I'll take a shot at this.

[I.J. Reilly]

Holy cow.

But do you live in fear of being pulled over for going 5 over?

You are missing the point of my post.

[JohnnyLingo]

Just this morning, a cop was behind me as I was driving out of my neighborhood on a 30 mph speed limit road. I set the cruise control at 30 as long as he was in my rear view mirror. Once he turned off the road, I went ahead and upped it to 35. Well, more like 34.

Where do you live? In Idaho you can pass cops on the freeway no problem. I've never lowered my speed to the actual speed limit just because a cop was behind me.

No not at all, as I said I know a lot of cops really well. I have four in my ward who thankfully have looked the other way numerous times when I have been going 8-10 over the speed limit (I have a dark blue Tacoma with BYU plates so I'm pretty easy to spot from a distance).

But if you lived somewhere with different cops, it would be a problem.

[All-American]

Where do you live? In Idaho you can pass cops on the freeway no problem. I've never lowered my speed to the actual speed limit just because a cop was behind me.

Salt Lake Metro area.

[JohnnyLingo]

Salt Lake Metro area.

Perhaps our opinions are colored by where we are. I wonder if my experience or yours is more typical to the country in general.

[wuapinmon]

Most of our experiences with cops involve traffic stops. I don't think most cops experiences with people breaking the law are traffic stops. They get jaded and we get the butt end of that jadedness.

[Pheidippides]

That's a good question. Yes, I think that it may have a lot to do with cultural influences and fear of bringing shame on a family. I am sure gun control plays a role to some degree, but I think it is a variety of factors.

Perhaps Niku and others could weigh in.

This is my opinion only, but here are my thoughts.

I don't think it has much to do with shame or cultural influences per se. I think it has everything to do with the penalties.

First of all, if you are arrested for something, 99% of the time you will confess - if you are in Japan and Japanese, that is. Them's the facts. It's hard to say if that's a result of the police only catching the real perps or coercion - I think both with a bit more emphasis on the latter for many reasons which I can give you in detail if you are bored to death - but the upshot is that you are going to get convicted, statistically speaking.

Second - there's none of the plea bargaining/reduced sentence stuff. You confessed, remember? No bargaining chips. And it goes on your permanent record, which more or less actually exists.

Third - The Japanese middle class is huge. Gigantic. Social safety net, etc. (although with gaping holes in some places). If you are normal, you are middle class. I know of only two ways to get yourself out of the middle class: be a dowamin/burakumin/eta (note that the last of those is akin to the n-word in English, and the middle ain't exactly flattering anymore) in Kansai or further West (and this isn't even strictly true anymore) or be convicted of a crime. Even as a juvie, although the younger you do it the less outcast you will be.

IOW, it's all about social structure, not culture. That bowing stuff is all pretend. And suicide isn't a bad option when your alternative is living on the streets for the rest of your life.

You guys don't want to get me started on all this stuff unless you are really bored and have nothing better to do than take a nap. It was my life's pursuit for several years.

[Pheidippides]

Well, I live in Shibuya, but on the other side of Sakuragaoka hill, so I'm close to tons of foreigners, but not actually amongst them in my neighborhood.

I can't stand Roppongi but I like Hiroo. One place I've been digging lately is Shimokitazawa.

Hiroo (don't let the missionaries tell you it is Hirou, although from a pronounciation standpoint it makes little difference) is a nice area. A trip to the international market there was always a pick-me-up when I was feeling homesick.

[Babs]

Tim really motivated me once to get going on being in shape by keeping a weight loss blog. I have always liked him since then.

I am often asked how a female evangelical Sooner fan with no ties to Utah found her way to CG. It's a lesser-known fact that it's mostly on account of Tim (with some help from SoonerCoug, Ty Detmer, the 2006 midterm elections, and mid-twentieth-century absurdist drama) that I ended up on CG 3(!) years ago. Interestingly enough, even though he invited me, once I got to the board, I noticed that Tim didn't actually hang around CG much. It's cool to have him active again.

[JohnnyLingo]

You guys don't want to get me started on all this stuff unless you are really bored and have nothing better to do than take a nap. It was my life's pursuit for several years.

By all means, continue. I like learning about other cultures, and Japan is especially interesting for whatever reason.

[Pheidippides]

By all means, continue. I like learning about other cultures, and Japan is especially interesting for whatever reason.

You really don't - it's a lot like asking a lawyer what he does for a living in that the answer will be unintelligible, self-serving and boring. But I will say that the main problem we have in understanding Japan is that we compare it to the US. You should instead compare it to France or Germany. When you think of it as an small, European nation, the differences are far fewer than people think.

