[aloisklink]

The author mentions it in a YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2epTf2IW1g (at the 2:20 mark).

But essentially, somebody else sent her a package with something illegal in it that she didn't ask for. The police took her passport for a few months and searched her house. After a few months, she got her passport returned to her, she left Japan temporarily, but when she came back, they arrested her "to ensure [she] wouldn't flee while they finished the investigation".

She also mentioned it was "the most normal type of thing you can think of"; it might have been something like pseudoephedrine/Sudafed. That's a common over-the-counter drug in other countries but it's very illegal here in Japan (unless it's under 10%, or you buy it from Japan)!

Edit: Importing pseudoephedrine above 10% concentrations is illegal, but you can legally buy some higher concentrations over-the-counter while in Japan.

[Aurornis]

> somebody else sent her a package with something illegal in it that she didn't ask for.

> She also mentioned it was "the most normal type of thing you can think of";

This doesn't really answer the question, though. It's frustrating to try to interpret these stories with a lot of writing and video describing everything except the crucial detail about what the charges were for.

I don't think she's trying to withhold information to avoid contaminating the case because she's spilling other details all over the place that could be used to influence the case. Yet the key piece of information that is supposedly "the most normal" isn't revealed

[ninjin]

> It's frustrating to try to interpret these stories with a lot of writing and video describing everything except the crucial detail about what the charges were for.

Is it really a crucial detail though? As someone having lived in Japan for a long time, I see no reason why we can not discuss the fact that civil rights and detention treatment in Japan are lacking without resorting to "Do they deserve it in light of what they were suspected for?". I personally see no reason why suspects can not deserve decent sleep, meal, bedding, etc. even if they may be Shoko Asahara himself.

For the record, I have not watched any video or read anything else about this individual. Nor do I intend to.

[Aurornis]

> Is it really a crucial detail though?

Literally the central trigger point of the story.

> For the record, I have not watched any video or read anything else about this individual. Nor do I intend to.

Then I can see why you're not interested in the details

[idle_zealot]

> Literally the central trigger point of the story

The fact that you and other insist on this really gets at the crux of this whole problem. There are two notable positions on criminality and punishment: yours, which is broadly that the justice system exists, at least in part, to deliver righteous punishment on the deserving, and the position of those appalled by the treatment here, which is that the purpose of the justice system is primarily to protect people, and then to deliver predictable, proportionate punishment of those found guilty to disincentivize criminal behavior. If you think that torture of someone detained but not found guilty might be justifiable if they're accused of a sufficiently heinous crime then you have an illiberal position that can and will be used to enable abuse of the criminal justice system to inflict extralegal punishment on anyone for any reason.

[ehnto]

I think this is even getting ahead of itself, since the story is writing that you can be treated this way without yet being charged. Not knowing if the author "deserves" it puts you in the shoes of the detainee in either case, since the detention comes before assigning guilt.

[Aurornis]

That is not my position at all and it’s dishonest to project it upon my writings.

I said this is an important detail to the story because it’s literally the central trigger point. For as many details as she’s willing to share, include admissions that could theoretically impact legal proceedings, excluding the core charge from the story raises suspicions about the trustworthiness of the narrator.

To be clear I do not support the treatment as reported. However the omission of this one key detail is a calculated omission by the author, where we’re supposed to both believe it’s entirely normal and benign but at the same time it’s also something that must be withheld from this story?

[idle_zealot]

Sorry if it doesn't apply to you. I think that's how a lot of readers would categorize you based on the insistence that the crime was important, and why you were downvoted at the time of writing.

[true_religion]

For most people, the critique of Japan is because their own countries used to operate jails in this way.

So rationalizations of why it’s appropriate because the person was suspected of XYZ isn’t going to land with them and is largely irrelevant.

But I don’t mind playing devils advocate.

Should the justice system force confessions out of murderers? No, because they are only potential murderers and we have historically been able to get innocent parties to confess. People with vulnerability such as mental health problems are even more likely to give false confessions. The goal of requesting testimony should be honesty not compliance.

This logic applies as well the drug dealer, drug users, and jay walkers. It’s a moral principle disconnected from any specific geography so even if we are not Japanese and have no intention to interact with Japan, we can say they have not lived up to that principle.

[arcfour]

It doesn't matter though. Nobody should be treated like this, especially not before their guilt has been proven.

[commandersaki]

I think there is a happy path though and she stuffed it up by not responding for a request for information while she went overseas as they were investigating the matter. When she returned they put her in detention as they deemed her a flight risk. I don't know what information they asked, but it would seem prudent to provide it or say you don't have it or you are overseas and cannot get it at the moment, rather than simply ignore it.

[pas]

reasonable suspicion is a pretty well established concept. importing controlled substances would get an arrest warrant easily anywhere if law enforcement decides to pursue the case.

the administive pretrial detention is also pretty common, especially nowadays with the ICE craze.

nobody should be treated like this, agreed, but that doesn't mean that the process has no correlation to the level of guilt established and the certainty of it.

(the real problem is that it's way too many bullshit laws.)

[arcfour]

But ultimately the charges were dropped so that makes the first half of your message effectively a non sequitur.

[commandersaki]

Nor do I intend to.

I watched a little bit. She went overseas and the police asked for some information and she didn't respond. When she returned they deemed her a flight risk because she hadn't responded to the things they were asking.

[ninjin]

Fair I suppose. I guess one can treat this either as a personal story (although frustratingly scattered across multiple places and incomplete) or as a description of a single instance of an arrest in Japan.

[fzeroracer]

Is it a crucial detail? Can you explain why you need to know what she was arrested for, given that she says the charges were dropped?

