The Police are Above the Law in the USA and Japan

CHIBA MURDER CASE UPDATE BELOW!


Below is a video about police abuse of the their positions of authority and brazen disregard of the law. The top video is about what goes on in the Florida in the United States. But it there anyone who could be so naive to think that Japan is different? It is an abuse that comes with the badge. The second video is about police negligence and incompetence in Japan that resulted in the deaths of two people. The deaths resulted in the "dismissal" of a police officer (who, in fact, gets to keep his job!) Read on!

Protecting society by being on the lookout for vicious criminals 

not wearing seat belts or with burnt out lights 

This is, once again, an indictment of government and the police.


In the video below, here are some shocking statistics:


* In Florida between 2004 ~ 2010 there were 230 accidents by police officers          speeding
* In those accidents, 21 people were killed or maimed and 7 of those were police
* A 2010 Department of Transportation report says that nothing kills police more than car crashes
* 44% increase in police driven car accidents since 2000

I'd like to find a video or news report about Japanese traffic police abusing their authority, and I looked, but even though everyone knows these things go on, even if there were a report, Japanese TV stations probably won't broadcast it. They don't want to piss off the government. 

CHIBA MURDER CASE UPDATE: But, here's another one relating to yesterday's story about the dumb police section chief and 11 of his officers taking a vacation when a father reported that a stalker of his daughter had threatened to kill him and his wife in order to get the daughter. They wanted to go on vacation so they told him to come back in ten days and then report the incident.

Off to vacation they went. The stalker then killed the man's wife and another family member. Well done, Sherlock!

In an update to this story by Japan Today, the only penalty for this negligence by a public servant that resulted in the deaths of two people is that the head of the police section was dismissed. If negligence by a peasant like you or me resulted in the deaths of two people, you could bet that we'd be looking at a possible prison sentence. A policeman? Dismissal. Bet you a donut he still gets his total retirement package too. But it gets worse, folks...


Let's not misunderstand what "Dismissal" means. It doesn't mean he was fired and lost his job. It means he was dismissed from his section. He is now in another section. It's happened many times before here in Japan. He will be back at his position within 6 months to 3 years. Like I said, this has happened many times before.


Two laws on the books. Two sets of rules. One for slaves, peasants and mundanes! One for the rulers!


A friend and I drive through downtown Tokyo once or twice every week. We see the police all the time and were talking about this very subject on Tuesday. 


To get a bit off subject, in the last few years, there has been a marked increase in Parking Meter police and Policing of the streets in Tokyo as well as police stops and random checks of cars at night. I think it is foolish to believe that these police and highly increased police presences is to protect the public and make our streets safer. No, in a time of a sagging economy and a government doing anything it can to refill it coiffures, these increased police patrols and stops are not for public safety but are a backdoor tax.


You can witness these tax agents dressed as police hiding at stop signs in neighborhoods waiting for some schmuck to not come to a full and complete stop at said stop sign... If you don't stop completely, then woe be to you. Mr. tax policeman is about to give you a ¥15,000 (about $180 ticket!)... All, of course, in the name of public safety mind you. 


As I mentioned, my friend and I were discussing this just the other day. We got on the subject while we were stopped at a red light. A police motorcycle approached on the opposite side and, as the policeman got to the intersection, he turned on his red lights and sirens and went through. When he got across the intersection to the other side, he turned the red lights and sirens off and continued on his merry way. It was obvious he wasn't chasing anyone.


I drive a few minutes in the morning everyday and once or twice a week with him, but my friend drives all the time. He was telling me that he's recently seen police speeding way past the limit even though they had no siren or lights on; he's seen other police running red lights; he's even seen police talking on their cell-phones and driving.


You see, the police can do that because there's two sets of laws on the books. One for peasants and mundanes like us and the other set of laws for the ruling class.


I think it's about time that people start to stand up for their rights and we make the ruling class know that we're on to their games and that we do know that they work for us... We do not work for them.


The only consolation prize we get in Japan is the police aren't shooting us with tasers, guns or beating us with truncheons... But if the police numbers keep increasing as they are and their interference with our daily lives and mundane activities continually increases, it's a sure bet that they will someday...


All we need to do is hop on a Jet plane and go to the USA to see what's going to happen.


And we pay taxes for this?

The Japanese Riot! Demanding Withdrawal From Korea! And Closure of Narita!

Yesterday I posted the story about how far American society has collapsed with the story and video of fighting - as well as people getting run over by a car - while they waited in line for a job at McDonald's. 

Things are very bad in the USA and they are going to get much worse. 

