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Seems like it's not pleasant, and the author says in theory it could be as low of a bar as getting into a heated argument; but the author never discloses his ac

Seems like it's not pleasant, and the author says in theory it could be as low of a bar as getting into a heated argument; but the author never discloses his actual charge, which I think is critical context. If he stabbed someone and got this treatment, it would be very different than if he had a loud but normal argument you might see in any big box store in the US. That he doesn't go on to protest why he got locked up makes me think it was something more serious. Some time ago (can't easily find it anymore) there was a expose on UK prisons, which was interesting without even knowing what crime the prisoner was convicted of, but turns out it was abuse of a relative.

actionfromafar 5mo ago
Arrested not convicted.
- amarant 5mo ago
  Japan has a conviction rate of 99.8%. arrested and convicted is pretty much the same thing over there https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_justice_system_of_Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_justice_system_of_Jap...
  - actionfromafar 5mo ago
    And your point is?
  - deleted 5mo ago
    [deleted]
  - applfanboysbgon 5mo ago
    It's actually not. You can be arrested and then released without charges, which is not a conviction but does not factor into the conviction rate statistic.
    - glenstein 5mo ago
      I was going to say the same thing. OP in this case would not count toward either percentage, what you have to wonder is how many people get charges dropped who get put through the ringer. It also makes the act of accusing incredibly powerful, and you have to wonder what threshold there is and whose accusations matter, because this severe punishment for dropped charges feels extremely powerful.
  - beejiu 5mo ago
    Of charges, not arrests.
  - lokar 5mo ago
    Not surprising if you can detain people for long periods under harsh conditions without charging them. If they confess, it counts as a win. If they don’t, you release them but it’s not a loss (as they were not charged).
  - vchuravy 5mo ago
    Arrested is not the same as convicted. I lived in Japan for a few years, and I have heard of similar situations to what the article describes. In Japan you can be arrested while an investigation is in process, only afterwards you will be indicted. Additionally, Japan does not permit defendants to post bail prior to an indictment. Yes Japan has a really high conviction rate, but that is because they indict only cases were a conviction is likely. Arrests don't need to lead to the person being indicted.
  - thaumasiotes 5mo ago
    The author doesn't seem to have been charged with anything, so her release doesn't affect the 'conviction rate' - but she was arrested. By comparison, you might consider https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/06/14/fewer-than-1-of-defendants-in-federal-criminal-cases-were-acquitted-in-2022/ https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/06/14/fewer-tha... : > In fiscal year 2022, only 290 of 71,954 defendants in federal criminal cases – about 0.4% – went to trial and were acquitted
  - ranger_danger 5mo ago
    > Japan has a conviction rate of 99.8% So does the US. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/06/11/only-2-of-federal-criminal-defendants-go-to-trial-and-most-who-do-are-found-guilty/ https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/06/11/only-2-of...
  - deleted 5mo ago
    [deleted]
- wisty 5mo ago
  In the US, it's seen as a God-given truth that no innocent person should ever be punished. Partly because it was founded (in part) by oppressed minorities fleeing states where the were constantly harassed by authorities. (Irony - the US's approach hardly fixed the issue). But is it OK to risk punishing a few innocent people if it greatly reduces the amount of suffering caused by crime?
  - actionfromafar 5mo ago
    I don’t believe in the premise.
  - nephihaha 5mo ago
    Back in the 19th century. De Tocqueville talks about American justice favouring the rich since they could post bail and the poor could not. I have seen documentaries about US bail hostels and some of them seem like horrific places as bad as prisons in some other countries and this is before you've been found guilty of anything.
    - lazyasciiart 5mo ago
      > I have seen documentaries about US bail hostels I’m not familiar with this term. Is that an old thing?
      - OneDeuxTriSeiGo 5mo ago
        It's a British term for halfway houses specifically for people out on bail.
        nephihaha 5mo ago
        No, I'm not meaning this here. I'm meaning people who cannot afford bail so are kept imprisoned, before even going to trial.
        OneDeuxTriSeiGo 5mo ago
