Guy with swiss army knife surrounded by more than 10 policemen in Akiba for 2 hours
A man in Akihabara found in possession of a swiss army knife was surrounded by more than 10 policemen and questioned for 2 hours today. However it only had had a knife with a blade length of approximately 5 cm while the law restricts the possession of knives with blades longer than 6 cm when in public.
The guy was apparently randomly questioned by the police and asked to let them search his belongings, and when he questioned their right to do so, they started searching through his belongings without question and found a swiss army knife and a pair of pliers.
The reason given by the man for having the swiss army knifeand pliers was because he needed them to fix his bicycle which breaks often. The police wanted to take the man into custody but the man refused so they had more than 10 policemen surrounding him while questioning him for 2 hours.
He was freed after and members of the press immediately surrounded him once the police were gone.
via: AkibaOS
June 15th, 2008 at 2:37 am
This is so ridiculous. And then everyone went all snappity-jump when there was that “I empathize with Katou” phone posting, and it turned out to be some 17-year-old arubaito kid…
But well, it’s entirely expected
June 15th, 2008 at 3:30 am
Make up for their initial mistake, by making many more.
June 15th, 2008 at 5:19 am
They really should also start arresting people carrying ballpens since those can be used for stabbing too. And then have a crackdown on the local restaurants for having a dangerous amount of killing implements — dining forks and table knives — in their premises.
These people are just doing it for show. Was there really a need for no less than 10 cops to surround the guy? I doubt he showed any sign of hostility. Their higher-ups ought to lecture them about how law enforcement is about getting criminals while causing little trouble to the innocent.
June 15th, 2008 at 8:49 am
worthy news to some
June 15th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Poor guy.
June 15th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
And so I pray, Unlimited Swiss Works.
June 15th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Man talk about being paranoid. In the US, you’ll need only one or two police officers to deal with that issue. Another sign of Akiba-kei profiling. lol
June 15th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
He, in the US you need only one or two police officers to deal with that… or going to invade one or two countries can work too. :D
June 15th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
The only time I remember that the mainstream Japanese media and general public felt any sort of sympathy towards an Anime Otaku was ‘Densha’ from the drama ‘Densha Otoko’. hmmm… fiction based on a true story… big budget…popular actress Ito Misaki… heavily advertised… high TV ratings… It’s questionable there was a real life Densha using 2ch, because people who use 2ch are usually anonymous. I haven’t found any proof. Media always portrays real life Otaku as mentally ill killers and weird ass people obsessing over their hobbies. This makes it million times more difficult for an Otaku to enjoy their hobby in front of the general public.
June 15th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
The next time the Po-Po asks you for cooperation; (unless they’re asking to rape you in the ass,) just cooperate with them. The worst that can happen to you is what happened to this poor sap.
June 16th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
@Otaku Advocacy: Yeah, otaku and the anime/manga industry have a very precarious position in Japanese society. It seems like any respect is only because the industry makes a lot of money; if the anime/manga market ever collapses then it’s back to the bad old days, with otaku being the lowest scum of society again.
On a slightly brighter note, at least LDP member Aso Taro thinks we’re cool:
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2008/06/15/top-ldp-honcho-supports-otaku/#more-540
That wouldn’t be news if it wasn’t a particularly unusual stance for a politician to take, though.
June 16th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Ah, one of the people injured in last week’s stabbing is a cop. That could be one reason why the cops are going batshit over a dinky swiss army knife.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20080617p2a00m0na004000c.html