The economic problems in Japan are very bad too, but there is one saving grace about Japan and the Japanese... They don't riot and protest and go batsh*t crazy and violent like the Americans do. Do they?

Here's a link sent by regular reader diego.a with a 1961 video about a "riot" against US troops.

More proof to add to your article: Japanese Students Riot Demanding US Withdrawal

No riot gear costumes, tasers, or pepper-spray. Few nightsticks, but lots of pushing and shoving. You could get more injuries at a soccer match riot. Even their motives were better than US rioters. They are even better dressed. I even had to go back to 1961 to get this!

Thanks diego.a. Cool video!!! But wait a minute! Is it true that the Japanese are too docile and absolutely will not riot like westerners? I'm not too sure about that. Here is a video from Oct. 20, 1985 of a left wing group known as Chuukakuha leading a riot in an attempt to stop Narita airport expansion. Especially pay attention from about 1:00.... This will blow your mind. The sh*t really starts hitting the fan from 2:00 ~

Here's some more from riots and demonstrations against the original construction of Narita in the late 1970s.  I remember these well. In the first video, the demonstrators actually took over, sacked and occupied the control tower at Narita:

(The sound on this one is missing for the first 2'50" or so)

The next video is from a collection of unedited videos of the riots. I have added the first of the series here for you.

(The sound on this one is missing for the first 40 seconds or so)

If you wish to see the rest of the series, click here: NARITA STRUGGLE 1978 成田空港管制塔占拠. If you want to see many riot videos in Japan, click here. 

Oh, and there's lots more where these came from. Here's a photo of Japanese students rioting against the renewal of the US-Japan Security Treaty in 1960:

So, perhaps thinking that the Japanese won't riot and are too docile maybe a bit presumptuous... What happens when Japan is no longer an extremely wealthy country and the youth have no jobs?... Like it was in 1960?

Old Skool Yakuza Gangster Assassination - New Skool Government Fear Mongering

"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before." - Rahm Emanuel

Well, as it has been said, never to let a good crisis go to waste, a gangland killing in Japan has gotten the police and the mass media in a huff to show the population of Japan just how much serious danger they, and their children, are in. What ever will we do? Well, obviously, we need to rely on the police to protect us from these senseless gangster killers who are out to kill us all and eat our children. Read on.

Yakuza are going the way of the samurai... The ones I see never dress nice like this anymore.... They only dress nicely like this in the movies...

It looks like the Yakuza gangsters in Japan have really fallen on tough times. It seems that things are so bad that they've started eating out at crummy family restaurants. What ever happened to the classy joints these guys used to hang at at? You know, guys like Don Corleone who would only go to those ritzy members-only clubs that were filled with those classy hot dames like you see in the movies?

Yeah. Like this. High class women... Gentlemanly attitude

Gangsters hanging out at family restaurants!? I mean, has business gotten that bad? My business is bad too but I never go to family restaurants like Denny's. I hate that place. Family restaurants are over-priced and the food isn't good at all (excepting the salad bar at Sizzler's). And trust folks, even though I don't go, I do know that Denny's in Japan is MUCH better than Denny's in the USA. Denny's in Japan is actually kept very clean and the service is good (well, this is Japan, after all).


But, that's not the point. Never mind.


It seems that in Chiba, a Yakuza guy walked into a Denny's restaurant, pulled out a gun and blew away another Yakuza guy who was sitting there. I think it was a planned "hit" because there was no big scene or fight before the shooting.   


The Japan Times Reports in "Mobster Dead in Eatery Shooting":

CHIBA — An apparently underworld member gunned down another yakuza in a crowded Denny's eatery in Togane, Chiba Prefecture, and then fled, police said.

The shooter, thought to be a gangster in his 60s, remains at large. The victim, Yoshiaki Furukawa, 62, from Kujyukuri, also apparently a yakuza, was shot in the chest. The gunman fled by car from the Denny's Togane Bypass outlet at around 10:05 a.m.

Police, who suspect the killing stemmed from money troubles, set up checkpoints on key routes.

Furukawa entered the Denny's with four others at 8:45 a.m. He started talking with the gunman, who came in shortly before 10 a.m., at another table near the door before he was shot.

"I heard a loud bang real close, just a few meters away from me," said one customer. "When I looked over my shoulder, a man was lying on the floor, bleeding."

So, the Yakuza are out shooting each other in what looks to be a planned event and what to the police do? They scare the entire eastern half of Japan by telling people to take their little children home from school and setting up roadblocks for someone who they don't even know what he looks like.

The female news reporter on the left at the start of the video is amusing in how much she tries her best to look serious and that she actually cares. Also notice the dozens of police and intentionally high visibility at the crime scene. They must have sent every single policeman available to make for great news video!

