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Dude I recently had a run-in with the police over a bicycle, dang! It was an abandoned bike that had been in a field for several days and I was watching it rust

Dude I recently had a run-in with the police over a bicycle, dang! It was an abandoned bike that had been in a field for several days and I was watching it rust to bits as I was walking my dog So I did what any self-respecting Canadian would do, I decided to be a hero.. I wheeled it home and showed it to my wife she says 'you better do something with it' so a day passes and we show it to my mother in law and she decides to call the local police to come get it Lo and behold they show up but right away the guy starts going at me 'why did you take another person's property?' treating me like a criminal i.e. guilty until proven innocent. He makes me sit in the back of his car, separates me from my mother in law, asks for my identification, takes my passport, my employment, the works They even called the detective squad and three guys roll up in a van It was some kind of interrogation, I felt like Otto Warmbier. He asked every question under the sun, apparently he thought my mother in law was calling to report me for stealing a bike and he explained that it was no different than a bloody knife or a stolen purse. I decided to take the comical side and laughed my ass off when he told me that. It was more about him saving face to his command at that point I couldn't believe the ludicrous nature of the whole deal. My only saving grace was that I'm married to a Japanese national so that got me off the hook, along with an intervention by my father in law and the local member of city government who lives down the street, otherwise I may have gone missing and ended up deported for all I know Bicycle crime is real dude and I can totally understand why asian people suffer from such glaring groupthink and disdain for helping anyone -- no good deed goes unpunished for real

