Japanese Police

I had a strange experience in Japan with the railway police. They were happy to see me but, confused about why. We talked in broken-English and hand gestures. I tried to give them a UP patch and calendar but they were all visibly shocked saying they could not take anything from anyone; their department's policy. Their uniforms were sharp, They thanked me for offerng them gifts but were sorry they could not except. I asked to take a photo and it was the same story. They could not do that either. I respected their wishes and just took this one photo of the outside of their office.

I did get one railroad police officer in Kagoshima to let me photograph him. That worked out even though the language barrier was a tough one to get through this time. We both used hand gestureformed s that civilians would not grasp and got a good understanding. It worked out well.

Also in Kagoshima, Japan I walked into the city police departmet and talked to them. Most of the conversation was with Officer Kijima Kouta who translated for me over the phone. It was interesting. They have very few violent crimes because Japanese are not allowed to own guns. He said detectives don't wear guns, only uniformed officers in the field In fact, I saw a newspaper article about Japanese Police looking for things to do as what little crime they address has subsided even more. I'm not sure that's really true.

I was able to leave a UP patch for Kijima and my business card. The card has my email and blog site on it, so I hope to hear from him.

This is a JP railway police officer I met in Kagoshima while at the train station. Unlike Tokyo
he was willing to have our photograph taken together. He said, "just no Instagram."

These are Kagoshima Police officers. They are some great guys.

I'm sure Landon would like to et behind the wheel of this interceptor.

Outside the KP station, wanted and recruiting posters and other stuff I can't figure out.

This is the only picture I could take in Tokyo.