- ranger_danger 5mo ago
  The author acknowledges that it still ruins people's lives and is completely unfair.
- guiambros 5mo ago
  Not sure why you were downvoted. From the last paragraph: "I spent a total of 35 days here. The first arrest was 3 days of processing, the initial 10 days followed by the 10 days extension for a total of 23 days before my case was dropped. But the same time my case was dropped my accusers found a another reason to issue a second arrest keeping me there for an additional 12 days! Both cases were ultimately dropped and the second arrest was essentially tied to the first and shouldn’t have even been possible."
disillusioned 5mo ago
They _do_ specifically protest, and it's crazy that they're able to detain you like this from an accusation while they build a case, even if you're innocent. In the US, barring flight risks and past history or cases of real malice or violence or an ongoing threat, you can at least typically make bail, AND the conditions in a jail are generally far better and less strict than this: >Both cases were ultimately dropped and the second arrest was essentially tied to the first and shouldn’t have even been possible. But because of how the system works weather it’s a viable reason or not, they can still trap you in there for a time while the case is being reviewed. I met others who where there for shorter and much longer periods of time. The worst part was knowing i was innocent. After it’s all said and done you walk out and they act as if nothing happened. Not only was this was all extremely traumatizing but it cost me a HUGE of money that I really did not have and caused irreversible damage to my life.
- lazyasciiart 5mo ago
  > In the US, barring flight risks and past history or cases of real malice or violence or an ongoing threat, you can at least typically make bail The literal majority of people in US jails are there not because they have been convicted of anything but because they were given a bail amount they couldn’t afford to pay, which is a deliberate strategy by the courts when there is no justification to refuse bail. This can look like a $500 cash bail set on a homeless guy charged with resisting arrest (aka being arrested). Many of them are innocent and are trapped and have their lives ruined in exactly the way this guy describes. (We assume that many of them are innocent because when someone pays their bail, more than 50% of cases are simply dismissed as soon as they leave jail. The expectation is that they will just plead guilty because otherwise they are stuck in jail for months waiting for a trial). https://bailproject.org/data/unlocking-the-truth/ https://bailproject.org/data/unlocking-the-truth/
  - baggy_trough 5mo ago
    > We assume that many of them are innocent because when someone pays their bail, more than 50% of cases are simply dismissed as soon as they leave jail. This sounds like a very dubious assumption.
Waterluvian 5mo ago
> loud but normal argument you might see in any big box store in the US. I always assumed this kind of behaviour was cherry picked on social media. How “normal” is it actually?!
- kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 5mo ago
  It's quite rare. Except at Waffle House.
  - machomaster 5mo ago
    And at Walmart. And at McDonalds. And at Burger King. And at... Bacically, it is not rare at all. Especially among certain American demographic.
    - 9x39 5mo ago
      Changing customer sentiment is definitely part of it. Another lens is to look at is state violence rates: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_violent_crime_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ...
- kube-system 5mo ago
  In most of the US -- completely unheard of. In particularly bad neighborhoods in the US -- it happens sometimes. Depending on what kind of life you live in the US, it could be completely foreign to you, or it could be normal.
- panny 5mo ago
  Completely normal. Happens all the time. My plane was delayed this week because of an unruly passenger on the plane before mine at the gate. My plane had to be diverted into another state while they sorted him out. The day after I landed, I was walking to get something to eat, and there was a bum fight at the road entrance of a Target. They had a disagreement about who could panhandle there. On the way home, some guy climbed the fence and got on the runway. They don't know who he is though, he was sucked through the engine of a plane. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/09/frontier-airlines-plane-hits-pedestrian-denver https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/09/frontier-air... Anyone who says this stuff isn't normal in America doesn't get out much apparently. Living in the US is nuts.
brendoelfrendo 5mo ago