starpilot 7y ago
Dude! Whoa! Those crazy "Asian people"!
Smithalicious 7y ago
So you stole a bike and still think you're in the right for getting upset that the police acted on that? You're an odd fellow
swebs 7y ago
Why does taking someone's bike home make you a hero? You could have just tipped off the police that someone left their bike in the field. It really sounds like you thought you gained a free bike until your mother in law got involved.
enqk 7y ago
Considering you sound like a villain when you tell the story from your angle, I’m not surprised they gave you a hard time
zht 7y ago
“Bicycle crime is real dude and I can totally understand why asian people suffer from such glaring groupthink and disdain for helping anyone -- no good deed goes unpunished for real” Was this part necessary?
- ckris 7y ago
  Is it untrue? If reporting an abandoned bike might end with you as the prime suspect in an investigation who is going to report anything more serious like corruption or abuse?
nihonde 7y ago
As a fellow gaijin in Japan, you seem like you’ve learned nothing about living here. The whole tone of your story is so smug and obnoxious. The reason that even minor crimes (stealing a bicycle) are taken seriously is that letting small things slide is the beginning of an erosion of the rule of law. You should probably learn your lesson and leave things that aren’t yours alone. Furthermore, the fact that you think your political connections got you off the hook tells us everything we need to know about your exceptionalist outlook. People like you make the police skeptical of foreigners like myself who bother to learn and play by the rules out of respect for our host country.
- xelxebar 7y ago
  There are all sorts here, gaijin or otherwise. I get your sentiment though. As a foreigner, tying to live here and have normal, fulfilling relationships takes a metric ton of work. In my experience, there's a bit of an endowment effect, where the coping mechanisms and language successes we pick up through the years get tied into our personal identities. I've certainly gotten my jimmies ruffled by Outrageous Gaijin TM on many occasions, but I feel like there's a lot of room for mutual growth and 切磋琢磨ing through those interactions. To flip things on their head a bit, mutual understanding and cooperation are held as socially high ideals here. I think most Japanese would agree those are better than dropping harsh judgement. Anyway, if you just made a careless post after a stressful day or something, then let me buy you a beer (or tea, if you prefer). My email is in my profile.
- odiroot 7y ago
  > The reason that even minor crimes [..] are taken seriously is that letting small things slide is the beginning of an erosion of the rule of law. I really love how you condensed it well. This is how I always observed in the wild.
  - Cthulhu_ 7y ago
    I guess it's a valid approach - see broken window syndrome - but at the same time it's only something you can do if the police force has the luxury to respond to minor (possible) crimes. Second, it doesn't work in e.g. the US where many people are arrested, tried and jailed for small crimes, e.g. possession of marihuana. Is that a deterrent? Does it work to reduce the production, trade and consumption of drugs? Does it over time cause the prison population to reduce and prisons to close?
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
artsyca 7y ago
That's precisely what I mean my fellows a) My smug tone is because I've lived here long enough to know the rules are off and I'm pretty much a kept animal, as well I mean that by the end of it one thing set off another and it got so far out of hand even our local political representative had to get woken up from his slumber to settle the matter. In North America the cops don't even handle this sort of thing let alone the detective squad b) I used the expression 'decided to be a hero' because in these situations everyone will tell you 'don't be a hero' but I didn't want the bike to rust any more or risk getting taken away so I wheeled it up to do my duty as a 'citizen' i.e. take accountability for its safe return c) Yes I did adopt the tone of villainy, it's hard to pass through people's sarcasm detectors but don't forget you're reading my words in your perception of my tone of voice and we're all one cosmic consciousness experiencing itself etc d) Yes, my last snarky jab is necessary because in Asian countries everyone will tell you don't step out of line it's about the rule of law and don't stick your neck out even more than western countries because the police forces here have a real fetish for upholding the iron rule of law e) don't start labelling me based one anecdote, come and have a beer with me first and see where I'm really coming from.. I've got even worse ones to share that make everyone in a prefecture a thousand kilometres away eye you badly --
- sithadmin 7y ago
  > I didn't want the bike to rust any more or risk getting taken away so I wheeled it up to do my duty as a 'citizen' i.e. take accountability for its safe return The normal thing to do in this case would have been to wheel it to the local kōban...
  - artsyca 7y ago
    That's way near the station -- had I wheeled it that far I'd be dumb
jotm 7y ago
Even outside of Japan, that's not what you do. You just report it to the local authorities and let them take care of it :)
- xboxnolifes 7y ago
  "Hi yes, theres a bike in a field. Could you go get it?"
  - jotm 7y ago
    Exactly. I've done it before (for fly tipping, auto parts, discarded home appliances). They will take care of it, eventually. Or someone else will grab the stuff. Either way, not really your problem. If you get the bike, just repaint it and keep it I guess.
  - danielscrubs 7y ago
    They will fix it. Just because your system is broken doesn’t mean everyone elses is.
  - aikinai 7y ago
    Yes, in Japan that’s exactly what you should do. And they would go get it.
    - artsyca 7y ago
      Yes, it's true that's what one ought to do, but really, is it? I mean this from a humanist level, is it really beholden to us as a society to need the intervention of the police state for something as peer-to-peer as returning a lost bicycle? Who am I to judge I'm just a stranger in a strange land. Back home in Toronto, we have this silly habit of picking people's lost clothing items and putting them up on fences and signposts in case they come back to retrieve them. Under these circumstances here it's safer to walk on by -- same goes with the bike in the generalized sense the burden of returning the bike gets far greater due to the simple fact that most people simply won't bother, hence the need for a gaijin hero to step in and set things to rights
qiqitori 7y ago
Maybe there was a major misunderstanding somewhere. In general, if at all possible, I think it's best to tell the police (or staff members of whatever facility you happen to be inside) when there's an object that does not belong. My experiences with the Japanese police: 1. I once found a wallet and carried it all the way to a nearby police box. Had to fill out some forms but no problems. 2. Another time I found and captured a dog running around town and had the police come to fetch it. Again no problems. 3. Just today while renewing my driver's license, I had some time before the lecture started so I walked out of the classroom and searched for a vending machine. I probably looked like I was a bit lost, and a police officer asked me what was wrong. - Anyway - The plural of anecdote isn't data but I've only had nice encounters with the Japanese police so far.
- dennisgorelik 7y ago
  The quality of police service is probably different in different cities. In what city did you interact with police?
  - qiqitori 7y ago
    (1) was in Hadano (Kanagawa), (2) was in Matsue (Shimane), (3) was in Nagoya. Thinking back I left out a couple encounters. 4. Asked the police box staff if they knew how to get to my hotel (this was before smartphones were common), they helped me (Tokyo) 5. Filed a lost item report (my wallet was stolen, in Japan!) (Tokyo). Didn't turn up (duh) but I think I needed a piece of paper to get back my teikiken on my Suica card. 6. Filed another lost "item" report (a dog I was taking care of ran off. Man, that was nerve-wrecking). They actually helped me look for the dog I think! (No relation with the dog incident in Matsue.) (Shounan region, Kanagawa prefecture) 7. I was cycling to work and it was raining. I was holding an umbrella in one hand and a police car passed by and they used their loudspeakers to tell me to close my umbrella (but didn't stop me or anything). This was in a rather rural area of a rural town (Matsue). I think this is a recently introduced law -- someone holding an umbrella while cycling bumped? crashed? into someone and actually killed them. :/ 8. Apparently police box officers walk around the neighborhood ringing on every doorbell and asking if anything's been up lately. That happened in Nagoya a couple weeks ago. I liked it.
Reason077 7y ago
"Bicycle crime is real dude" I actually admire the fact that they take bicycle theft seriously there. In my East London flat I look out on an otherwise secluded balcony where a certain gentleman stores an ever-changing selection of nice looking bikes. I suppose it's possible that he's a legitimate bicycle trader, but given the fact that it's a) a total crackhead flat, and b) he doesn't seem to treat these nice bikes with any respect, just dumping them in a heap, I'm 99% sure they're stolen. I'd report it if it wasn't totally pointless, because the London Police don't care about bike theft.
- goobynight 7y ago
  Yeah I wouldn't bother either. Bikes seem like the first thing to go to chaos once the police make it obvious that it isn't on the radar. It's like an athlete in combat sports not hiding the fact that they are gassed. There has to be some attempt to guise the reality or the situation devolves even faster.
esoterica 7y ago
> I can totally understand why asian people suffer from such glaring groupthink and disdain for helping anyone -- no good deed goes unpunished for real Imagine being this vilely racist while being married to an Asian person. I feel sorry for your wife.
- Wintereise 7y ago
  Unfortunately, it is true -- especially in Eastern Asia. I said that at the risk of being accused of having internalized racism as an Asian person, but the situation on the ground really does resemble what he said.
- artsyca 7y ago
  haha it's funny but it's a bit more subtle than that, I've become an asian in so many ways that I can now see my people more clearly
justaguyhere 7y ago
I've heard of cases where people don't help even in serious situations, like someone is bleeding on the road after an accident (not in Japan) and this is the reason why. Cops can easily ruin your day, even if you are genuinely helping

