Hey I have some rare pirated internet time, so I'll tell you how I broke the law yesterday.
I was arriving at the station on my bike when a young, trendy looking man approached me. I thought I was gonna get ganpaed*. "Excuse me, police," he said (in Japanese). I thought he was mad that I was parking next to the station, but he was suspicious because A) I was a foreigner (no this is not an incident I mentioned on Alex's blog), and B) had a modified lock, instead of the cheap one the bike comes with. The bike was legit, but for about the first time in all the time I've been here, I actually didn't have my ID on me (I've recently switched backpacks, so the cards slipped my mind). It is illegal to be without a passport or foreign person card here, or so they reminded me. Because... well I don't really know why. Like, even if I was, say, over my visa limit, would I really be stealing jobs from hard working natives? The only thing I can really do here is teach English. They actually discriminate against foreign day laborers here. On the way to get the ID, we passed a couple of minors smoking (and riding double on a bike while using a cellphone). This, I think, is an actual crime**, but he let them go because he had me, the big fish.
Anyways, I sorted that out pretty quick, and the guy was polite enough about it. But there is one more illegal thing I am doing: I am so poor that I have not yet bought medical insurance. I'm wondering if I will get kicked out of this country one day for that. Maybe there is a plain-clothes reader waiting to bust me for that... and one count of pirated internet signal.
*ganpa: gay nanpa. Or gay grandpa. Or gay grandpa nanpa. I have no idea if such nanpaing actually exists.
**: I think he may have called in the fashion police to deal with their yankee hair though, which is a crime in itself.
This is what I was talking about by the way m8. Thanks for listing (if you did) to my request. Won't be getting emails from me unless you post something... email worthy. not like you care? ouch thoe it looked like you almost got yourself in a jam there. gotta keep your Ganjin card on you at all times. ;p
ReplyDeleteThe police I used to walk past EVERYDAY stopped me only once, the one time all I had in my hand was my keitai and 1000yen because I was going to the bakery. I lived 350metres from the station and koban and didn`t have my card, obviously, and they stopped me, asked my name, country, age and what visa I had. I replied & they asked for my card and when I said I didn`t have it but could go get it or they could come with me while I got it from my apartment they came back with "no no- you must get somebody to bring it to you here. You can not leave" - I replied with "maji de?" and up until that point had been perfectly polite. It was early, my boyfriend was still sleeping and I doubted he would wake up if I called but I tried and told him to bring my wallet to the koban because the police were harrasing me because I was foreign and not japanese. Keep in mind he is Japanese and I was speaking to him in Japanese. He brought them down, my card and passport. And get this- THEY COPIED THEM.
ReplyDeleteI still have no idea why or what their problem was especially since I walked past there EVERY DAY. I honestly think they were just bored.
Honestly, I had less problems when the police stopped me & two japanese friends for riding a bicycle (all three of us on one) past the koban at 3am, drunk.
Oh and on the health insurance issue- They wouldn`t give me insurance the second time I lived in Japan on a WHV for the first 6 months- I tried to get it and they refused.
I love Japan, don`t get me wrong, but sometimes they make it so hard for you.
I thought there was an ordinance making it illegal for them to ask you for your card unless they suspect you of being a terrorist, violating some fashion law, or just being a good guy giong about your day.
ReplyDeletei always say, "please arrest me now, because I have done nothing wrong"
usually, they dont want to make a special case out of it, and they let you go.
Wow. I thought there was some kind of law against random checks, but I guess I've been gone too long. Is it really illegal to be uninsured though? I know Mark has been without insurance for a long time.
ReplyDelete