[commandersaki]

Suppose it was CSAM in the mail, do you think a delicate touch is still warranted? The context matters.

[ramchip]

It'd be a pretty horrible system if it was possible to get anyone you dislike tortured for a month by mailing them CSAM they didn't ask for...

[swat535]

It doesn't matter what the charges were , she was cleared from it. Doesn't Japan have innocent until proven guilty laws?

All this story does it makes me want to avoid traveling to Japan. I don't fancy getting picked up for jay walking and tortured.

What an awful system..

[Aeolun]

It is? Because the whole ‘is it awful’ thing hinges pretty strongly on how many options you were given to avoid it before going there.

If I had the police over, was an ass, had them come back, was an ass again. Then at some point they’re going to just think I’m the person that’d run away while they conduct their investigation.

I’m sure bad policemen exist in Japan, but all the ones I’ve met have been very friendly and reasonable.

[saagarjha]

Being a jerk to the police does not seem like it warrants them denying you of your rights.

[Aeolun]

Which rights? This isn't the US.

[saagarjha]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights

[anigbrowl]

civil rights and detention treatment in Japan are lacking

The main difference I see are that police can hold you for a much longer period before bringing you in front of a judge and the bail conditions. Regarding the specific detention conditions, they do not strike me as worse than American jails.

[girvo]

But… it doesn’t matter? Even if it was some very illegal drug, that doesn’t change the fact that this detention system (and Japans justice system in general) is quite inhumane.

[itake]

At the end of the blog post, it says the charges were eventually dropped.

23 days of her life gone over dropped charges.

[ninjin]

Likely some sort of stimulant as you point out. It is hardly the first time either as there have been public cases like this numerous times over the last two decades. Some cases even ending with deportation. The one I remember most vividly was someone carrying an unlabeled bottle of ADHD medication that had been sent to them while they were in South Korea by their pharmacist mum in the US; that they then ran afoul of when entering Japan. Similarly, there was a case at the University of Tokyo in the 00s, where an overseas student got sent an (allegedly) unprompted package with cannabis (not a stimulant though) from friends abroad. Allegedly, they were expelled and we got university-wide, anti-drug campaigns with memorable slogans like: "Illicit drugs are illegal".

Due to their history, laws regarding stimulants are harsher in Japan than in many other places in the world [1] and this frequently takes people by surprise. Not that Japanese laws related to illegal drugs are lenient to begin with.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_drug_trade_in_Japan

[krackers]

Skimming the video there's also important unstated context that the person was non-white foreigner, had tattoos, and on visa. It's possible that the combination made an ambiguous grey-area situation much worse.

[sidewndr46]

I am always amazed at details like this. Who would voluntarily go back to this kind of situation?

[anigbrowl]

"the most normal type of thing you can think of"

I can believe that (and your sudafed guess is likely correct), but then why be obscure about it, when you could say 'turns out xyz is illegal in Japan, do not let your well meaning friends/family mail you medicine of any kind'? However, I don't watch the whole video. I know this hyper-edited style is popular nowadays but to me it feels like advertising/bait and I don't want to invest the energy to parse it.

[gravypod]

What do you do when you have a bad flu or cold if you don't have pseudoephedrine?

[aloisklink]

You can still easily buy it here, but the over-the-counter pills are always mixed with other ingredients to make it more difficult to convert them into amphetamines.

E.g. Contac 600 Plus can be found in basically all drug stores and it has 120mg of Pseudoephedrine, 100mg Caffeine, 8mg Chlorpheniramine, and 0.4mg of Belladonna Extract. It sounds like it'll actually be illegal to import into Japan, since 120/(120 + 100 + 8 + 0.4) is over 10%, but I've previously just walked into a drug store and bought a packet.

[gravypod]

Ok, that makes sense. I am assuming it is not common to be arrested for possessing this kind of over the counter remedy?

[aloisklink]

Not for the ones you buy in Japan, since those are legal.

But, it's not unheard of to get randomly stopped by the police and searched, especially in touristy areas like train stations. Unless you're a Japanese citizen, you have to show ID, and although the searches are optional, most people agree to them.

For customs, usually a few people from each plane are searched.

Anecdotally, if you're a tourist, they're usually looking for medicine that was legal outside of Japan, but illegal within Japan, with small amounts leading to being detained for 23 days (like in this blog post). And if they decide to prosecute you, you'd probably get a suspended sentence (so no prison time), but you'd get deported and a temporary ban from coming back to Japan.

[gravypod]

> with small amounts leading to being detained for 23 days (like in this blog post)

This seems ultimately like a very bad sales pitch for the tourism industry in Japan. I had thought I wanted to go to Japan but if I can accidentally, without malice, be thrown in a prison for 20 days that seems like a bad system.

I can't imagine the international relations of the ruling classes of various countries to the UAE would be trending in a positive direction if they arrested and punished people for walking off a plane with airplane bottles of alcohol.

[tgsovlerkhgsel]

You wait it out. You can also take some alternatives (e.g. Sinupret) that may or may not have any effect, while waiting it out.

[themadturk]

Probably the same thing you do in the states if you have high blood pressure: make do with lesser medications, pain killers, lots of liquids, and push through it.

[gravypod]

Warning: This is not medical advice, I am a nerd on the internet not a doctor

For what it is worth different countries have vastly different recommendations for HBP and these drugs. I recommend discussing with the pharmacists in your country.

In the US I have been told it's a strict "never", in Ireland I was told that it wouldn't have a measurable effect on blood pressure. I've also measured my personal blood pressure (pre-hypertension to stage 1) and have not been able to measure a difference in blood pressure.

[fauchletenerum]

Blow your nose?