starpilot 7y ago

Dude! Whoa! Those crazy "Asian people"!

Smithalicious 7y ago

So you stole a bike and still think you're in the right for getting upset that the police acted on that? You're an odd fellow

swebs 7y ago

Why does taking someone's bike home make you a hero? You could have just tipped off the police that someone left their bike in the field. It really sounds like you thought you gained a free bike until your mother in law got involved.

enqk 7y ago

Considering you sound like a villain when you tell the story from your angle, I’m not surprised they gave you a hard time

zht 7y ago

“Bicycle crime is real dude and I can totally understand why asian people suffer from such glaring groupthink and disdain for helping anyone -- no good deed goes unpunished for real” Was this part necessary?

ckris 7y ago
Is it untrue? If reporting an abandoned bike might end with you as the prime suspect in an investigation who is going to report anything more serious like corruption or abuse?

nihonde 7y ago

As a fellow gaijin in Japan, you seem like you’ve learned nothing about living here. The whole tone of your story is so smug and obnoxious. The reason that even minor crimes (stealing a bicycle) are taken seriously is that letting small things slide is the beginning of an erosion of the rule of law. You should probably learn your lesson and leave things that aren’t yours alone. Furthermore, the fact that you think your political connections got you off the hook tells us everything we need to know about your exceptionalist outlook. People like you make the police skeptical of foreigners like myself who bother to learn and play by the rules out of respect for our host country.