The thing is, this is pretty standard treatment over in Japan. As the blog poster says, the charge against them was ultimately dropped, but not before they were held for over 30 days. The 23 day timer on charges is, as they said, something that is often exploited by the police; they can add charges later to reset the clock. While this is going on, you're often pressured to sign a confession. You may get offered a comparatively short or lenient punishment for confessing, as compared to potentially months of detention while the police perform their investigation and decide what to charge you with. It's a big part of why the conviction rate over there is so high; not confessing to a crime, even when innocent, can carry a punishment worse than conviction. Of course, then you have to consider that you now have a criminal record, so someone who lives in Japan may feel pressured to confess to avoid prolonged detention, but that can have other effects on them in the future.
- lazyasciiart 5mo ago
  Same in the USA. This is what “prosecutor deals” are for: plead guilty and we’ll let you off with a year in jail, make us hold a trial and the judge will give you ten years.
  - brendoelfrendo 5mo ago
    Right, but I intentionally avoided making that comparison because of the way the US justice system works. There are more escape hatches for someone who has been charged to be released while awaiting trial: bail, release on recognizance, habeas petitions, etc. These don't really exist in the same way in Japan.
  - tptacek 5mo ago
    It is not in fact the same in the USA. You cannot be held indefinitely without a judicial hearing and without access to a lawyer in the US. You can in Japan, and in fact that's the norm.
    - lazyasciiart 5mo ago
      Tell Kalief Browder that. Oh wait, he killed himself after being held for three years without trial because prosecutors 'weren't ready' to actually try him for the accusation of theft, and without the option of bail because he had previously violated probation as a child. edit: ohhhh oops weasel wording. You're right, he did in fact have multiple judicial hearings! It's functionally irrelevant since none of them ever had the power to release him or find him innocent.
aloisklink 5mo ago
The author mentions it in a YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2epTf2IW1g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2epTf2IW1g (at the 2:20 mark). But essentially, somebody else sent her a package with something illegal in it that she didn't ask for. The police took her passport for a few months and searched her house. After a few months, she got her passport returned to her, she left Japan temporarily, but when she came back, they arrested her "to ensure [she] wouldn't flee while they finished the investigation". She also mentioned it was "the most normal type of thing you can think of"; it might have been something like pseudoephedrine/Sudafed. That's a common over-the-counter drug in other countries but it's very illegal here in Japan (unless it's under 10%, or you buy it from Japan)! Edit: Importing pseudoephedrine above 10% concentrations is illegal, but you can legally buy some higher concentrations over-the-counter while in Japan.
- sidewndr46 5mo ago
  I am always amazed at details like this. Who would voluntarily go back to this kind of situation?
- gravypod 5mo ago
  What do you do when you have a bad flu or cold if you don't have pseudoephedrine?
  - aloisklink 5mo ago
    You can still easily buy it here, but the over-the-counter pills are always mixed with other ingredients to make it more difficult to convert them into amphetamines. E.g. Contac 600 Plus can be found in basically all drug stores and it has 120mg of Pseudoephedrine, 100mg Caffeine, 8mg Chlorpheniramine, and 0.4mg of Belladonna Extract. It sounds like it'll actually be illegal to import into Japan, since 120/(120 + 100 + 8 + 0.4) is over 10%, but I've previously just walked into a drug store and bought a packet.
    - gravypod 5mo ago
      Ok, that makes sense. I am assuming it is not common to be arrested for possessing this kind of over the counter remedy?
samrus 5mo ago
> If he stabbed someone and got this treatment, it would be very different I dont think so. I think innocent until proven guilty is the right way to go. Because all the police know is that he is accused of stabbing someone. Whether he actually did it or not, a court of law will decide that while he is present to be tried. Until then You cant punish someone like this over an accusation. You can deny bail if the person might be dangerous, but you cant punish them This is bullshit and the japanese should be ashamed of having such a system while being considered a part of the civilized world. If this was china people would be rightfully losing their mind
- Aurornis 5mo ago