From the description of the Japan Times quote above the only thing that this news report adds is that the shooting was near a Denny's that is near two schools. I hate to sound like a Negative Nelly, but, well, yeah. The Denny's is near a train station, like probably every Denny's in Japan. Nobody in their right mind puts a family restaurant - or a school - too awfully far from a train station, especially when we're talking about big Japanese cities. Nevertheless, this gives the broadcasting station enough "gunpowder" to be able to scare everyone that the Yakuza are coming for your children! The underlying message being that we need the police to protect us from these out-of-control demons.


Once again, the police will use this incident as some sort of proof that we need more police protection and more laws clamping down on the Yakuza (which has been ongoing for this last year). I think that sort of notion is complete and absolute nonsense. Let me explain and add some perspective to this.


From the Associated Press:

Japan, where very few people own guns, averages 124 gun-related attacks a year, and less than 1 percent end in death. Police often raid the homes of those suspected of having weapons. 

And may I add this from the Asia-Pacific Law Review: 

Gun crime does exist, but in very low numbers. There were only 30 crimes committed in 1989 with shotguns or air rifles. With no legal civilian handgun possession, Japan experiences in an average year less than 200 violent crimes perpetrated with a handgun, of which almost all are perpetrated by Boryokudan, organised crime groups. Most gun crimes involve only unlicensed possession, and not the commission of another crime. 

Anyone can see that the hype doesn't reflect the reality. We don't need more laws curtailing whatever it is that the Yakuza are doing, especially ridiculous things like scalping tickets and we certainly do not need to increase police or government budgets.


We need to cut government spending. With our public debt at 229% of GDP, we certainly do not need to use these sorts of excuses to increase police budgets for crimes that kill 127 people a year (and nearly all of them perpetrated against gangster by gangsters - not regular people) in a country of 127 million people. Heck, in 2010 over 350,000 people died of cancer... 


But laying in a hospital bed with tubes in ones nose doesn't make for good or exciting TV news, now does it? Shootouts and panic are much better for increasing budgets and asking for more taxation. 




Thanks to Japan Times and News on Japan

Japan's SM Police! Why in the World are the Japanese Police Raiding SM Clubs? A Policeman is Caught Naked in One of Them! Ridiculous Laws Must Stop!

I hate to sound like a broken record, but why in the world are the police wasting time and taxpayers monies on chasing people around for victimless "crimes" like smoking herbs, prostitution, gambling, paying for sex and other "favors," and now standing around naked at a Sadomasochist club? You got to be kidding me!

Japanese Dominatrix: Beautiful and sexy Japanese girl? Yes... But not my type... 

Different strokes for different folks, I guess... Me? I've never been one for pain. 

Pain hurts. Funny that; I don't like things that hurt... 

(Probably wouldn't kick her outta bed for eating rice crackers, tho')  

It gets worse and just shows how stupid and hypocritical our masters and the police are in that, at this particular raid on said SM club, one of the 15 patrons arrested was an off-duty police officer! (I wonder how many of those other tax-feeding cops are involved in other so-called "illegal" past-times when they are not busy crashing parties and bizarre past times that other people are involved in?)


Hell, they arrest people for getting their jollies at an SM club? What the heck? Why don't they arrest people for going out and wasting a full day at a golf course too? If you ask me, that is a waste of time. As Mark Twain said, "Golf is a good walk spoiled."

I don't know, honey... You sure a nice dinner 

and a glass of wine wouldn't be more fun?

The Tokyo Reporter has the story that makes me want to pull my hair out: Sapporo cop busted for nudity during raid of SM club:

TOKYO (TR) – Sapporo police early Saturday arrested a fellow officer for public indecency during a raid of a SM club in the Susukino entertainment district, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Feb. 11).

Naotoshi Okuzawa, a 28-year-old senior patrol officer from the Atsubetsu Police Station, was taken into custody after officers entered Club Patio and found the officer on the stage naked and in the company of female employee, who had tied him with a red rope.

“There is no question that I was naked,” Okuzawa is quoted in admitting to the allegations.

When officers entered the premises at 1:15 a.m., 15 customers were present. Initially, Ozawa did not reveal his occupation, but later investigators discovered that he is a fellow officer.

“We seriously apologize for arrest of a policeman,” said Minoru Okumura, a spokesperson for the Hokkaido prefectural police. “All the facts will be investigated, and we will deal with this matter in a very strict manner.” 

