Tokyo police stepping up efforts to bolster multilingual assistance

Nice to see them doing this.

This is fine and all for the " olympics " , but I am sick of people trying to speak English to me .. I have lived in japan for 30 years ..of course I speak Japanese better than most Japanese speak English here , and am tired of their disappointment when I do answer them in Japanese when they try to speak English to me ..

This damn olympic thing ( no capitals ) is just getting way out of hand.

So tired of people here thinking they have to quickly try and speak in some kind of English whenever they see a foreigner .

Some 45,000 cases requiring response and assistance in foreign languages went through the interpretation center in 2018

Even though 45,000 cases were reported last year they are only focussed on the Olympics? What are they going to do after the Olympics? Go back to the standard of, "English no!" It's absolutely disgraceful that in a country that has English as a main subject and most people do ten years of intensive English study that, only 7% of people can actually have a conversation in English.

Hopefully it is better than the ridiculous experience I had at city hall last week. I had a 3-way conversation with an iPad via Skype. The thing was though, my Japanese is better than the so-called translator’s English. Furthermore, the translator was very biased and opinionated. It quickly turned into a two against one conversation.

So tired of people here thinking they have to quickly try and speak in some kind of English whenever they see a foreigner .

Conversely, I love it when people make the effort. Fair play to the MPD.

The other day I saw a cop giving directions to a Taiwanese tourist in perfect Chinese. The local police station also has an Iranian and American-Japanese detective.

I know the above because they questioned me because they thought my car was stolen. I had bought it from a friend the day before and had just gotten the license plates changed at the DMV, so the car wasn’t on the database yet. Plus, Ford truck with two license plates and a screwdriver on the shotgun seat must’ve looked suspicious, I guess.

Abbey, just be grateful they are willing to talk to you. No one knows you speak Japanese from just looking at your so just be friendly. They are not stealing or committing any crime.

I am sick of people trying to speak English to me .. I have lived in japan for 30 years .

Chill dude, they just be trying to be polite.

Just don't get arrested. It's a 23 days stay guaranteed with no visitation. Let family and friends know before its too late.

re: "I am sick of people trying to speak English to me .. I have lived in japan for 30 years ..of course I speak Japanese better than most Japanese speak English here , and am tired of their disappointment when I do answer them in Japanese when they try to speak English to me ..So tired of people here thinking they have to quickly try and speak in some kind of English whenever they see a foreigner ".

Easy; move. Here is Japan and the culture is for them to decide. Living in Japan does not make anyone Japanese. If you haven't got that in 30yrs then you haven't learned anything at all and that is unfortunate.

how about learning English terms to assist crime victims, advise them of their rights, how to try and get justice

Even though 45,000 cases were reported last year they are only focussed on the Olympics? What are they going to do after the Olympics? Go back to the standard of, "English no!" It's absolutely disgraceful that in a country that has English as a main subject and most people do ten years of intensive English study that, only 7% of people can actually have a conversation in English.

Disillusioned excellent point!

It's a good thing that the some amongst the Tokyo police force will learn some basic English to help tourists but that is as far as it should go.

Want to reside in Japan learn how to speak the language plain and simple.