Thank you very much for the indepth review! I'd really like to see this movie.
I'd also hoped that what we get to see in dorama about the police wasn't true, but a senpai at my uni experienced first hand how these things work. It wasn't pretty, and it ended with her being banned from the country for five years - so much for further fieldwork in her studies as a Japanese major. She was locked in a cell for three days without any contact to a lawyer or her family who of course were worried where she was (she was picked up at the airport on her flight back(!) to Germany; due to a miss at the Japanese uni she was staying at, she had overstayed her student visum for a day).
When I got my alien registration card, they drilled into us again and again that we would end up in prison if we were ever found without it, even during a short trip to the supermarket around the corner. I always vowed I'd do everything I'd been told not to get into any conflict with the police.
But of course, I'm a foreigner - it's almost worse that the system works against the people it is supposed to protect as well. Sometimes I get the feeling the police system is like showbiz, the number of arrests is similarly important as the viewer ratings.
You're welcome! The film was extremely vivid in my mind and very disturbing; I couldn't keep it to myself. If you see the film, I'd be very interested in hearing your reaction.
I'm so sorry to hear about your senpai's experience, which sounds awful. It's really too bad; I know that the low crime is often cited, and that I'm sure many people think that the intimidation/coercion, conviction rates, etc. are worth it, but I wonder if it really is. It's certainly an interesting way of doing things.
If you read that article I linked at the bottom, the director only found out about this as an issue when he followed a similar case in the news, and he was shocked at what he learned about how the process works, so it doesn't seem as though Japanese people are very aware of how their justice system operates (and most probably never come into contact with it, which is awesome). As a result, this movie is very grounded in the procedure, almost to the point of tedium, which I think is the point - I think he wanted people to see exactly how it works, how frustrating and difficult and opaque it is for ordinary people.
I'd also hoped that what we get to see in dorama about the police wasn't true, but a senpai at my uni experienced first hand how these things work. It wasn't pretty, and it ended with her being banned from the country for five years - so much for further fieldwork in her studies as a Japanese major. She was locked in a cell for three days without any contact to a lawyer or her family who of course were worried where she was (she was picked up at the airport on her flight back(!) to Germany; due to a miss at the Japanese uni she was staying at, she had overstayed her student visum for a day).
When I got my alien registration card, they drilled into us again and again that we would end up in prison if we were ever found without it, even during a short trip to the supermarket around the corner. I always vowed I'd do everything I'd been told not to get into any conflict with the police.
But of course, I'm a foreigner - it's almost worse that the system works against the people it is supposed to protect as well. Sometimes I get the feeling the police system is like showbiz, the number of arrests is similarly important as the viewer ratings.
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I'm so sorry to hear about your senpai's experience, which sounds awful. It's really too bad; I know that the low crime is often cited, and that I'm sure many people think that the intimidation/coercion, conviction rates, etc. are worth it, but I wonder if it really is. It's certainly an interesting way of doing things.
If you read that article I linked at the bottom, the director only found out about this as an issue when he followed a similar case in the news, and he was shocked at what he learned about how the process works, so it doesn't seem as though Japanese people are very aware of how their justice system operates (and most probably never come into contact with it, which is awesome). As a result, this movie is very grounded in the procedure, almost to the point of tedium, which I think is the point - I think he wanted people to see exactly how it works, how frustrating and difficult and opaque it is for ordinary people.
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