"We seriously apologize for the arrest of a policeman"??? Yeah, what he really means is that "We made a mistake. If we'd have known he was a policeman, we'd have never arrested him. We only arrest mundanes and peasants (regular people like you). We promise to make sure that it doesn't happen again..."


Pardon me for being so stupid, but what is it that they are arresting these people and this cop for? Being stupid? Having weird hobbies? Being a bit twisted (who isn't a bit twisted?) Being naked inside a building? Well, funny that, I have a strange notion that it is inside of buildings and not outside of buildings that people are supposed to be naked when that dress (or lack thereof) situation occurs.

"Hands up! I'm taking you in... Dead or alive! Your call!"

Great. Just great. Japan's total debt is 492% of GDP and our national financial situation is desperate and these clowns are chasing around people with fetishisms and other silly habits. It is even stupider when you realize that the government wants to make laws that are supposed to make us "better people"!!!??? As I wrote in: Man Dies Smoking "Legal Herb"? Japan's Newest Drug Craze and More Unnecessary Drug Laws

The government has no business passing laws on what people wish to put into their bodies. If people are stupid enough to want to huff airplane fuel, drive without a seat belt, drink until they kill themselves, or eat junk food all the time, will we pass laws making that illegal too? (Look at the idiocy in England whereby teapots must be labeled, "Sugar leads to diabetics." (sic))

This comes down to private property rights. The poor guy who died, as with you or me, are the owners of our own bodies. There is no one who has the right to tell us what we can and cannot consume. Guidelines are welcomed, but these draconian laws are a waste of taxpayers money.

These idiotic laws are passed, but our lords, masters and politicians get caught doing the very same things that they don't want the mundanes, peasants and  public (that's where you and I come in) to do because of their hypocritical public stance. Remember: "Don't do as I do. Do as I say!"

Cops? Out of control everywhere!

When is the public going to finally stand up and say, "Enough is enough!" of this nonsense.

Man Dies Smoking "Legal Herb"? Japan's Newest Drug Craze and More Unnecessary Drug Laws

Interestingly enough, just after I finished my series on drug rehabilitation in Japan, the news is out that a young man was smoking 脱法ハーブ (Dappo herb) "legal herb" and died in his apartment in Nagoya. It also seems that there is some confusion as to whether or not this Dappo Herb is legal or not. Shop owners have been circumventing the law by selling the herbs as "incense." It seems that if the shop owners tell the customers that they should smoke the herb, then that would be breaking the law.


This is confusing as, with, say Marijuana, Japanese law is specific; smoking marijuana is not illegal in Japan. Possession of marijuana is illegal. Possession precedes use. Makes sense. So, then why isn't possession of these laced herbs not illegal? It is just more on the madness of these laws... But more on that later.

This news has come to the forefront last night and today as, day before yesterday, a young man in Nagoya was alleged to have been smoking the Dappo Herb and then he died. It is not yet sure the reasons for his death but police suspect it has something to do with an overdose concerning Dappo Herb.


Here is a news story about the incident:

Quick explanation & translation:  

The video talks about a 24-year-old guy named Miura, a restaurant employee, who was smoking this Dappo Herb with a friend and died on February 6th, 2012. The friend told police that they were smoking when Miura grew silent. Soon after, his friend checked him and Miura's body was cold. The police said they found the Dappo Herb in Muira's pocket along with a pipe. Many shops are selling Dappo Herb as "legal herbs" but this is not true. The police say they will start enforcing the law in a more vigorous manner.

The rise in popularity of Dappo Herb has gone from two shops selling it in Tokyo in 2009 to at least 89 this year. 

Japan Times reports:

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government identified two shops selling such products in fiscal 2009. As of last Friday, 89 such shops were in existence, many of them in Shinjuku and Shibuya, areas popular with young people.

"Even if (herbs) do not include chemicals designated (as illegal) by law, you can't say they are safe. (Inhaling them) is like conducting a human experiment with your own body," said Masahiko Funada, who heads a team researching addictive drugs at the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry in Tokyo.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has been locked in a race with dealers as it keeps adding new stimulants to its list of illegal drugs while dealers keep marketing new products, including new chemicals they say are not covered by drug regulations. 

Well, that's the news; and now the commentary: 

That last paragraph of this quote from the Japan Times should demonstrate to anyone the futility of these sorts of laws prohibiting victimless crimes. There will always be new chemicals coming up that are outside the law. Will we keep expanding the laws forever and ever? We need less government in our lives, not more. It doesn't matter whether it is gambling, prostitution, or drug use, victimless crimes should be decriminalized. 


