The Dark side of Japan Tourism.

[drron]

This is a report that I never thought I would write. We have had close to 100 visits to Japan and have loved Japan. In our drive around Hokkaido the first 3 weeks were very enjoyable. Then at 11.47 on Saturday 20th July things changed dramatically. I had a car accident. We had had a late start and first we were headed for the Ryugo shrine before proceeding up the hill be hind Otaru. We didn't make it.
I had started to turn right onto the street leading to the shrine when a delivery motorcycle appeared on my right and clipped the front of our car. I had checked several times since turning left into the street I was on and not once did i see a motorcycle behind me. I had checked the rear vision mirror twice and the driver's mirror before turning. I had indicated late though. But I was told I broke 2 Japanese driving laws. First not looking behind me when making a right hand law. I checked and it is indeed a law. Though after this I never saw a Japanese driver obey this law including drivers of police vehicles.
The second law I was told i broke was to only make a right hand turn as close as possible to the right side of the lane. Although I was in the lane I was closer to the left side. However searches I have done didn't bring this up as a law.

The police that attended the accident said they had vision from the cameras at the intersection behind me. They asked me how fast I was going and I said 40Kph which was the limit slowing to 20Kph as I started to turn. They confirmed those speeds were accurate. At 1339 Mrsdrron and I were taken in the police car to Otaru Police Station. At about 6pm I was taken in to be interviewed. After that I told Mrsdrron I might be a long time and may be there all night. So we called a taxi and she went back to the hotel..

I was then taken back for another interview and at 2043 was formally arrested for negligent driving causing injury. The interpreter who was the only one showing any empathy said he would go and tell Mrsdrron and bring her back to the station to make her statement and let her talk to me. But as soon as he left I was handcuffed and taken upstairs to the detention centre and strip searched. She never got to see me and was told She wouldn't be allowed to see me.

Up stairs everything I had was taken except for my underpants. Even my wedding ring was taken. i was given prison clothes. the pants though had the elastic removed so if i let go they ended below my knees. Because of my Haemochromatosis requiring venesections I have needle tracts in both arms. They also took extreme interest in a horizontal varicose vein in my upper right arm. I later learnt that they called it a tattoo. I did tell them of all my medical conditions but obviously they did not register with the detention staff. I also told them i was extremely worried for Mrsdrron who has traumatic amnesia after a fall in Singapore in Dec ember 2022. She can't make new memories.

I was the taken to a cell. The only things there were a roll of toilet paper and half a cardboard box. You were not allowed to take the toilet paper into the toilet. you could only take a few sheets. You were allowed to use the toilet paper to blow your nose but then it could not be flushed but put in the cardboard box. I then had to go and collect my Japanese bedding. Needless to say I did not sleep that night.

Next will be a little bit more of the accident and the police investigation.

 

[lovestotravel]

I was waiting for the punchline at the end!

WOW!!! Waiting for your next posts.... and not to hijack your post but I've decided to share this here....


A recent trip to Singapore has left me sour as well, but no where near what you have been through.

I was at a kids play centre with my 5 year old, all was good, running around, taking the odd photo of him etc.

A man walks up to me, and says "were you taking photos of my Wife"
I reply "sorry, not sure who your Wife is, but I've just taken photos of my child"
I started to walk off and he blocks me from walking and asks again and says "do not take any photos of my Wife"
I said "I have no interest in whoever you Wife is, and I'm here with my Child"

I start to walk off the the Wife now walks up to me and starts asking me to "show me your phone, show me the photos you have of me"

I think for a minute and then happily show her the photos on my phone, none of which have any other people clearly in them

She then says "you have sent them on Whatsapp and deleted them"

At this stage I laughed at her, and informed her it was the first time I'd seen her

At this stage a staff member walks up to me and asks what is happening and I let these two people speak. Again I repeat that I have no clear photos of other people, just my Child and I and I walk away.

For the next hour or so, I was followed around by a staff member as my Child happily played.

Upon trying to leave, the gate was locked and a staff member/Manager comes up to me to have a chat. They ask to see my phone and again, since I'm in Singapore, decided to oblige and showed her my photos, and Whatsapp and she was happy.

The Manager asked for my contact details as the other party were going to make a complaint and call the Police etc. I declined and said you can review all the camera footage inside as there were many cameras in the play centre.

They discussed it briefly and apologised and said I could go.

I left the Country a few days later, no issues, but I'm back in a few weeks and a tiny piece of me wonders if I'll get questioned on the way in.

(Of note, Singapore has no laws around photos in a public location, this couple (and I assume their kids which I didn't see, were from the Middle East where you cannot photograph other people)

 

[drron]

So now a look at the police investigation of the accident. I had taken a few pictures before they arrived.

Those white marks you see on the road were recorded as skid marks from the bike braking hard. When he passed me he was not in a skid.
This shot is the road I was coming down and shows the unbroken white line.


And funny the"skid" marks continue in a circular motion.


Because the bike was underneath the car.





And proof that the white lines were not skid marks but caused by a metallic part of the bike in contact with the road. When the car was lifted off the bike you could see that the mark under the car 4 pictures back was made by the front right pedal which was basically destroyed.
Those moments as the car rode up on the bike so that I had no control over it were some of the worst in my life as I thought the rider was under the car. I must admit when I got out of the car and looked back and saw him lying on the road was a great relief.

And now a shot of the car when off the motor bike. very little obvious damage and it was driven off.


The next point was if the cameras could give the speed of my car what was the speed of the motor bike. Unless he came out of a driveway he must have been above the speed limit. And surely it would have picked up the fact he was on the wrong side of the unbroken white line when he tried to overtake me. I did raise those points in the interrogation but they were ignored and I had the firm impression that to push it was not in my best interest.

I am sure the police anywhere in Australia would have done a more thorough investigation . Likely outcome might not have been so good for the motor bike rider.

 

[Happy Dude]

What a horrible experience @drron.

I experienced the thoroughness of the Japanese constabulary many years ago when I was nabbed for riding a pushbike without a front wheel 'lock' - a sure sign the bike was stolen. I passed a bike cop on a narrow street in Nakano, Tokyo, who noticed the lack of lock (just a little metal bar that is pushed through the spokes) who promptly did a u-turn to catch and apprehend me. I spent 8hrs of my only weekly day off at the station trying to explain that it was a communal bike (the generic and ubiquitous grey shopping bike) that "lived" at the apartment building I lived in and that I had no other information as to why it had no lock, who owned it etc. There was no interpreter or English speaker even, so no progress was made until my Japanese boss, who was a very basic speaker only, got involved over the phone, so you could imagine how much was lost in translation. Without having a clue what was going on, I ended up signing a document written in Japanese declaring, as it was told to me by my boss, that I had stolen the bike and that I was remorseful etc. I was not charged and was free to go, and I've since travelled to Japan without issue on several occasions, but my company (Nova) was extremely agitated and embarrassed and considered firing me. I was left with the impression that once the 'process' had started there was no stopping it - someone had to "pay", even if irrational and unfair to do so.

 

[RooFlyer]

I knew something was coming up, but this is far worse than I imagined. Puts Japan in a whole different light that’s for sure.

 

[zig]

Sounds like a nightmare for you both. I can imagine the relief you felt when you saw the bike rider wasn't under the car.
Your experience has certainly made me reconsider any thoughts I may have had about driving in Japan.

 

[Pushka]

Sickening. Mrsdron has since posted, I guess my question is she ok and does she have awful memories of it?

Note to self - Gaijin is always in the wrong.

 

[boblee]

oh man, that sounds absolutely terrifying. i can't imagine how scared you must've been, especially with your wife's condition. hope you're both doing okay now.

 

[Cossie]

Wasn’t sure what to expect when said you were going to make this post, what a horrible situation to be in, doesn’t surprise in the least that you were blamed, as Pushka said ‘Gaijin is always in the wrong’.
Anyway, hope you are both ok and no injuries to anyone.

 

[drron]

Mrsdrron had a much worse time than me. As I have said she has amnesia following on from a head injury. New memories are basically gone except for dramatic instances such as this. So that is not good for her.
The day after I was locked up we were leaving Otaru to go to Niseko and after that continue down the west coast to Hakodate.

So Mrsdrron had to find a hotel. The hotel Sonia rebooked her for Sunday night moving her from one of the largest rooms to one of the smallest. the Sonia and nearby hotels were fully booked for the next week. amnesia though does not stop you from making decisions so on Monday morning she first used the hotel phone to contact the Australian embassy in Tokyo. however she rang before 9am local time so the call was diverted to Canberra. Our son had already rung Canberra so they knew of the problem.

Now remember that Mrsdrron's phone had died so she could not make calls and had been using my phone to take photos and use whats app to message family and friends. She therefore made what I think was a brilliant decision. After packing up she got a taxi from the hotel to the Otaru police station. She walked in and told them it was up to them to find her a hotel as it was they who had put her in this decision. Obviously one of the policemen she talked to was the interpreter and as I said he had empathy so they found 3 available hotels so she picked the closest to Otaru railway station.

She was told though there was no way she would be able to see me even though in the hand out from the detention centre it said that family visits were allowed Monday to Friday. this may turn out to be a major mistake on the part of the Japanese legal system. They were told of her condition yet kept her from the only family she had in Japan.
Now we have a neice in NYC who is a lawyer. She did a post grad degree at Columbia in Human Rights Law. She then worked for the UNHRC. She feels my human rights were not recognised but with Mrsdrron it is and open and shut case. We will be working through her to first send a complaint to the Japanese Embassy in Canberra to gauge their response.

 

[elanshin]

I'm sorry this has happened to you. This is the reality of the Japanese legal system whereby as a foreigner if you so much as "maybe" get on the wrong side of the law for a "serious" offence (different countries have different perception of serious), it can go very bad very quickly and it's always going to be against the foreigners.

 

[JohnM]

We can now see why Carlos Ghosn high-tailed it in a box...

 

[tgh]

a country which has a 99.4% conviction rate
from here...https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57760993

 

[Denali]

Oh, gosh. Im beyond shocked and upset for you both. I keep typing and back spacing because nothing seems to conveys how Im feeling for you both right now

 

[Pushka]

Mrsdrron had a much worse time than me. As I have said she has amnesia following on from a head injury. New memories are basically gone except for dramatic instances such as this. So that is not good for her.
The day after I was locked up we were leaving Otaru to go to Niseko and after that continue down the west coast to Hakodate.

So Mrsdrron had to find a hotel. The hotel Sonia rebooked her for Sunday night moving her from one of the largest rooms to one of the smallest. the Sonia and nearby hotels were fully booked for the next week. amnesia though does not stop you from making decisions so on Monday morning she first used the hotel phone to contact the Australian embassy in Tokyo. however she rang before 9am local time so the call was diverted to Canberra. Our son had already rung Canberra so they knew of the problem.

Now remember that Mrsdrron's phone had died so she could not make calls and had been using my phone to take photos and use whats app to message family and friends. She therefore made what I think was a brilliant decision. After packing up she got a taxi from the hotel to the Otaru police station. She walked in and told them it was up to them to find her a hotel as it was they who had put her in this decision. Obviously one of the policemen she talked to was the interpreter and as I said he had empathy so they found 3 available hotels so she picked the closest to Otaru railway station.

She was told though there was no way she would be able to see me even though in the hand out from the detention centre it said that family visits were allowed Monday to Friday. this may turn out to be a major mistake on the part of the Japanese legal system. They were told of her condition yet kept her from the only family she had in Japan.
Now we have a neice in NYC who is a lawyer. She did a post grad degree at Columbia in Human Rights Law. She then worked for the UNHRC. She feels my human rights were not recognised but with Mrsdrron it is and open and shut case. We will be working through her to first send a complaint to the Japanese Embassy in Canberra to gauge their response.

Geez it got worse. So lucky you have all those resources but there must be so many sods who don’t.

 

[drron]

Fortunately before my formal arrest on Saturday night I was allowed to go over the road to a Lawsons to buy some food. followed by 3 policemen though. So my final meal in Freedom.




The police were obviously baseball fans.




So now continuing on with my experience. I didn't sleep on Saturday night mainly because I was worried as to how Mrsdrron was going. mind you a little hard to sleep as the lights are kept on all night and guards fairly regularly walk up and down the corridors on both sides of the cells. On top of that the police station is besides the railway line reasonably close to Otaru station and a level crossing.

At 0530 you have to roll up your bedding and then tke it to a cupboard to store it for the day. The first day i made a real hash of it but by the last day it was nearly perfect. When you come back to the cell you are patted down and wanded. Then handed a dust pan and a short handed millet broom. You then have to sweep the cell floor and empty it into your cardboard box. You empty that every 3 days into another cardboard box the guards bring around. All the time you have lost your identity. I was detainee number 59. all conversations from the guards I was simply called 59. even when required to sign something my signature was just 59.

At about 7 breakfast appears. On the first day it was from Lawsons as i had missed out on having breakfast ordered the night before. the meal was 2 triangles of rice one with a tiny bit of tuna inside-tinned tuna of course. it was accompanied by some Japanese pickles. I ate the pickles and half the rice. After breakfast was one of the highlights of the day. you were allowed to go out of the cell to clean your teeth and wash your face. every second day you are allowed to shave which I declined.

At about 9 I was asked If I wanted a shower and i said I will have it tomorrow before I am taken to see the prosecutor. After the boss moved on the only guard that showed a bit of compassion told me that showers were only Sundays and Thursdays So I said I had changed my mind. the boss just said no. Also at 1030 or 1430 you are meant to have an exercise session. In my 4 days i was never given that privilege. Besides at 1030 I was again handcuffed,tied to a guard and taken downstairs for another police interrogation.

Now I have a mobility problem with little balance so normally going downstairs I hang onto the railing. Try doing that when handcuffed. Besides that I could try hanging on to the railing or holding on to my trousers to prevent them dropping down past my knees. I could not do both. I kept thinking how i might end up falling, hitting my head and being on an anticoagulant ending up with a brain bleed and dying or permanently in a wheelchair.
My interrogation that morning was conducted by the interpreter. at the end he just said Ron I feel very sorry for you. Words can really mean a lot.

Back upstairs and time for lunch which came around noon. You soon learn that about 20 minutes before both lunch and dinner they turn the radio on. By the second day i was just like Pavlov's dogs and waiting at the place they served meals through just like the other 5 detainees.

 

[yachty]

I'm really sorry to hear about this happening to you @drron. What an awful experience, I'm shocked at how quickly it escalated..

I drive a lot around Tokyo and the fear of an accident is always on my mind. People have very little situational awareness on the road and the recklessness and speed of some drivers puts Sydneysiders to shame (I always thought we were the worst drivers). One particular intersection I use in Minato-ku is very similar to the one you've described, I turn right there and motorbikes always overtake me to the right-hand side and cut in front as they pass through. I will avoid it from now on.

I hope both of you are doing ok now.

 

[Tiki]

Holy shhhhhhh..........! I'm so sorry this happened, I hope you are both ok now. This is like a Banged Up Abroad nightmare.

You just reinforced a decision I made a few days ago to forgo renting a car in Chile and using public transport and Ubers instead. You never know and motorcycles are unpredictable.

 

[love_the_life]

I am so sorry to read of the experience - knowing how much you love Japan and how often you have visited. I do hope the embassy was able to provide support - you said four days on remand - that is almost unbelievable for a traffic accident like that.

 

[Flyfrequently]

Such a horrible time for you both @drron
Thank you for sharing such a personal experience.
I hope you and @mrs.dr.ron are more settled and feeling well now.
I can now understand why Mrs.dr.ron posted along with her hydrangeas, it may be your last trip to Japan...