My police escort!

Cops thought I was an overstayer! They wanted to see my passport so drove me to the office to get it.

Update:  The problem was that I hadn’t been to the ward office to update my (valid) gaijin card after my (valid) visa was renewed.  So they needed to see my valid visa.  They were very suspicious of me until the moment they saw my passport.  They wanted to know where I lived (they could see it on my gaijin card) what was my job (they had my business card) how many people worked for me, how many were foreigners and how many were japanese, and also asked me dozens of times how long I had lived in Japan and how many visas I had been issued during that time etc etc.  As soon as they sighted my passport they were all love and smiles and talking about how wonderful Australia was etc and how often I get back to see my family.  They even allowed me to take this photo to amuse my friends!!  Bastards! 

I must have looked like a terrorist in my polka dot sundress and flip flops. But I guess my major crime was being foreign in an area called kabukicho..  racial profiling at its finest!! 

Decreed by the goddess on 08/26 at 09:24 AM
Read Offerings • Make an Offering • Send to a friend
Tags: gaijin • japan • odd • police • shinjuku • visa

Next entry: My food is still alive!
Previous entry: Tod’s Indian feast

• MJD-S (sultry Hiratsuka) offered on 07/08/26 at 09:28 AM.....

  I should try this tactic next time I need a lift back from Tokyo!

• sigsy (Tokyo) offered on 07/08/26 at 09:48 AM.....

  How odd!

  Sorry I didn’t make it YET AGAIN to your bag making sesh.  And that YET AGAIN I didn’t manage to tell you until after the event.  We had an afternoon party to attend that I had forgotten until today. 
  The bags look great and now I know what it’s all about I am so up for it!

  Love S

• Taro (Tokyo) offered on 07/08/26 at 11:34 AM.....

  >>hadn’t been to the ward office to update my (valid) gaijin card after my (valid) visa was renewed<<

  Naughty, naughty!
  Was this your first ID stop in over a decade in Japan? Most of us get stopped for such heinous crimes as Bicyling-While-Gaijin.

• Kristen offered on 07/08/26 at 03:51 PM.....

  What an adventure.

• Barbara Northcott offered on 07/08/26 at 10:45 PM.....

  You were thought to be an “comfort woman” walking in that area at night, perhaps? Did they want to track down Ashley as well?  All those police people you used to like having photos taken with in other countries have dobbed you in. Love, Mum

• Felix offered on 07/08/27 at 10:46 AM.....

  Yikes!  Were you alone when you were stopped?  I would have been mad and freaking out at the same time.

• the goddess offered on 07/08/27 at 11:49 PM.....

  Hi Felix, yes I was alone.  It was 10:30 at night walking innocently between a subway station and Golden gai but it was down a street full of love hotels and close to an area that is populated with lots of Koreans and Chinese.  The Police tend to target this area stopping random foreigners to check their papers. But in my little sundress they may have thought I was a “comfort woman” as my mum suggested.. 

  I was mad and frustrated as I was just planning to drop into the bar to say hi before I went home.  In a bit of frustration I did call my brother who came down to talk to them some more and back up my story.  They wanted me to get in their police car immediately but I wasn’t going to do that until they had fully explained what the problem had been..  turns out it was my problem as in Japan, the different parts of the bureaucracy can’t sort themselves enough so I should have visited my ward office by now.

• sushi (Tokyo) offered on 07/08/29 at 07:34 AM.....

  Very cool, kind of makes you a criminal.
  Went and got mine sorted today my card wasn’t updated either, I don’t need any quick rides home in any emergency vehicles.
  Wow you must have been looking all seductive and sekushi like. “comfort woman” i like it!

• MissSin (Far Away Shizuoka) offered on 07/08/29 at 07:41 PM.....

  well, must admit that i thought you looked a tad dodgy when i saw you friday.  wondered if you were going to try & sell me some illegal weapons or something

  good seeing you - and i WILL make it to Araku.  I WILL, I WILL, I WILL!!!!

• Rob (Tokyo) offered on 08/06/24 at 11:33 AM.....

  I took my own ride in one of those police cars—and ended up spending 16 days in a police station. Mind you, I am thinking now, it was probably because of the bad company I was keeping at the time.
  It gave me a crash course though in how suspicious the Japanese are of gaijins—an Australian man I know was stopped by police who wanted to check if he was carrying a knife. When he asked why he was being targetted, the police said: “Because of those stabbing murders in Akihabara recently, we are searching suspicious looking people for knifes.” But of course, the Akihabara killer was not a gaijin, so it would make more sense for the the police to stop Japanese if they want to do random checks like that.

• Japan offered on 08/07/18 at 03:07 AM.....

  Excellent write up, very interesting read!

• Matthi offered on 08/07/19 at 10:38 AM.....

  Nice
  In East-Germany we said to this kind of questions its like “Stasi”...

  <Link removed due to spam concerns>