It is true that this guy died in Nagoya but there is no proof that Dappo Herb caused his death. If he is stupid enough to be smoking some sort of chemical concoction that he doesn't even know what it is, then let him. There is no way to outlaw stupidity.

The government has no business passing laws on what people wish to put into their bodies. If people are stupid enough to want to huff airplane fuel, drive without a seat belt, drink until they kill themselves, or eat junk food all the time, will we pass laws making that illegal too? (Look at the idiocy in England whereby teapots must be labeled, "Sugar leads to diabetics." (sic))

This comes down to private property rights. The poor guy who died, as with you or me, are the owners of our own bodies. There is no one who has the right to tell us what we can and cannot consume. Guidelines are welcomed, but these draconian laws are a waste of taxpayers money.

Some will say that decriminalizing, say, heroin or cocaine will cause a boom in its use. That's total nonsense. Five years after decriminalizing many of these drugs, Portugal enjoyed seeing their use cut in half as reported by Forbes magazine. But you don't need to read Forbes to realize that decriminalizing drugs would not lead to a boom in their use... If heroin were decriminalized tomorrow, would you go out and start doing it; your friends or family? I didn't think so.

Like I said, we need less government in our lives, not more. The expansion of laws and these sorts of actions only serve to increase the size of government and the tax burden on the average Japanese citizen. The politicians want to increase our sales tax to 10% - even, some say, 25%! but what they fail to realize is that they can raise the taxes forever and it won't matter.

It won't matter because, no matter how mathematically challenged the Japanese government is, you cannot forever continue to spend more than you take in. That should be the lesson learned over these last 20 years, going on 30, but it's not. 

We need to shrink the size of government and government duties and with it, our tax burden. A great place to start is the ridiculous policing of victimless crimes. 

A quick and easy way to do that would be to decriminalize victimless crimes like prostitution, gambling and smoking of recreational drugs. We've regulated and decriminalized one of the most dangerous, addictive and deadly drugs known to man; alcohol, and that seems to be working out okay.

Cutting down on the number of laws on the books will only serve to cut costs. We should decrease, not increase the number of laws governing the public.

Major Japanese Magazines and Writers Come Out Agreeing With You-Know-Who on Yakuza Legislation

Well, look at what we have here! It's not often that I get to blow my own horn so allow me the indulgence: 


Tokyo Reporter has the story that Nikkan Gendai as well as some very famous Japanese writers have come out publicly against proposed legislation that is supposed designed to curtail Yakuza activities:

Since its institution in October, the prefectural legislation has been called “overkill,” with critics calling it a violation of basic human rights since gang members and their families are first and foremost people.

“Laws should be enforced based on deeds and not on a person’s social status,” Sataka said.

Nikkan Gendai believes that police are aware that an opposition movement may spread, which would render the legislation to be ineffective.

I wrote at length about this in Legislating Morality. I also complained that carte blanche laws and rules that hurt people and their families due to guilt by association could not possibly be legal and is not up to standard in a so-called democratic nation that respects human rights. I also wrote that I was extremely suspicious of this sort of legislation. Refer to: Japanese Insurance Companies Stop Payments for Jews, Catholics, Cross-dressers, Left-Handed People, Club Members, Punks and Yakuza

The recent crackdown on the Yakuza in Japan is not motivated by any recent domestic developments or problems on the home front. I submit to you, dear reader, that this crack down is motivated partly by US government pressure and is just another of many scams being perpetrated by our government to steal money to help pay for the financial disaster that the western governments (Japan included) have engineered that is about to befall on all of us regular people in the working class. On top of that, it is just another boondoogle for a government agency (the Japanese police) to try to justify massive public tax expenditures and to try to avoid budget cutbacks next year... 


Well now we have the Nikkan Gendai and these writers agreeing with me but, as was expected, they have a bit more inside information that I do and accuse the government of hijinks on a different level. They accuse the government of creating these new laws to protect the Good Old Boys network in Japan whereby retired government workers (read retired police fat cats) get high paying jobs at private firms after retirement. They call it Amakudari here.


More from Tokyo Reporter:

According to Miyazaki, the real point of the legislation is the preservation of amakudari, or the process by which government officials assume positions at corporations upon retirement.

“At the time of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty in 1970, many policemen were recruited,” Miyazaki said. “This is a big problem in guaranteeing them an amakudari positions upon retirement. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and, Tourism and the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry are different. Retired police officials do not have any special skills that can be carried forward into the business world. However, if laws (related to organized crime) become more strict, companies would need former officers for consulting purposes.”

The article notes that the January 28 issue of Toyo Keizai magazine says that there are 83 listed firms, including Sharp Corporation, NYK Group, and the Chugoku Electric Power Company, that have former police officials on staff.

