where each person can take the time (to reflect)."*

Emphasis on "try"

"Our work sometimes becomes like nursing, so we pay close attention to them,"

Oh, like the people who died while in custody after asking for help because they have a medical emergency? (heart pains, choking, seizures, stomach pains) That kind of attention?

In Japan, the ideology "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" is more like "if it ain't fixed, it ain't broke". There are many outdated things that Japan has to change for the current state of human rights.

In Japan, the ideology "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" is more like "if it ain't fixed, it ain't broke".

I love this!

this whole article is a puff piece, why did Japan today even bother to publish it?... what a joke, the Japanese justice system is medieval and comparable to China or North Koreas system.

Mmmm.. They don't mention the cells that have a ceiling of less 170cm. A week in there and yes many reflect.. the prosecutors version of events

Guilty until proven innocent?

Give too much comfort and no one would reflect anything. Is not suppose to be a vacation house. Waste of tax money.

Calling it a "temporary residence" for people who've been arrested, Setsuko Miura, a director of the first detention administration division of the Metropolitan Police Department, says, "We try to create an environment where each person can take the time (to reflect)."

Never think that irony does not exist in Japan

What a bunch of crap... the system in Japan has been broken since the 1950's, reboot it and make police actually do their jobs of investigation rather than beating confessions out of people.

@Michael James Jelleberg Yeah, let's get the ball rolling and make a clean sweep. Far as I know Costa Rica and a few states in USA under special license are the only places where prostitution is legal, yet Japanese own and operate thousands of sex for money clubs globally. Take for example Soi Thaniya in Patpong, Bangkok where prostitution is illegal, full of Japanese owned sex clubs that cater exclusively to Japanese customers. They even train innocent young Thai ladies in Nihongo and how to service Japanese customers. Let's jail them, beat them and deport all of those Japanese owners and customers out of Thailand forever and follow suit with Japanese sex clubs in all other countries. They are doing tremendous harm undermining the morals of young ladies. On any night you can see drunken Japanese men carousing all over Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Vietnam and Cambodia. Some are engaged in pornography, counterfeiting and money laundering. They should all be beaten and deported. I'm with you!

Look at the number of foreigners in the jail and prison system, its sickening! Guests should behave with honor and respect in foreign lands, not act like hooligans and thugs! Yet they come and misbehave and cause all sorts of problems, bother the police, the public, cost everyone with the money spent to jail them and feed them, put them through the system. The public suffers first from their crime and disorder, than the cost to deal with that problem. Truly terrible. Japan should stop being so friendly to such hostile foreigners, stop letting them make such problems. Anyone who makes trouble should be beaten and deported. Remind them that temporary residence is just that, temporary.

There is a lot of bellyaching and whining about the Japanese police service. I disagree, Japan is a healthy and relatively crime free place, first from its superior people and culture, but also from an efficient police force that does its job very well. Perhaps its hard line and more "feudal" ways of doing things are correct, they work, they protect the public well. People who complain about it are usually criminals or uppity foreigners making trouble, or the ever loving liberals who MUST ruin everything they tough with their ideology.