Re: [tlug] [OT] Interesting info for foreigners living in JP

[CL <az.4tlug@example.com>]

Curt Sampson wrote:

> Far from it. I know several gaijin who regularly get stopped when going
> down that particular street in the evenings. If you want to get stopped
> by the police, it's an easy way to do it.

Oh, a challenge!  This sounds like fun ... not.  To be sort of fair, 
Shinjuku-sho is one of the places newly minted patrolmen get dumped for 
"seasoning."  They're a real PITA to deal with as you are supposed to 
let every one of them have a shot at Engrish intellogation tekunikku.

Mukashi-mukashi, I worked at Dentsu, just around the corner from 
Chuo-ku's Tsukijii-sho.  You could not go to lunch without taking out 
your torokusho -- which was the old brown 16-page book -- and showing it 
to the trainees that were planted out in front.  We'd have an hour for 
lunch, but it usually took us 15~20 minutes to run the gauntlet of 
trainees.  There would be an old junsa bucho bowing and making "gomen 
nasai" hand waves and we'd usually have a couple of Japanese AEs along 
who would end up heaping abuse on the poor guy.  One of the Account 
Executives got the bright idea to invite each new intake of trainees 
over to Dentsu Honsha and let them "inspect" all of our torokusho in the 
main hall, followed by a lunch -- in exchange for having them leave us 
alone out on the street.  Dentsu got an award for "community service," 
all the gaijin got a free lunch about once a month, and none of us got 
stopped ever again.

That's why you go proactive and make it easier for them to stop someone 
else and practice.  Believe me, you get remembered with little or no 
effort, and it doesn't have to be negative for either of you.

> I don't belive it's something about me as an individual in particular.

Probably not.

> For example, I've never been stopped and searched in Shibuya, despite
> walking around Shibuya pretty much every day (I live there), though I
> frequently (several times a week) see others being stopped and searched,
> both gaijin and nihonjin.

Shibuya-sho has gotten a lot of bad press for "allowing" a flourishing 
drug trade.  A couple of news programs got seriously on their case one 
because you are a difficult customer.or two years back and it cost the 
then-shocho his promotion and career.  Drug stops and solicitation 
checks are based on pattern recognition.  Act another way and you become 
invisible ... as you probably already know.

> Well, it's not a problem I can't live with. I have no intention of
> taking the Arudo approach to this sort of thing, in part because I
> really don't want to pay the costs of that. I'm merely glad that
> someone's working to move this society towards one that is more fair to
> outsiders.

I can tell you that his methods cause more irritation and bewilderment 
than anything else.  I've been asked about him and also been asked just 
how typical he is.  I usually assure the people asking that other gaijin 
also think he's a turkey and that he'd be a misfit in America, too. 
That usually calms things down.  I do not want people mistaking me for 
him.

> Thank you for your advice on how to deal with this, by the way; were I
> going to take the time to do more than show my gaijin card, wait for
> him to check the bike license, and move on, I would certainly take your
> approach.

Well, it is more a case of whether you mind being stopped or whether you 
want to make the stopping go away.  If you are satisfied with the way it 
is working now, I wouldn't stop doing it that way.

Just don't start telling them what the law says and what your rights are ...

--
CL