Therefore, the strengthening anti-gang laws at the prefectural and national levels would require more former police officials “to descend” into positions within corporations for compliance reasons, Nikkan Gendai says. 


Here, once again, as I have repeatedly stated; the government always has some sort of motivation (not the public good) for what it does. It is the goal of all governments, be they Democratic, Communist, Fascist, Socialist to use whatever crisis exists to expand upon themselves and increase the size of government. History shows us this to be true.  


This nonsense is a waste of our tax monies. Japan is up deep serious economic problems. We have debt at 229% of GDP. Total debt at 492% of GDP. A declining population which is destroying the savings rate and our productivity and these idiots in government and the police are concerned about ticket scalpers, hot young actresses, mutually consented sex between adults, and members only clubs... And they are concerned that the Yakuza are involved with all of the above and, heaven forbid, making TV shows?!

Obviously with criminal intent

Don't want to get off the point too much, but, as an example; what people need to realize is that the mafia are and have always been involved with entertainment business in the west too! In Japan the Yakuza have been involved in the entertainment business in Japan for easily over 400 years. Here's two choice tidbits from Wikipedia:

"They are very prevalent in the Japanese media..."

"Despite uncertainty about the single origin of yakuza organizations, most modern yakuza derive from two classifications which emerged in the mid-Edo Period (1603 – 1868): tekiya, those who primarily peddled illicit, stolen or shoddy goods; and bakuto, those who were involved in or participated in gambling."

If you want to see just how much more absurdist this entire thing gets. Here is the original Tokyo Reporter story that the - surprise! - Yakuza are involved in TV! Heavens! What will we ever do?  Hot Young Female Japanese Actresses, Yakuza Gangsters, Sex and Japanese TV and Mass Media - This Post Has it All!!! 


... In the meantime, drip drip drip... nuclear waste leaks at Tepco, our debt grows by the minute, idiots want to double sales taxes so that we can pay for government expenditures (such as chasing skirts on TV sets) the economy stumbles... And the Keystone Cops want to chase ticket scalpers and skirts?... Doomed, I tell you!

Amazingly Enough, In Spite of Us Parents, Most Kids Turn Out Alright

I think it is safe to say that pretty much all parents worry about their children's future. Of course we worry about their health and safety, but I'm talking about something else; I'm talking about worrying about their future as in, "Can they get a job after getting out of school?" "Will they be productive members of society?" or, even worse, "Will they straighten out and stay out of jail?"

Some parents might laugh at that last one but I don't. I didn't. When my two older daughters were junior high school students, I seriously worried if they were ever going to straighten out and fly right. In fact, in my oldest daughters case, I was so worried that she'd lead a life of crime, wind up with no family and be homeless, that I didn't care if she married this Yakuza gangster guy she was hanging out with! I actually thought my daughter marrying a Yakuza was probably a good thing. Please refer to and article that I wrote six years ago entitled, "Yakuza: Japanese Modern-Day Cowboys"


My oldest daughter was seriously dating a Yakuza a while back. She still could be, I don't know. I hope she is. I wish she'd settle down with a nice, hard-working guy who makes a decent living. When my ex-wife found out that Diane (not her real name) was dating this Yakuza-guy, everyone on their side of the family freaked out. They called me and told me to do something. "Do something about what?" I asked. I was happy about my daughter dating a Yakuza. I mean, every family needs a doctor, a lawyer, and a gangster in it to keep the family together. What's the problem? Some readers may think I jest here, but I certainly do not.  

Awww. How cute! Who could have know that a few years later they'd be criminal monsters? Here we are celebrating 七五三 (Shichi-go-san) 7-5-3 children's day.

Seriously folks, these two seemingly honest and cute little girls had started growing up and heading for big trouble. 


By 12 years old, my oldest daughter had become "Gaki Taisho" (ガキ大将) "Boss of the kids" at school. By 14 years old, she was constantly in trouble and in danger of being expelled. By 15 she was constantly in trouble with the police and getting arrested for all sorts of dumb things like stealing motorcycles and whatever else wasn't bolted down.


I think when she just turned 17, she did something really bad (for the umpteenth time) and almost had to spend one year of her life in Juvenile Delinquency prison. This would have been a very bad outcome because, as statistics show, once in prison, a huge percentage of those spend the rest of their lives going in and out of prison so the police and court systems are hesitant to send young people into prison in the first place. Thank heaven for that! 


