On Saturday, May 30, at 3:00 pm, over two hundred people gathered in the famous Shibuya crossing in Tokyo to protest police brutality in Japan. Starting from the Hachiko-mae area, the protestors marched to Shibuya Police Station shouting “Stop the violence” and “Racist cops should be fired!“
While the march mainly centered around police discrimination against foreign residents of Japan, the protestors also marched in solidarity with anti-racism/anti-police brutality protests in the United States, which started this weekend and are still ongoing.
The Counter-Racist Action Collective organized the protest with the Twitter hashtag #0530渋谷署前抗議, (Shibuya-shomae kougi, lit. “Protest in front of Shibuya Police Station on May 30th), in opposition to the harassment of a Kurd-Turkish permanent resident near JR Ebisu station on May 22nd around 3:30 pm. The man (who is unnamed) was pulled over by police for a random search. When the man refused, the officers dragged him out of his car:
「交通違反も何もしていないのに、外国人というだけでひどいことをされた。外国人だから、話も聞かずに乱暴することが許されていいのでしょうか」
“I knew I didn’t break any traffic law, but because I was a foreigner, I was scared. Because of this, I knew I wouldn’t be able to defend myself.
-Turkish resident (name unknown)
The man said that he “didn’t try to flee nor did [he] get violent.” He filed a complaint on May 27th with the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office against the officers, claiming he suffered injuries to the “neck, a footand side that will require one week to heal in the incident”.
The CRAC protest took place three days later.
Past Incidents of Police Brutality in Japan
Because Twitter has recently banned CRAC for their anti-fascist tweets, it’s difficult to find footage and remarks from the original account. However, other Twitter users have managed to salvage some footage from the protests. Mainchi Shinbun is one of few major Japan-based media outlets that has covered the inciting incident and the event.
However, this is not the first time a foreign resident has experienced harassment or discrimination at the hands of Japanese authorities. Contrary to popular belief, Japanese police brutality can be cruel–and fatal.
One noted victim of said brutality was Shin Arjun Bahadur. He was a Nepalese man who died after being heavily constrained while being interrogated at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office in March of 2017. Originally charged for forgery after attempting to shop in Shin-Okubo with fake bills, Arjun was given an additional charge of theft, after the credit card was reported stolen.
On March 15, two days after his detainment, Arjun was restrained after a dispute with guards about how to clean his futon. Because he wasn’t proficient in Japanese, he didn’t understand the instructions.
Instead of bringing the futon to the doorway of his cell, Arjun walked out of his cell and down the hallway to hand it off. The guards then sounded the alarm and a total of 16 officers in total heavily restrained Arjun in his cell, causing him to develop Crush Syndrome.
Arjun fell unconscious shortly after being released from bondage. He died in the hospital shortly after.
One of the many discussions surrounding the Japanese legal system is its 99% conviction rate, many of them based on forced confessions. The Kurdish man, who survived his encounter with police, was never even charged with a crime. He would have been most likely detained had his friend not filmed the incident. While Arjun, had he survived and been convicted of theft, would have faced imprisonment of up 10 years—not the death penalty.
Therefore, it is important that these injustices are acknowledged, discussed, and, yes, protested. Far from being a special event, they are an extension of Japan’s rich history of activism.
Note for Foreign Residents on Protests in Japan
By Publisher Jay Allen
Many more protests, demonstrations, marches, and rallies are popping up in Japan. While this is great to see, foreign residents need to be careful. Legally, participating in a “protest” (抗議; kougi) in Japan can complicate your visa renewal. In other words, showing solidarity with Black people in America and against police brutality in Japan could endanger your immigration status.
It’s unclear whether these laws would actually be enforced. It’s also unclear whether this applies to permanent residents. And, of course, I’m not a lawyer. But it’s something that foreign residents should keep in mind.
As a result of this, some Black residents of Japan are actively organizing peaceful marches that do not fall under the banner of a “protest.” I’m still working to confirm dates and times and will re-tweet relevant information on our Twitter account as it comes in from event organizers.
Update: Follow Bri for information on the peaceful march scheduled in Osaka:
