The Dark side of Japan Tourism.

JohnM said:
After all this, I would choose never to drive in Japan.
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I came to that conclusion a while back, especially after the major car rental companies wouldn't rent me a car in Japan with an online booking. Had to be something in that.

As for losing 35 kg while in detention, it would have to be a person of size, because I'd be dead with that weight loss. I don't suppose the Japanese authorities would care though.
 
I hope people don't just cross Japan off their list. It is still a lovely country to visit. The reason I am not going to visit again is my lawyer told me If i visit Japan I will be questioned by an Immigration Officer. So that means a chance I wouldn't be let in. I am not going to risk that.
I would be wary of hiring a rental car. Most rentals will bbe no problem at all but accidents do happen. If someone has any injuries you could end up in my position in Detention. The real problem are the motor cycles. Some as in all countries are a problem and certainly had other instances where the overtaking has been dangerous. But the other problem with them is if in an accident they will very likely come off their bike and be injured. It is the other driver that then has a problem as they caused an injury.

Now first if you do rent a car in Japan take out their top insurance. It really does work. I didn't have to pay out a yen and the other fellows injuries were covered.

If you are in an accident every piece of advice I have seen is to insist on your right to be silent until you have seen your lawyer. I now know why. Sorry but the police basically stitched me up by A. Not investigating the other vehicle and probably B. by lying about the existence of a camera at the previous intersection. The lawyer doubted it's existence. But if you think you are on film then why not admit what you did.

Second remember that as soon as they put you into detention you will not be able to contact anyone and they take all your property from you. So give your phone etc to whoever you are with and tell them to contact any one who needs to know. Also a great idea if they have a list of English speaking lawyers or know how to find such a list. There is one on the Embassy in Tokyo's website.

If by yourself I would early on email a friend telling them where you are and what might happen and if they don't hear from you by the next day to let the Embassy know.

Also have a plan as how you are going to get Japanese cash-yen only accepted for payment of fines and no sort of card accepted.

Then you just have to put up with the routine and boredom. try and keep your sense of humour. That helped me a lot. When interrogated I usually had this song going through my head.

The guards also helped though they were unaware and thought it odd that I would break out into a smile when a meal was delivered. With the meal you got a rolled up plastic place mat with one of 2 messages on it in Enlish - would you like to feel better or would you rather be somehere nicer.

Also look for anything nice in those around you. As I have said I was treated well by one young guard, the female Paddy Wagon driver and the local interpreter. You don't want to lose your own humanity.

Over the next few days I will post the advice I received from the first visit by the local lawyer I never got to see and that from the Embassy. Also some other sources I have found online.
 
Thanks @drron for continuing to share your experience.
I am particularly interested as I will be a first time visitor to Japan (Tokyo) in November, though will not be renting a motor vehicle.
 
drron said:
I hope people don't just cross Japan off their list. It is still a lovely country to visit. The reason I am not going to visit again is my lawyer told me If i visit Japan I will be questioned by an Immigration Officer. So that means a chance I wouldn't be let in. I am not going to risk that.
I would be wary of hiring a rental car. Most rentals will bbe no problem at all but accidents do happen. If someone has any injuries you could end up in my position in Detention. The real problem are the motor cycles. Some as in all countries are a problem and certainly had other instances where the overtaking has been dangerous. But the other problem with them is if in an accident they will very likely come off their bike and be injured. It is the other driver that then has a problem as they caused an injury.

Now first if you do rent a car in Japan take out their top insurance. It really does work. I didn't have to pay out a yen and the other fellows injuries were covered.

If you are in an accident every piece of advice I have seen is to insist on your right to be silent until you have seen your lawyer. I now know why. Sorry but the police basically stitched me up by A. Not investigating the other vehicle and probably B. by lying about the existence of a camera at the previous intersection. The lawyer doubted it's existence. But if you think you are on film then why not admit what you did.

Second remember that as soon as they put you into detention you will not be able to contact anyone and they take all your property from you. So give your phone etc to whoever you are with and tell them to contact any one who needs to know. Also a great idea if they have a list of English speaking lawyers or know how to find such a list. There is one on the Embassy in Tokyo's website.

If by yourself I would early on email a friend telling them where you are and what might happen and if they don't hear from you by the next day to let the Embassy know.

Also have a plan as how you are going to get Japanese cash-yen only accepted for payment of fines and no sort of card accepted.

Then you just have to put up with the routine and boredom. try and keep your sense of humour. That helped me a lot. When interrogated I usually had this song going through my head.

The guards also helped though they were unaware and thought it odd that I would break out into a smile when a meal was delivered. With the meal you got a rolled up plastic place mat with one of 2 messages on it in Enlish - would you like to feel better or would you rather be somehere nicer.

Also look for anything nice in those around you. As I have said I was treated well by one young guard, the female Paddy Wagon driver and the local interpreter. You don't want to lose your own humanity.

Over the next few days I will post the advice I received from the first visit by the local lawyer I never got to see and that from the Embassy. Also some other sources I have found online.
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Sounds like a touch of 'Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence'.
I feel so sorry for what you experienced.
 
Thanks @drron for continuing to post about what is definitely a harrowing experience.

While lawyers bills are never cheap, yours seemed very high versus the actual fine. Was that exacerbated by the location Vs the I presume Tokyo based lawyer the embassy recommended.

And while you were obviously worried about mrsdrron at least you had her to work for you outside. I can imagine the situation being even worse as a solo traveller.
 
drron said:
Now first if you do rent a car in Japan take out their top insurance. It really does work. I didn't have to pay out a yen and the other fellows injuries were covered.
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I 100% agree with this, we did not have an accident but at around AUD8-10 per day it would be just made not to accept top insurance. It was mentioned and discussed here which also happened to be the TR that morphed into this thread.
 
moa999 said:
Thanks @drron for continuing to post about what is definitely a harrowing experience.