The second daughter, whom I had never imagined to be the terror the first one was, was also guilty of many crimes and, as a 15-year-old, actually the mastermind of a group of minors who were committing grand larceny. So bad were her and her friend's crime escapades that they drew the attention of the  Metropolitan police of Tokyo and, I'd find out later, that a three-month dragnet was set out to catch them. Oh and catch them they did! And, when they did, to my total and utter astonishment, it made the front pages of every major Japanese newspaper in the country!


Now, I'm all for thinking big and when I was 17, I was arrested and made the front pages of the newspaper, but that was only local. My daughter, at 15, made national news! (Kind of reminds me of Richard Branson's teacher telling him that he's, "Either going to prison or going to be a millionaire.")

Former crime syndicate leaders

What made the news so shocking was that this crime syndicate that had been busted by police sting was guilty of devising a brilliant plan whereby they stole in the neighborhood of over $10,000 a day, in broad daylight, right on video camera, and the police had no idea of what they looked like!!! (How's that for the creative mind of children?) 


The police thought they were out to catch old time Yakuza gangsters who had come out with this brilliant plot. But the police were dumbfounded when they arrested the perpetraitors of this devious deal and they were all 15 & 16-year-old girls!


Yeah. 15 & 16-year-old girls with their Hello Kitty bags and designer clothes and stuff. Real desperadoes!


I couldn't believe it either. I think I started off on a three day drunk when this news broke. Thank god my wife handled all of this for me. I was too much of a wreck to do anything...

What I looked like (and felt like) in those days

I wonder if these two girls didn't do these things to make me pay more attention to them? That could be the case. Come to think of it, I was too busy working and too busy being a doofus to be too much of a good father. I blame myself for these incidences. I wrote about these regrets once. I summed all this up in, A Message For Fathers: Most Men Die With Regrets

I have four children. Julie and Sheena were born to my first wife. That wife and I divorced after seven years of marriage and I raised those two girls by myself. I remarried three years later and Wendy was born. When Wendy (17) got sick as a baby and then recovered from cancer, she wasn't able to live with her sisters for at least 6 years due to chemo-therapy treatments so her mother and I divorced and Wendy went away to live with her mother. 

I remarried again for the third time and Wray (8) was born.

Julie and Sheena often had trouble at school and sometimes with the police when they were teenagers. I regret that I didn't spend enough time with them, but with trying to pay to raise them, I didn't have the time I needed. I hired several nannies and they raised them. One nanny was the main one, but she wasn't full-time. I will always regret that I missed their childhood and didn't spend the time with them that I should have.

Yes. I didn't spend the time with them that I should have. That time is now gone. I wish I had paid more attention when they were school kids. But, I think, as the public education system falters in the USA and Japan, I could be a symptom of one of the reasons: Today's parent does not spend enough time with their kids and expects the school and the teachers to raise those kids and teach them in the parent's place. This, folks, doesn't work well and I think we have 40 years of history to prove it.


My I get slightly off the subject for a moment?

The other day, I had a nice exchange with a friend, Andrew, who runs the It's a Wonderful Rife blog. Andrew was a professional teacher in Japan and writes some very interesting stories about his life here. Andrew has asked me why the teacher's in Japan take such a strong parental role in raising the children and why they are reluctant to notify the parents of trouble. He asked me "Mike, are the parents are ever notified of wrongdoings by the children?" 

I responded: 

"Andrew, nowadays I think, the school's are ever reluctant to tell the parents about the hell the kids are raising because of how many useless and incompetent parents we have running around "raising" kids ... My wife was just telling me this morning about a father who was unhappy with some sort of discipline his son's school meted out to his son. So unhappy was this father that he decided to show some parental guidance and express his displeasure by going to the school at night and setting it on fire. Well, as "Mr. Firemountian" (火山) was trying to light the school on fire, someone saw him and he got his butt arrested. Funny that."

I continued; 

"Let me tell you about my girls when they were 14 or so... Terrors, they were. They'd do all sorts of things, pranks, hijinks, felonies... Yes. You read that last one right. I'd get calls from the school... Other times I'd get calls from the police. The oldest daughter got arrested for something and then was put of "juvenile delinquent" parole for a year where she had to appear before a parole officer once a week otherwise she'd have to sit in jail. I was such a useless father that at one time, these calls from the school, the police, and being summoned by both, got to be so much that I finally told both the school and the cops, "Don't call me anymore!" I also told my daughters, "Look, do what you want. Just don't have the police or the principal calling me anymore, alright?" Oh the memories!"

By the way, this little episode shows the troubles the schools and police have with parents. I didn't think I was a bad parent (I realize that I was a terrible one now) but the school and the police (juvenile division) are actually reformers and are trying their best to keep the kids out of future trouble. They are trying to connect with the parents and communicate so that they can work together to keep the kids out of trouble and from falling in with the wrong people. What are they to do when the the kids aren't nearly as screwed up as the parents?


