Getting arrested in Japan

Post by [deleted] » Sun, May 10, 2026, 6:36 AM UTC

Klonoar wrote: post #228

commandersaki wrote: post #11

Something as small as getting into a heated argument in public, accidentally taking an item you didn’t pay for, overstaying a visa, or even grabbing someone else’s umbrella or bike thinking it was yours can escalate further than you could imagine and have you arrested before you’ve even had a chance to explain. Is this actually true or just fearmongering? I mean really, no chance to explain? Sounds as dumb as being f…

The article is vastly overstating some of that stuff. I used to live there. It’s also amusing to me that anything Japan related winds up on the front page of HN, but a similar article for a different country would probably go un-voted.

Post by lostlogin » Sun, May 10, 2026, 7:10 AM UTC

pessimizer wrote: post #158

aftbit wrote: post #116

Absolutely horrifying. I've come to believe that criminal punishment is simply unethical. I wish someone would come up with a better option.

I don't mind criminals being punished. This person wasn't convicted of anything, yet was still punished. This isn't criminal punishment, this is just injustice. It's also the norm, pretty much everywhere. It's an obvious deficit in civilization itself that we can't have, or even seem to come up with, a principled justice system. We just intermittently ban specific atrocities and hope that eventually adds up to justic…

Post by saltwatercowboy » Sun, May 10, 2026, 7:45 AM UTC

bigiain wrote: post #262

kelnos wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't matter what her charge was. Even (alleged/suspected) serial murderers and rapists should be treated humanely and not experience psychological torture. And also remember this treatment is at the point where they haven't been charged with anything, haven't been tried in court, and haven't been convicted. The US's justice system is certainly lacking in many, many ways, but wow, this is barbaric. And it's desi…

> The US's justice system is certainly lacking in many, many ways, but wow, this is barbaric. I am lucky enough to have a lot of middle aged middle class white male privilege. I wonder how many minority people in the US have much worse opinions and life experience of the justice system than you're implying? I wonder how many people consider typical ICE arrests and detention to be at least as "barbaric" and "psycholog…

Post by Jtarii » Sun, May 10, 2026, 8:09 AM UTC

fauchletenerum wrote: post #252

hparadiz wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prisoner conditions have nothing to do with crime rates. What is the connection?

Avoiding being a criminal due to fear of being subjected to those conditions?

Post by formerly_proven » Sun, May 10, 2026, 8:17 AM UTC

tristanj wrote: post #145

kulahan wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Japan's judicial system has something like a 99% conviction rate. It's "safe" because they swipe up every single criminal they can, plus a bunch of random people in the process. So everyone is naturally going to be on their best behavior.

The claim that Japan is "safe" because it has a high conviction rate is a junk meme. The United States federal conviction rate is essentially identical to the Japanese judicial conviction rate when measured by the same methodology. It's roughly 99.6-99.8% depending on the year. Japan is safe because of other factors, not their conviction rate. > they swipe up every single criminal they can, plus a bunch of random peo…