  Innocent until proven guilty doesn't mean someone gets to go free until their court date. It depends on the crime, the flight risk, and the supporting evidence that police are able to collect. There are many examples of police letting suspects go due to lack of evidence and then later discovering they let the wrong person go. These stories generate a lot of outrage in cases where there's public interest or a news story, but this is the reality of crime: You don't always have enough evidence to justify detaining someone, but the police's job is to quickly try to find enough evidence to find the right perpetrator
  - arcfour 5mo ago
    Okay, but maybe we can feed them actual food, let them shower daily, and give them bedding? Are you opposed to this?
    - Aurornis 5mo ago
      Of course not. That has nothing to do with my comment.
  - samrus 5mo ago
    > Innocent until proven guilty doesn't mean someone gets to go free until their court date. I know what bail is and that is should denied in certain cases. Even if bail should be denied for an accused stabbing, there are alot of other things innocent until proven guilty implies that japan doesnt meet the mark on, like feeding people proprrly and not mentally torturing them
agnishom 5mo ago
I strongly suspect that the author's legal counsel advised them not to discuss their actual charge in explicit detail
bsimpson 5mo ago
It surprises me how many people are responding to an article that includes: > You can not bring or keep anything including a bra or even your own underwear. presuming the author is male.
- Ferret7446 5mo ago
  I assume a female wouldn't distinguish bra and underwear? I also don't know why it matters either way, whether the author is presumed male or female
  - kelnos 5mo ago
    > I assume a female wouldn't distinguish bra and underwear? Perhaps this is a regional thing, but in my experience, they absolutely do.
  - bsimpson 5mo ago
    I presumed a man wouldn't have been concerned with a foreign jail's rules for bras.
bitwize 5mo ago
Jack Henry Abbott was an American prisoner who corresponded with the author Norman Mailer, who successfully got a collection of his letters published as In the Belly of the Beast, which contain scathing critiques of the American justice and prison systems based on his own experiences therewith. Mailer also successfully advocated for Abbott's parole. Six weeks later, Abbott stabbed to death the manager of a restaurant he was eating at after an argument.
eduction 5mo ago
[flagged]
deleted 5mo ago
[deleted]
kelnos 5mo ago
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 designed for one thing: high conviction rates, regardless of guilt or innocence.
- nihonde 5mo ago
  [flagged]
  - saagarjha 5mo ago
    You're not really doing a great job selling the country, that's for sure.
    - nihonde 5mo ago
      As if that was ever the goal. Japan is plenty popular.
  - fzeroracer 5mo ago
    The charges were dropped. Regardless of your opinions on how an orderly government or justice system should run or how criminals should be treated, in this situation what happened was an innocent person was tortured by the state.
    - pjjpo 5mo ago
      Even if you actually rape someone, if you settle with the victim jb cash, the charges are dropped. Something that really needs to change but seems to not be going so well. Not saying that's what happened in this case by any ways, just that dropped charges = innocent isn't true. And I agree with the OP that knowing the context would help sympathize, especially given usually someone innocent would share that more proactively. Instead, many are even assuming this is something about foreigners, with absolutely no basis to assume that...
laughing_man 5mo ago
In what country is getting arrested pleasant? Japan is probably worse than Northern Europe, but it's still pretty high on "if I had to be arrested, I'd rather it was here" list.
- arcfour 5mo ago
  I think there's an enormous difference between an "unpleasant experience" and "active torture."
deleted 5mo ago
[deleted]
jaredklewis 5mo ago
This take is insane. The charges could be very serious but I’m not sure what that has to do with anything, because being charged (or even just arrested) is not the same as being convicted. The author of this post claims both of their charges were dropped. So, what, let’s torture anyone that _might_ have done something “serious?” No judge, no jury, just if a cop thinks you might have done something, straight into a psychological torture cell for weeks and months while they think about your case? wtf Also, your description of their experience as “not pleasant” just kind of blows my mind. Like it was a long line at the DMV or something.
cush 5mo ago
> That he doesn't go on to protest why he got locked up makes me think it was something more serious Most of the post explains how she wasn’t allowed to do the things you’re suggesting she do, and at the end it explains how her charges were dropped.