Is it any wonder that the kids are screwed up when they have parents who are people like me?

Let me tell you about another vignette about another girl who was my oldest daughter's friend when they were both 14 years old or so. One day, this girl, I think her name was Yuko, came over to visit. She stayed over night at our home a few nights. I would find out later that she was arrested by the police, put in handcuffs, and taken to the big Shibuya police station. What she was arrested for I never found out.

Shibuya Police Station. Seat of Government power and incompetence.

Anyway, this Shibuya police station is one of the biggest police stations in all of Tokyo. Get this: While she was sitting in handcuffs on the forth floor of this huge police station, with cops crawling around everywhere, this 14-year-old desperado escaped! No kidding! She told me that, when no one was looking,  she just got up and walked into the women's restroom and then walked out of the building like nothing happened. When she told me this, I just couldn't believe it. How incompetent could those dumb police be? 


I never did find out how she got the handcuffs off either but knowing my oldest daughter, that wouldn't be a problem in the world.



As she and my daughter were telling me all this stuff my eyes grew wider. Look, I wasn't an angel when I was a kid either and had been arrested a few times before myself (pranks and raising hell) so what these kids were doing didn't really surprise me. But when she and my daughter told me that Yuko was making good money collecting $400 a pop being a prostitute for businessmen coming up from Osaka, I hit the roof. They told me that Yuko had to go right then and meet this guy for a business transaction. I said, "No!"



I told her to stay there and got a hold of her dad and what a mistake that was! This father was even more useless than me! He didn't care about his 14 year old daughter prostituting herself at all. All he cared about was if she was going to join a motorcycle gang with my daughter or not!!!! Really!



I wanted to slap him. These two girls had drawn pictures in their junior high school class notebooks that showed pink colored 50cc motor scooters and called it something stupid like, "Pink Dragons" and this terrified Yuko's father. "Order them to not make a bike gang!" the father pleaded! 

Yeah. Really scary stuff

What a poor excuse for a dad. And I thought I was bad. The drawings of the "Pink Dragons" motorcycle gang looked vicious and deadly. Yeah. Real deadly. It all looked like something "cute" you'd see in a Japanese comic book like Sailor Moon would have as her evil twin sister; they even had their own colors and cool pink matching jackets and pants and everything!



And this father was worried about their comic book fantasies more than the sick fantasies some pervert was going to have with his child. Get that? HIS OWN CHILD I wanted to strangle him. WHAT PLANET WAS HE LIVING ON? 



Moron! I hope Yuko has turned out okay. Maybe she met a nice guy and got married and, at 21, has three kids, a husband who drinks too much and works very hard in a blue collar job like construction or driving a truck. The typical Japanese blue collar family; they don't have a lot, but they have each other and that's enough. I do wish that she is happy.  



But back to my girls... The few escapades I've described above (and those are just a few) were a long time ago and luckily for me (and my daughters) they straightened out and now have good jobs where they are doing what they like to do... In spite of my poor parenting. The oldest is a professional jazz singer who is signed to one of the most famous agencies in all of Japan and will have her album debut this year and the second one is pursuing her dream to be a world-class lighting director and is now gainfully employed at the most famous concert/dance/event hall in Tokyo. 



As for other kids who had troubles before: Several years ago, I hosted a very popular morning drive time FM radio show in Tokyo and we'd often have events whereby I could meet the listeners and the fans. Sometimes hundreds of them would attend these get-togethers. We became friends. Many of them told me of their own youth; some of them were trouble-makers; in trouble with school and the law. Some of them had spent time in jail. But many of them told me that, one day, they realized on their own that they had to straighten out and stay out of trouble because daddy and mommy aren't going to be there forever to help them. Now, these folks have jobs and families and people (big and little) who depend on them and love them very much.



It is the way it should be.



So parents, I think the times comes for all of us to worry about our kids. But fear not! Be patient and try to understand. I always try to remember the crazy stuff I did when I was young.



It seems, no matter how much we, as parents screwup our kids, it seems to me that, in most cases, somehow they are able to judge what is right and turn their lives out for the best.


If your kids are in school now and get into some sort of trouble; instead of you, the parent, telling them that they need to pay more attention, perhaps you, the parent, should pay more attention to them. 


It couldn't hurt. 



Make sure that your kids know that you love them and care.... If they are having troubles at school or elsewhere, find comfort in the fact that these things usually pass. Try not to be a negative part of this experience.