Keisatsu

I think it's time for a relatively short post about the police here. Yesterday, I was working at one of the bigger schools here when a bunch of police showed up. Some came over to the building and had a few words with the principal or vice-principal, but none of them actually came in. I was sort of worried that as an ignorant foreigner, I had done something illegal without knowing it, and they had come to arrest me. Since none of them actually came in, I didn't think that was the case, but I also didn't put it past the super-polite Japanese to merely wait outside until I got done working to arrest me. Anyway, it didn't matter, because after a bit, a bunch of old guys, almost all of whom had Gilligan hats on, came by, as well, and the cops put up some kind of display with cones and whatnot. I think it was some kind of demonstration for traffic safety week, but I had to go to class, so I didn't actually see it. By the time I got done, the old dudes were gone and the police were packing up shop.

Today, I was driving home from work at the smallest school here and I got pulled over at one of the police box. At first I was worried, because people do apparently get speeding tickets here, but really only during traffic safety week, which, as I alluded to earlier, it may or may not be here. There have recently been a lot of banners put up that say something about safe driving, I think, so it could be. This encounter also didn't matter because it seemed they were pulling everyone over just to check licenses. The guy who asked for mine was a kind of oldish dude who seemed surprised that I was obviously foreign and asked me if Japanese was ok. I told him that if it is slow, it's ok, and he seemed happy about that. He looked at my licenses, both international and U.S., asked what country I was from, and told me to be careful. I wasn't sure if that was a warning, but I don't think so. I wasn't really speeding, actually, because it was raining and because I did suspect it was traffic safety week.

Basically all police here seem to be fairly happy-go-lucky dudes, but I guess that comes as a result of their jobs, which mostly entail giving directions, keeping track of lost items, and helping kids cross the street. Maybe I should look into getting that job.