xelxebar 7y ago
There are all sorts here, gaijin or otherwise. I get your sentiment though. As a foreigner, tying to live here and have normal, fulfilling relationships takes a metric ton of work. In my experience, there's a bit of an endowment effect, where the coping mechanisms and language successes we pick up through the years get tied into our personal identities. I've certainly gotten my jimmies ruffled by Outrageous Gaijin TM on many occasions, but I feel like there's a lot of room for mutual growth and 切磋琢磨ing through those interactions. To flip things on their head a bit, mutual understanding and cooperation are held as socially high ideals here. I think most Japanese would agree those are better than dropping harsh judgement. Anyway, if you just made a careless post after a stressful day or something, then let me buy you a beer (or tea, if you prefer). My email is in my profile.
odiroot 7y ago
> The reason that even minor crimes [..] are taken seriously is that letting small things slide is the beginning of an erosion of the rule of law. I really love how you condensed it well. This is how I always observed in the wild.
- Cthulhu_ 7y ago
  I guess it's a valid approach - see broken window syndrome - but at the same time it's only something you can do if the police force has the luxury to respond to minor (possible) crimes. Second, it doesn't work in e.g. the US where many people are arrested, tried and jailed for small crimes, e.g. possession of marihuana. Is that a deterrent? Does it work to reduce the production, trade and consumption of drugs? Does it over time cause the prison population to reduce and prisons to close?

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

artsyca 7y ago

That's precisely what I mean my fellows a) My smug tone is because I've lived here long enough to know the rules are off and I'm pretty much a kept animal, as well I mean that by the end of it one thing set off another and it got so far out of hand even our local political representative had to get woken up from his slumber to settle the matter. In North America the cops don't even handle this sort of thing let alone the detective squad b) I used the expression 'decided to be a hero' because in these situations everyone will tell you 'don't be a hero' but I didn't want the bike to rust any more or risk getting taken away so I wheeled it up to do my duty as a 'citizen' i.e. take accountability for its safe return c) Yes I did adopt the tone of villainy, it's hard to pass through people's sarcasm detectors but don't forget you're reading my words in your perception of my tone of voice and we're all one cosmic consciousness experiencing itself etc d) Yes, my last snarky jab is necessary because in Asian countries everyone will tell you don't step out of line it's about the rule of law and don't stick your neck out even more than western countries because the police forces here have a real fetish for upholding the iron rule of law e) don't start labelling me based one anecdote, come and have a beer with me first and see where I'm really coming from.. I've got even worse ones to share that make everyone in a prefecture a thousand kilometres away eye you badly --

sithadmin 7y ago
> I didn't want the bike to rust any more or risk getting taken away so I wheeled it up to do my duty as a 'citizen' i.e. take accountability for its safe return The normal thing to do in this case would have been to wheel it to the local kōban...
- artsyca 7y ago
  That's way near the station -- had I wheeled it that far I'd be dumb

jotm 7y ago

Even outside of Japan, that's not what you do. You just report it to the local authorities and let them take care of it :)

xboxnolifes 7y ago
"Hi yes, theres a bike in a field. Could you go get it?"
- jotm 7y ago
  Exactly. I've done it before (for fly tipping, auto parts, discarded home appliances). They will take care of it, eventually. Or someone else will grab the stuff. Either way, not really your problem. If you get the bike, just repaint it and keep it I guess.
- danielscrubs 7y ago
  They will fix it. Just because your system is broken doesn’t mean everyone elses is.
- aikinai 7y ago
  Yes, in Japan that’s exactly what you should do. And they would go get it.
  - artsyca 7y ago
    Yes, it's true that's what one ought to do, but really, is it? I mean this from a humanist level, is it really beholden to us as a society to need the intervention of the police state for something as peer-to-peer as returning a lost bicycle? Who am I to judge I'm just a stranger in a strange land. Back home in Toronto, we have this silly habit of picking people's lost clothing items and putting them up on fences and signposts in case they come back to retrieve them. Under these circumstances here it's safer to walk on by -- same goes with the bike in the generalized sense the burden of returning the bike gets far greater due to the simple fact that most people simply won't bother, hence the need for a gaijin hero to step in and set things to rights