actionfromafar 5mo ago

Arrested not convicted.

amarant 5mo ago
Japan has a conviction rate of 99.8%. arrested and convicted is pretty much the same thing over there https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_justice_system_of_Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_justice_system_of_Jap...
- actionfromafar 5mo ago
  And your point is?
- deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]
- applfanboysbgon 5mo ago
  It's actually not. You can be arrested and then released without charges, which is not a conviction but does not factor into the conviction rate statistic.
  - glenstein 5mo ago
    I was going to say the same thing. OP in this case would not count toward either percentage, what you have to wonder is how many people get charges dropped who get put through the ringer. It also makes the act of accusing incredibly powerful, and you have to wonder what threshold there is and whose accusations matter, because this severe punishment for dropped charges feels extremely powerful.
- beejiu 5mo ago
  Of charges, not arrests.
- lokar 5mo ago
  Not surprising if you can detain people for long periods under harsh conditions without charging them. If they confess, it counts as a win. If they don’t, you release them but it’s not a loss (as they were not charged).
- vchuravy 5mo ago
  Arrested is not the same as convicted. I lived in Japan for a few years, and I have heard of similar situations to what the article describes. In Japan you can be arrested while an investigation is in process, only afterwards you will be indicted. Additionally, Japan does not permit defendants to post bail prior to an indictment. Yes Japan has a really high conviction rate, but that is because they indict only cases were a conviction is likely. Arrests don't need to lead to the person being indicted.
- thaumasiotes 5mo ago
  The author doesn't seem to have been charged with anything, so her release doesn't affect the 'conviction rate' - but she was arrested. By comparison, you might consider https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/06/14/fewer-than-1-of-defendants-in-federal-criminal-cases-were-acquitted-in-2022/ https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/06/14/fewer-tha... : > In fiscal year 2022, only 290 of 71,954 defendants in federal criminal cases – about 0.4% – went to trial and were acquitted
- ranger_danger 5mo ago
  > Japan has a conviction rate of 99.8% So does the US. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/06/11/only-2-of-federal-criminal-defendants-go-to-trial-and-most-who-do-are-found-guilty/ https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/06/11/only-2-of...
- deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]
wisty 5mo ago
In the US, it's seen as a God-given truth that no innocent person should ever be punished. Partly because it was founded (in part) by oppressed minorities fleeing states where the were constantly harassed by authorities. (Irony - the US's approach hardly fixed the issue). But is it OK to risk punishing a few innocent people if it greatly reduces the amount of suffering caused by crime?
- actionfromafar 5mo ago
  I don’t believe in the premise.
- nephihaha 5mo ago
  Back in the 19th century. De Tocqueville talks about American justice favouring the rich since they could post bail and the poor could not. I have seen documentaries about US bail hostels and some of them seem like horrific places as bad as prisons in some other countries and this is before you've been found guilty of anything.
  - lazyasciiart 5mo ago
    > I have seen documentaries about US bail hostels I’m not familiar with this term. Is that an old thing?
    - OneDeuxTriSeiGo 5mo ago
      It's a British term for halfway houses specifically for people out on bail.
      - nephihaha 5mo ago
        No, I'm not meaning this here. I'm meaning people who cannot afford bail so are kept imprisoned, before even going to trial.
        OneDeuxTriSeiGo 5mo ago
ranger_danger 5mo ago
The author acknowledges that it still ruins people's lives and is completely unfair.
guiambros 5mo ago
Not sure why you were downvoted. From the last paragraph: "I spent a total of 35 days here. The first arrest was 3 days of processing, the initial 10 days followed by the 10 days extension for a total of 23 days before my case was dropped. But the same time my case was dropped my accusers found a another reason to issue a second arrest keeping me there for an additional 12 days! Both cases were ultimately dropped and the second arrest was essentially tied to the first and shouldn’t have even been possible."