[JohnnyLingo]

You really don't - it's a lot like asking a lawyer what he does for a living in that the answer will be unintelligible, self-serving and boring. But I will say that the main problem we have in understanding Japan is that we compare it to the US. You should instead compare it to France or Germany. When you think of it as an small, European nation, the differences are far fewer than people think.

It's your call, but I honestly would like to hear more of what you have to say. Maybe in another thread if you feel like it.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Very interesting, Niku. Thanks.

(and feel free to carry on)

[Rosebud]

Thanks for sharing Tim... I'm loving that you guys are taking the time to do this .

I'm ashamed to admit, though, that when I lived in Japan I liked Hiroo because I craved the presence of other foreigners and the availability of American food. But, I did feel safer in Japan than the US despite the fact that my coloring really made me stick out. I'd ride my bike alone at night there... and I'd never think of doing that here. I really hated all the drunk men on the train every night, though... too friendly.

[Pheidippides]

It's your call, but I honestly would like to hear more of what you have to say. Maybe in another thread if you feel like it.

Very interesting, Niku. Thanks.

(and feel free to carry on)

I will expand on just this, which I think is relevant: right to counsel can be (or at least could be, last I checked) denied for a long, long time. It's sometimes argued that the right doesn't exist at all. I did have the opportunity to sit down for a couple of hours with one of the Supreme Court justices over there (can you imagine getting the chance to talk with, say, Justice Kennedy for two hours in private!) and found that he was actually quite liberal on changing that and other things. But change is probably not exceptionally practical, given that people do not their leaders to be "soft" on crime. That doesn't seem soft to us, maybe, but it's a matter of perspective.

A couple of notable exceptions. First of all, political scandal, bribery, etc. is expected, if not exactly accepted. Sure, you have to resign in disgrace and all that but that's about it, and you'll like as not falling into a sweet position somewhere - the equivalent to "golden parachute" in Japanese is "amakudari", which literally means "descent from heaven.

Second, until recently, and even now to some extent, police are content to let the yakuza goons kill and harm each other as long as innocent people are left alone. And the yakuza know it. They even have open and notorious offices with names and such on them (big sign out front saying "Yamaguchi Mob", for example) and that's just the way things are. If you stay out of prostitution and, to a much, much lesser extent, pachinko, as well as a few other things, you'll never run into them at all.

One additional point of clarification: some guns (notably shotguns) are legal over there for sporting purposes, or at least were last I checked. There are several administrative hoops to jump through to get one, but somebody with a mind to do so could probably get their hands on one and do some major damage in a crowded area. Other illegal guns do exist underground - I have anecdotal (but very trustworthy) evidence of at least one person having one stuck in his face as a threat. But that is a very significant exception and is akin to me saying that all Americans shoot up with heroin after dinner just because I know of a guy who does.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I will expand on just this, which I think is relevant: right to counsel can be (or at least could be, last I checked) denied for a long, long time. It's sometimes argued that the right doesn't exist at all. I did have the opportunity to sit down for a couple of hours with one of the Supreme Court justices over there (can you imagine getting the chance to talk with, say, Justice Kennedy for two hours in private!) and found that he was actually quite liberal on changing that and other things. But change is probably not exceptionally practical, given that people do not their leaders to be "soft" on crime. That doesn't seem soft to us, maybe, but it's a matter of perspective.

A couple of notable exceptions. First of all, political scandal, bribery, etc. is expected, if not exactly accepted. Sure, you have to resign in disgrace and all that but that's about it, and you'll like as not falling into a sweet position somewhere - the equivalent to "golden parachute" in Japanese is "amakudari", which literally means "descent from heaven.

Second, until recently, and even now to some extent, police are content to let the yakuza goons kill and harm each other as long as innocent people are left alone. And the yakuza know it. They even have open and notorious offices with names and such on them (big sign out front saying "Yamaguchi Mob", for example) and that's just the way things are. If you stay out of prostitution and, to a much, much lesser extent, pachinko, as well as a few other things, you'll never run into them at all.

One additional point of clarification: some guns (notably shotguns) are legal over there for sporting purposes, or at least were last I checked. There are several administrative hoops to jump through to get one, but somebody with a mind to do so could probably get their hands on one and do some major damage in a crowded area. Other illegal guns do exist underground - I have anecdotal (but very trustworthy) evidence of at least one person having one stuck in his face as a threat. But that is a very significant exception and is akin to me saying that all Americans shoot up with heroin after dinner just because I know of a guy who does.

One of my missionary apartments was right next door to a yakuza headquarters. They had a great big black Cadillac out front and they would wash and wax it every day. They also played catch a lot. They kept asking us to play softball with them, but we politely declined.