qiqitori 7y ago

Maybe there was a major misunderstanding somewhere. In general, if at all possible, I think it's best to tell the police (or staff members of whatever facility you happen to be inside) when there's an object that does not belong. My experiences with the Japanese police: 1. I once found a wallet and carried it all the way to a nearby police box. Had to fill out some forms but no problems. 2. Another time I found and captured a dog running around town and had the police come to fetch it. Again no problems. 3. Just today while renewing my driver's license, I had some time before the lecture started so I walked out of the classroom and searched for a vending machine. I probably looked like I was a bit lost, and a police officer asked me what was wrong. - Anyway - The plural of anecdote isn't data but I've only had nice encounters with the Japanese police so far.

dennisgorelik 7y ago
The quality of police service is probably different in different cities. In what city did you interact with police?
- qiqitori 7y ago
  (1) was in Hadano (Kanagawa), (2) was in Matsue (Shimane), (3) was in Nagoya. Thinking back I left out a couple encounters. 4. Asked the police box staff if they knew how to get to my hotel (this was before smartphones were common), they helped me (Tokyo) 5. Filed a lost item report (my wallet was stolen, in Japan!) (Tokyo). Didn't turn up (duh) but I think I needed a piece of paper to get back my teikiken on my Suica card. 6. Filed another lost "item" report (a dog I was taking care of ran off. Man, that was nerve-wrecking). They actually helped me look for the dog I think! (No relation with the dog incident in Matsue.) (Shounan region, Kanagawa prefecture) 7. I was cycling to work and it was raining. I was holding an umbrella in one hand and a police car passed by and they used their loudspeakers to tell me to close my umbrella (but didn't stop me or anything). This was in a rather rural area of a rural town (Matsue). I think this is a recently introduced law -- someone holding an umbrella while cycling bumped? crashed? into someone and actually killed them. :/ 8. Apparently police box officers walk around the neighborhood ringing on every doorbell and asking if anything's been up lately. That happened in Nagoya a couple weeks ago. I liked it.

Reason077 7y ago

"Bicycle crime is real dude" I actually admire the fact that they take bicycle theft seriously there. In my East London flat I look out on an otherwise secluded balcony where a certain gentleman stores an ever-changing selection of nice looking bikes. I suppose it's possible that he's a legitimate bicycle trader, but given the fact that it's a) a total crackhead flat, and b) he doesn't seem to treat these nice bikes with any respect, just dumping them in a heap, I'm 99% sure they're stolen. I'd report it if it wasn't totally pointless, because the London Police don't care about bike theft.

goobynight 7y ago
Yeah I wouldn't bother either. Bikes seem like the first thing to go to chaos once the police make it obvious that it isn't on the radar. It's like an athlete in combat sports not hiding the fact that they are gassed. There has to be some attempt to guise the reality or the situation devolves even faster.

esoterica 7y ago

> I can totally understand why asian people suffer from such glaring groupthink and disdain for helping anyone -- no good deed goes unpunished for real Imagine being this vilely racist while being married to an Asian person. I feel sorry for your wife.

Wintereise 7y ago
Unfortunately, it is true -- especially in Eastern Asia. I said that at the risk of being accused of having internalized racism as an Asian person, but the situation on the ground really does resemble what he said.
artsyca 7y ago
haha it's funny but it's a bit more subtle than that, I've become an asian in so many ways that I can now see my people more clearly

justaguyhere 7y ago

I've heard of cases where people don't help even in serious situations, like someone is bleeding on the road after an accident (not in Japan) and this is the reason why. Cops can easily ruin your day, even if you are genuinely helping