disillusioned 5mo ago

They _do_ specifically protest, and it's crazy that they're able to detain you like this from an accusation while they build a case, even if you're innocent. In the US, barring flight risks and past history or cases of real malice or violence or an ongoing threat, you can at least typically make bail, AND the conditions in a jail are generally far better and less strict than this: >Both cases were ultimately dropped and the second arrest was essentially tied to the first and shouldn’t have even been possible. But because of how the system works weather it’s a viable reason or not, they can still trap you in there for a time while the case is being reviewed. I met others who where there for shorter and much longer periods of time. The worst part was knowing i was innocent. After it’s all said and done you walk out and they act as if nothing happened. Not only was this was all extremely traumatizing but it cost me a HUGE of money that I really did not have and caused irreversible damage to my life.

lazyasciiart 5mo ago
> In the US, barring flight risks and past history or cases of real malice or violence or an ongoing threat, you can at least typically make bail The literal majority of people in US jails are there not because they have been convicted of anything but because they were given a bail amount they couldn’t afford to pay, which is a deliberate strategy by the courts when there is no justification to refuse bail. This can look like a $500 cash bail set on a homeless guy charged with resisting arrest (aka being arrested). Many of them are innocent and are trapped and have their lives ruined in exactly the way this guy describes. (We assume that many of them are innocent because when someone pays their bail, more than 50% of cases are simply dismissed as soon as they leave jail. The expectation is that they will just plead guilty because otherwise they are stuck in jail for months waiting for a trial). https://bailproject.org/data/unlocking-the-truth/ https://bailproject.org/data/unlocking-the-truth/
- baggy_trough 5mo ago
  > We assume that many of them are innocent because when someone pays their bail, more than 50% of cases are simply dismissed as soon as they leave jail. This sounds like a very dubious assumption.

Waterluvian 5mo ago

> loud but normal argument you might see in any big box store in the US. I always assumed this kind of behaviour was cherry picked on social media. How “normal” is it actually?!

kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 5mo ago
It's quite rare. Except at Waffle House.
- machomaster 5mo ago
  And at Walmart. And at McDonalds. And at Burger King. And at... Bacically, it is not rare at all. Especially among certain American demographic.
  - 9x39 5mo ago
    Changing customer sentiment is definitely part of it. Another lens is to look at is state violence rates: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_violent_crime_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ...
kube-system 5mo ago
In most of the US -- completely unheard of. In particularly bad neighborhoods in the US -- it happens sometimes. Depending on what kind of life you live in the US, it could be completely foreign to you, or it could be normal.
panny 5mo ago
Completely normal. Happens all the time. My plane was delayed this week because of an unruly passenger on the plane before mine at the gate. My plane had to be diverted into another state while they sorted him out. The day after I landed, I was walking to get something to eat, and there was a bum fight at the road entrance of a Target. They had a disagreement about who could panhandle there. On the way home, some guy climbed the fence and got on the runway. They don't know who he is though, he was sucked through the engine of a plane. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/09/frontier-airlines-plane-hits-pedestrian-denver https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/09/frontier-air... Anyone who says this stuff isn't normal in America doesn't get out much apparently. Living in the US is nuts.

