William77 comments

Ally Rustom wrote

can't speak for everyone else but I'm not trying to change anything. I am applauding people who are taking their grievances to court AND are challenging police practice within the confines of the law.

I genuinely agree with you Ally.

These posts are not about bashing Japan or make it feel bad.

It is about improve it and make it a better place to live.

I have been living in Japan for a while,I am a Westerner caucasian man and I have been stopped and questioned without any logical reason by the police here about 4 times.

In  my country of origin which is the third advanced economy I feel secure when I see the police but here in Japan when I see the cops I try to turn the other way as I am traumatized by their abuse of power.

And such cases happened to other of my friends as well.

Japan need to educate it’s police in being civilized and just and not to question and harass people just because of visible minors.

I truly hope this action will change something.

The arrogance of this Prime Minister and his party in general are beyond words.

Now in any other true democracy there would be a new party leading the country.

So to summarize after all the scandals of corruptions,a stagnant economy,a Yen so weak that is impoverishing the majority of the population, no efforts made for the Welfare and still no improvements in the gender gap keeping Japan still far below any modern developed democracies Kishida think that visit his master and talk (again) about boosting defenses which mean use our money for the military will make him popular.

If Japanese keep voting his party and him then in the end they deserve to decline.

As a Western European from a G7 country and member of the EU and pro NATO and West in general I feel perplexed of how Japan and the LDP in general have this evident servility toward to the US.

In this country on a daily basis all the media focus on the bilateral relationship with the United States and this seems really one sided.

Japan should be close friend of the US but also regain a bit of it’s sovereignty and not do whatever Washington suggest them to do.

This relationship to my European eyes look more like servility to a master and it is frankly sad to see how hard Kishida is trying to please them with his words and behaviour.

The exchange rate with the Euro is even worse.

Japan stagnant’s economy and the immobility of this government in reforming it makes thing worse.

Hard days for the expats of developed countries with wages in Yen.

Japan always have a green flag for his blatant xenophobia and racism.

And this is just another example.

I think it is not that the cases are increased compared to before,it is that finally more people and victims are brave enough to report such horrendous crimes.

Japan need to get rid of these old boys dinosaurs and let the younger with more fresh and dynamic ideas lead the country.

The US government (not the american people) should have never dropped these infernal bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Japan already lost the war and the narrative that they would have never Surender is just one side story.

I understand that this film is very sensitive here and I think the topic is very delicate.

What the US government did with Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not just a crime against civilians,women men and children but against the whole humanity.

I am just sorry for this Ohtani.

Why should he explain himself to the press for a misbehaviour conducted by another person?

Go figure.

These are the Japan nerds lovers that adore all the weird and not good things of Japan.

These are the same men-women children that in adulthood come here dressing for cosplay and like all these weird animations.

As a Westerner myself I feel ashamed for them.

Japan should simply close most of these go-kart companies giving problems to the locals.

Preserving peace is not with boosting their weapons but just make the whole regional situation more tense.

All these east asian countries are doing it wrong in the large scale.

And Kishida should use our tax money in social welfare and modernize his country like with justice,police etc. reforms.

The cops in Japan are a disgrace.

Far to be civilized and far to be aducated.

Japan is a political dwarf so it won’t really matter in the grand scale.

And yet the people of this country keep voting them.

It shows that unlike other countries where the police racially profile the visible minorities and the issue is never adressed in the U.S. even with all it's problems and imperfection have democracy and rights still working.

Is this even national news? honestly most people do not care if a wealthy talented boy got married.

Happy for him but really not relevant in the grand scale.

They export easily as they have a very low currency now compared to the UD dollar and the Euro.

This news should be read observing the whole economical picture.

A total waste of our taxes to give a sense of “proud” to these old geezers sitting in Tokyo.

Japan has already a mediocre economy and use our taxes should go for welfare and modernize it’s economy as improve wages etc.

Japan always play the victim,yes the japanese-americans suffered during the war in the US so as the german-americans and italian-americans.

But their nations were enemies at war.

And as someone posted Japan should equally recognize it’s mistreatments to the visible minorities that were persecuted during the same historical time.

Japan,always behind the rest of the civilized world.

It will take another 40 years before they reach again Western standards.

No surprise at all,Japan need a brand new political class and open up to the world giving same rights to the foreigners that live in Japan.

So he has been living in the States for years and still needs and interpreter?

The country became a sad place to live,pre Covid we always had a 10% 15% of masked people but now even after the pandemic turned into endemic more than half of the population keep the mask.

It is flu season but then again such news will make them only more weary.

The new system would allow them to change jobs after working for one to two years, but only in the same job category.

Do they really think that such “change” will make the country more appealing for foreigners from developing countries?

I highly doubt so, Japan need to deal with it’s xenophobic issue and open for good if it wants to stay competitive in a declining society.

Japan should give to these third world country people that come here to help their economy also all the rights and benefits of every normal Japanese person.

It is a matter of human rights and also appreciation for their help.

Japan need a stronger opposition party with solid alternatives as well.

For sure not the Japanese Communist Party can be an alternative to the corrupted LDP.

Japan should send bigger ships like a destroyer to keep the control of his islands.

Or maybe even build a military outpost as the coast guard is evidently not enough to keep these communist chinese aggressors out of the waters.

China is seriously embarrassing herself with this dirty militaristic expansions against peaceful nations.

GaijinjlandToday  10:24 am JST

I agree with @u___reamer

Japanese police are not as nice as the old guys or female officers staffing the Kobans seem. I got manhandled by ten officers a few years back. Was in the country side and missed my last train back to Tokyo and drinking a beer in front of the station at 4am. Totally disproportionate response to basically nothing. And don’t try to film them or they will get violent if you don’t put down your phone and threaten you with disturbing the peace bs and bring you to a police station. Anyway, poor guy. So young

Japan has the infamous and notorious reputation for his police officers,I feel sorry for that guy.

About the comment I paste here I had a similar experience a few years back in Gifu city where I used to work for a while.

It was around 14:00 PM and was on my break,got my onigiri and a fizzy drink from the local convenient store and stopped to a small park sitting on a bench consuming my meal.

Then suddenly a cop in scooter noticed me and stopped to question me,like what are you doing here or why are you here?

He even asked for my ID.

I politely declined and after a while he left.

I am an average caucasian male and I was totally normally dressed.

I guess my only sin was to be an ethical minority in the area.

Japanese police force should stop to racially profile foreigners on the street and most important stop to abuse to people when they are in custody.

Xenophobia and prejudice are hard to eradicate without a deep reform of the society from the core.

What we read is deeply sad but honestly not surprising.

Let’s hope that the younger Japanese generations will change such mindset.