a day ago
Tokyo police pull out the stops to win trust of foreign residents
An officer from the International Crime Division explains Japan's traffic rules to a Croatian woman, far right, at the Thai Festival Tokyo held in the capital's Shibuya Ward on May 10. (Shun Yoshimura)
Police in Tokyo are waging a charm offensive to stop foreign nationals falling victim to elaborate fraud scams as well as steer them on some of the dos and don'ts of living in Japan.
Specifically, the Metropolitan Police Department realizes that many foreign nationals are not fluent in the language and often flummoxed by cultural and legal norms that are so different from what they are used to back home.
And there is seemingly no end to non-Japanese residents caught up in crimes and traffic accidents.
That is why the MPD has been making a determined effort to help foreign nationals live with less stress and encouraging them not to be fearful about contacting the police.
During a national holiday in mid-May, officers from the International Crime Division (ICD) went with interpreters to talk to foreigners attending the Thai Festival Tokyo held at Yoyogi Park in Shibuya Ward.
'Do you have any difficulties living in Japan?' an officer asked. 'Stay alert, because fraud cases involving individuals claiming to be Chinese police officers are increasing.'
The officers distributed fliers in Thai, Nepali, English and other languages to raise awareness on key points of living in Japan, such as: strengthened penalties for riding bicycles while drunk; methods employed by criminal groups to recruit workers for illegal part-time jobs; and the fact that compensation is routinely paid to victims of criminal offenses.
The ICD has made a point in recent years to help foreign residents stay out of trouble.
For example, it works with communities with a sizeable foreign presence to organize soccer games to raise awareness of the way things are done in Japan. The ICD also opened an exclusive Facebook page to explain traffic rules.
FALLING PREY TO CRIME
Numerous cases have emerged of foreign residents falling victim to crime or unwittingly becoming members of criminal groups after applying for shady part-time jobs.
In March, a Chinese national in his 30s was swindled out of roughly 5 million yen ($34,700) in a new ruse.
He received a phone call and was told in Chinese that his bank account had been used for money laundering and that he should consult the police.
He contacted a man who claimed to be a Chinese police officer in the western Tokyo city of Fuchu and wired the funds in his account as directed to a designated account as so-called settlement money.
The man who apparently posed as a police officer was later arrested on suspicion of fraud. He was also Chinese.
The incident came hard on the heels of a similar scam. In January, he received a phone call from an individual who claimed to be a member of Chinese police.
Speaking in Chinese, the caller demanded that he do as he was told.
He apparently contacted the 'victim,' instructed him to wire the money, had him write a pledge of confidentiality and received a reward from the mastermind.
An MPD officer told visitors at the festival venue there is no way to make easy money and that trading bank accounts and reselling mobile phones are criminal offenses.
A student in her 20s who lives in Tokyo's Arakawa Ward arrived in Japan from Thailand in April.
She didn't know that the emergency number is 110 in Japan until she listened to explanations from the police.
Because she has difficulty understanding Japanese, she expressed her appreciation for the flier and explanations from the police in her native language.
Toshiyuki Hashimoto, a university staff member from Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture, also received Thai, Korean and Chinese versions of the flier.
He intends to distribute them to foreign students at his university.
'I never find such informative materials in multiple languages,' Hashimoto, 37, said. 'I plan to use them to help the foreign students in their daily lives.'
An ICD representative said: 'We want to build a society where everyone can live comfortably, regardless of their nationality. We want to make them feel that Japanese police are approachable and can be trusted.'