brendoelfrendo 5mo ago

The thing is, this is pretty standard treatment over in Japan. As the blog poster says, the charge against them was ultimately dropped, but not before they were held for over 30 days. The 23 day timer on charges is, as they said, something that is often exploited by the police; they can add charges later to reset the clock. While this is going on, you're often pressured to sign a confession. You may get offered a comparatively short or lenient punishment for confessing, as compared to potentially months of detention while the police perform their investigation and decide what to charge you with. It's a big part of why the conviction rate over there is so high; not confessing to a crime, even when innocent, can carry a punishment worse than conviction. Of course, then you have to consider that you now have a criminal record, so someone who lives in Japan may feel pressured to confess to avoid prolonged detention, but that can have other effects on them in the future.

lazyasciiart 5mo ago
Same in the USA. This is what “prosecutor deals” are for: plead guilty and we’ll let you off with a year in jail, make us hold a trial and the judge will give you ten years.
- brendoelfrendo 5mo ago
  Right, but I intentionally avoided making that comparison because of the way the US justice system works. There are more escape hatches for someone who has been charged to be released while awaiting trial: bail, release on recognizance, habeas petitions, etc. These don't really exist in the same way in Japan.
- tptacek 5mo ago
  It is not in fact the same in the USA. You cannot be held indefinitely without a judicial hearing and without access to a lawyer in the US. You can in Japan, and in fact that's the norm.
  - lazyasciiart 5mo ago
    Tell Kalief Browder that. Oh wait, he killed himself after being held for three years without trial because prosecutors 'weren't ready' to actually try him for the accusation of theft, and without the option of bail because he had previously violated probation as a child. edit: ohhhh oops weasel wording. You're right, he did in fact have multiple judicial hearings! It's functionally irrelevant since none of them ever had the power to release him or find him innocent.

aloisklink 5mo ago

The author mentions it in a YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2epTf2IW1g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2epTf2IW1g (at the 2:20 mark). But essentially, somebody else sent her a package with something illegal in it that she didn't ask for. The police took her passport for a few months and searched her house. After a few months, she got her passport returned to her, she left Japan temporarily, but when she came back, they arrested her "to ensure [she] wouldn't flee while they finished the investigation". She also mentioned it was "the most normal type of thing you can think of"; it might have been something like pseudoephedrine/Sudafed. That's a common over-the-counter drug in other countries but it's very illegal here in Japan (unless it's under 10%, or you buy it from Japan)! Edit: Importing pseudoephedrine above 10% concentrations is illegal, but you can legally buy some higher concentrations over-the-counter while in Japan.

sidewndr46 5mo ago
I am always amazed at details like this. Who would voluntarily go back to this kind of situation?
gravypod 5mo ago
What do you do when you have a bad flu or cold if you don't have pseudoephedrine?
- aloisklink 5mo ago
  You can still easily buy it here, but the over-the-counter pills are always mixed with other ingredients to make it more difficult to convert them into amphetamines. E.g. Contac 600 Plus can be found in basically all drug stores and it has 120mg of Pseudoephedrine, 100mg Caffeine, 8mg Chlorpheniramine, and 0.4mg of Belladonna Extract. It sounds like it'll actually be illegal to import into Japan, since 120/(120 + 100 + 8 + 0.4) is over 10%, but I've previously just walked into a drug store and bought a packet.
  - gravypod 5mo ago
    Ok, that makes sense. I am assuming it is not common to be arrested for possessing this kind of over the counter remedy?

samrus 5mo ago

> If he stabbed someone and got this treatment, it would be very different I dont think so. I think innocent until proven guilty is the right way to go. Because all the police know is that he is accused of stabbing someone. Whether he actually did it or not, a court of law will decide that while he is present to be tried. Until then You cant punish someone like this over an accusation. You can deny bail if the person might be dangerous, but you cant punish them This is bullshit and the japanese should be ashamed of having such a system while being considered a part of the civilized world. If this was china people would be rightfully losing their mind