While lawyers bills are never cheap, yours seemed very high versus the actual fine. Was that exacerbated by the location Vs the I presume Tokyo based lawyer the embassy recommended.

And while you were obviously worried about mrsdrron at least you had her to work for you outside. I can imagine the situation being even worse as a solo traveller.
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Yes in Hokkaido none of the English speaking lawyers recommended by the Embassy was a criminal lawyer so had to have a criminal lawyer as well. In tokyo you would need only 1 lawyer so half the price.
 
drron said:
If by yourself I would early on email a friend telling them where you are and what might happen and if they don't hear from you by the next day to let the Embassy know.
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I actually did that when visiting Russia and China. I’ll be damned if I feel I need to do that in Japan. I’m just not going to go there again. There are plenty of other wonderful places in the world to visit.
 
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I suspect that the real "status" of Japanese law enforcement as applied to foreigners would be quite high
compared to the consequences of a brush with the law in many other countries.
In many places , survival as a foreigner equates to available cash for bribes and/or local influence and support.
I have driven and ridden in many such places and looking back , opine that I was simply lucky.
 
Pushka said:
There are some surprising ones on that list. Many cough syrups too.
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The interesting thing is that although Japan bans a lot of cough medicines from being brought into Japan, once you are in Japan, you can freely purchase cough medicine over-the-counter that contains pseudo- or methyl-ephedrine, codeine and similar ingredients.

One example is a cough medicine called BRON and BRON Ace - it comes in both syrup and tablet form. A couple of decades ago, I'd sometimes see salarymen knocking back a shot of BRON cough syrup in the morning after a night of drinking.


Ingredients include methylephedrine, codeine, caffeine, and chlorpheniramine.

So, as I say, although you're prohibited from bringing products containing some of those substances *into* Japan, once you're in the country you can simply walk into any chemist and stock up on stuff containing the same substances!
 
jhau01 said:
The interesting thing is that although Japan bans a lot of cough medicines from being brought into Japan, once you are in Japan, you can freely purchase cough medicine over-the-counter that contains pseudo- or methyl-ephedrine, codeine and similar ingredients.

One example is a cough medicine called BRON and BRON Ace - it comes in both syrup and tablet form. A couple of decades ago, I'd sometimes see salarymen knocking back a shot of BRON cough syrup in the morning after a night of drinking.


Ingredients include methylephedrine, codeine, caffeine, and chlorpheniramine.

So, as I say, although you're prohibited from bringing products containing some of those substances *into* Japan, once you're in the country you can simply walk into any chemist and stock up on stuff containing the same substances!
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Interesting and welcome to AFF
 
VPS said:
Interesting and welcome to AFF
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Thank you!

I've been travelling to Japan for the past 31 years (studied the language and did university exchange there) and typically visit once per year for 4 - 5 weeks to visit the in-laws.

I typically don't drive while I'm over there, although I have occasionally driven in rural Tochigi (north of Tokyo) where my parents-in-law have a little holiday cottage.

I have a couple of old uni friends in DFaT who have been posted to Japan at various times. Part of their consular role involved jail visits to Australians who had been arrested for various offences.

Basically, you don't want to be arrested in Japan as you can be held in custody for up to 23 days without being charged. At the end of that period, if you are charged, you can then potentially be held up until your trial, particularly if you're considered to be a flight risk.

Clearly, for tourists, even being held for a couple of weeks can play absolute havoc with flights and jobs.
 
@drron and @mrs.dr.ron - I echo the sentiments of those that had expressed their thoughts about the harrowing, not to mention, at times, over-the-top police behaviour experience that you both went thru. I'm not sure if there is anything new that I can tell that is going to make things any better. You are a rock-star for having went thru what you did, to come back and provide a detailed account to us.

Many AFF'ers including yours-truly travel vicariously thru your trip reports and this report - as hard as it was to read without shedding a tear or two, especially during the reunion, has shone a rather bright light on some of the often-overlooked or often-taken-for-granted things when travelling overseas. If not other people, I don't really buy any kinda insurance when travelling, barring the TI that comes with my CC.

I first came across this thread a few days back and have been reading it - sometimes re-reading some of your posts in absolute shock and wonder - just to make sure that I had not misread some bits. I had to gather some peace and mental space to make a post in this thread. It only took me 4 days!

It is glad to see that you are back home and settling in well. Cheers!
 
jhau01 said:
Thank you!

I've been travelling to Japan for the past 31 years (studied the language and did university exchange there) and typically visit once per year for 4 - 5 weeks to visit the in-laws.

I typically don't drive while I'm over there, although I have occasionally driven in rural Tochigi (north of Tokyo) where my parents-in-law have a little holiday cottage.

I have a couple of old uni friends in DFaT who have been posted to Japan at various times. Part of their consular role involved jail visits to Australians who had been arrested for various offences.

Basically, you don't want to be arrested in Japan as you can be held in custody for up to 23 days without being charged. At the end of that period, if you are charged, you can then potentially be held up until your trial, particularly if you're considered to be a flight risk.

Clearly, for tourists, even being held for a couple of weeks can play absolute havoc with flights and jobs.
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Thank you for this insight @jhau01 and another welcome to AFF.
 
I dropped into here last night to look for travel inspiration and stumbled upon your trip report by chance.

It was staggering to read what you have both been through. Our first interactions were back in 2017 when you gave us advice for Japan and we’ve been so many times, including just a fortnight ago.

But your situation, absolutely awful, has taken the wind out of my sails. We’ve only hired there once, a lovely driving holiday in Hokkaido but I can’t imagine doing it again.

Sending you both good wishes from Central Australia and hoping I can continue to learn from your future trips, clearly not to Japan.
 

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