[infotainment]

100% this -- westerners love to criticize Japan's justice system, while ignoring the fact that much of it actually works.

Drugs? Petty crime? Homelessness? No other country comes close to managing these problems as well as Japan does, and Japan somehow manages to do this without descending into a 1984-esque surveillance state. Wander the streets of Tokyo at night and you will see zero drug-addicted homeless people. How many western cities could one say that about?

[EMIRELADERO]

The virtues you mention are not a consequence of the tortuous treatment described in the post though. Conditions could rise to Western humane standards and the underlying Japanese culture that allows for such peaceful living would still remain.

[hackyhacky]

You can't take the Japanese criminal justice system out of Japan. It's part of a larger whole.

The Western mentality, especially in the USA, focuses on independent will. The government is not supposed to stop people from making choices that are bad for society or bad for themselves. In Japan, the mentality is that every person has an obligation to work with society and to fit in at all costs. The Japanese criminal justice system exemplifies that spirit, but it touches all areas, such as employment, personal relationships, behavior in public, talking to strangers, etc.

In short, if you want to have the advantages of Japan, you need to take it with the disadvantages as well.

[EMIRELADERO]

Could you tell me how actual torture helps that system, and why exactly you can't take it away without disrupting the harmony?

It is definitely possible to hold people in detention without torturing them while also getting acceptable results.

[cjbgkagh]

I don’t know what is humane about skid row et al.

[EMIRELADERO]

Direct torture is certainly less humane than abandonment.

[cjbgkagh]

Skid row isn’t abandonment, CA spends $47K per homeless person per year in direct and indirect assistance. It exists as it does due to intentional and well funded policy.

[EMIRELADERO]

Even granting that (which... no. How is it true? Any evidence?) it's still less inhumane than what Japan is doing here. The conditions amount to torture.

The fact that many people opt to falsely plead guilty and get a reduced punishment in a society that highly values honor and saving face should say a lot about it.

[cjbgkagh]

Californian spend on homelessness is public info, you’re free to search it yourself.

There is something about seeing drug addicted zombies impossibly contorted in on themselves and swaying in the wind that appears very inhuman to me. If given the choice, pre zombification, of a false confession or life as a zombie I know which I would chose.

[nephihaha]

Japan is changing rapidly. However it is famous for its organised crime. Japan does have a Yakuza problem and political corruption.

[jpablo]

Darn. I don't know if I have been living in the wrong places but I never see drug-addicted homeless people in my western country at night.

[cjbgkagh]

It seems to be more of a US phenomenon and it is pretty pervasive in the US.