Aurornis 5mo ago
Innocent until proven guilty doesn't mean someone gets to go free until their court date. It depends on the crime, the flight risk, and the supporting evidence that police are able to collect. There are many examples of police letting suspects go due to lack of evidence and then later discovering they let the wrong person go. These stories generate a lot of outrage in cases where there's public interest or a news story, but this is the reality of crime: You don't always have enough evidence to justify detaining someone, but the police's job is to quickly try to find enough evidence to find the right perpetrator
- arcfour 5mo ago
  Okay, but maybe we can feed them actual food, let them shower daily, and give them bedding? Are you opposed to this?
  - Aurornis 5mo ago
    Of course not. That has nothing to do with my comment.
- samrus 5mo ago
  > Innocent until proven guilty doesn't mean someone gets to go free until their court date. I know what bail is and that is should denied in certain cases. Even if bail should be denied for an accused stabbing, there are alot of other things innocent until proven guilty implies that japan doesnt meet the mark on, like feeding people proprrly and not mentally torturing them

agnishom 5mo ago

I strongly suspect that the author's legal counsel advised them not to discuss their actual charge in explicit detail

bsimpson 5mo ago

It surprises me how many people are responding to an article that includes: > You can not bring or keep anything including a bra or even your own underwear. presuming the author is male.

Ferret7446 5mo ago
I assume a female wouldn't distinguish bra and underwear? I also don't know why it matters either way, whether the author is presumed male or female
- kelnos 5mo ago
  > I assume a female wouldn't distinguish bra and underwear? Perhaps this is a regional thing, but in my experience, they absolutely do.
- bsimpson 5mo ago
  I presumed a man wouldn't have been concerned with a foreign jail's rules for bras.

bitwize 5mo ago

Jack Henry Abbott was an American prisoner who corresponded with the author Norman Mailer, who successfully got a collection of his letters published as In the Belly of the Beast, which contain scathing critiques of the American justice and prison systems based on his own experiences therewith. Mailer also successfully advocated for Abbott's parole. Six weeks later, Abbott stabbed to death the manager of a restaurant he was eating at after an argument.

eduction 5mo ago

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deleted 5mo ago

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kelnos 5mo ago

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 designed for one thing: high conviction rates, regardless of guilt or innocence.

nihonde 5mo ago
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- saagarjha 5mo ago
  You're not really doing a great job selling the country, that's for sure.
  - nihonde 5mo ago
    As if that was ever the goal. Japan is plenty popular.
- fzeroracer 5mo ago
  The charges were dropped. Regardless of your opinions on how an orderly government or justice system should run or how criminals should be treated, in this situation what happened was an innocent person was tortured by the state.
  - pjjpo 5mo ago
    Even if you actually rape someone, if you settle with the victim jb cash, the charges are dropped. Something that really needs to change but seems to not be going so well. Not saying that's what happened in this case by any ways, just that dropped charges = innocent isn't true. And I agree with the OP that knowing the context would help sympathize, especially given usually someone innocent would share that more proactively. Instead, many are even assuming this is something about foreigners, with absolutely no basis to assume that...

laughing_man 5mo ago

In what country is getting arrested pleasant? Japan is probably worse than Northern Europe, but it's still pretty high on "if I had to be arrested, I'd rather it was here" list.

arcfour 5mo ago
I think there's an enormous difference between an "unpleasant experience" and "active torture."

deleted 5mo ago

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jaredklewis 5mo ago

This take is insane. The charges could be very serious but I’m not sure what that has to do with anything, because being charged (or even just arrested) is not the same as being convicted. The author of this post claims both of their charges were dropped. So, what, let’s torture anyone that _might_ have done something “serious?” No judge, no jury, just if a cop thinks you might have done something, straight into a psychological torture cell for weeks and months while they think about your case? wtf Also, your description of their experience as “not pleasant” just kind of blows my mind. Like it was a long line at the DMV or something.

cush 5mo ago

> That he doesn't go on to protest why he got locked up makes me think it was something more serious Most of the post explains how she wasn’t allowed to do the things you’re suggesting she do, and at the end it explains how her charges were dropped.