Japan by the Japanese/Chapter 25.1

In Japan the police system is essentially a part of the State organization. It has nothing to do with the communal corporations. The police force is organized in each prefecture under a universal regulation of the central Government, with local option of making some trifling modifications to suit the condition of the locality, such as the average amount of the salary of the policemen and the total number of such men.

The system in force in the prefecture of Tokyo, which comprises the city of Tokyo and some suburban guns (counties), forms an exception. The general control of the police forces belongs to the Minister of the Interior. In his ministry there is a special bureau for management of police affairs, with a director who acts under him. In prefectures the Governors have the control of police affairs, each in his prefecture being under the general control of the Minister of the Interior. In each prefectural government there is a division of officials, with a chief who takes charge of police affairs under the Governor.

The general expenditure of the police force is included in the prefectural Budget and defrayed out of the prefectural taxation. But part of it is subsidized by the central Government, and, besides the salaries of the officials and some small specific expenses, are also paid by the Treasury. The Budget is, of course, submitted for the consideration of the Prefectural Elective Assembly in each prefecture, and thus the local assemblies have a voice in determining the average amount of the salaries of the men and the number of men employed. The State subsidy is one-sixth part of the whole expenditure (modified Imperial Ordinance of 1888), and the number of the men is one for from three hundred to eight hundred of ​population in cities and one for from one thousand to two thousand in counties (Imperial Ordinance of 1896).

In the case of the prefecture of Tokyo the system differs from other prefectures in that there is a police governor, who is also under the general control of the Minister of the Interior, with an office quite independent of the ordinary Governor. Here the police governor and the ordinary Governor carry on their functions separately, but, of course, they have in many matters to execute their authority conjointly. It resembles very much the system in force in Paris. In Tokyo, moreover, the State aid to the expenditure is four-tenths, instead of one-sixth in other prefectures.

In each gun (county) there is a police-station with a certain number of men allotted to it under a police officer. Branch stations are often established. In the rural districts generally one particular policeman is allotted to look after the police affairs within a certain compass of the locality, and he resides therein. There are several classes of branch stations and sub-branch stations according to their importance, but it is scarcely necessary for our purpose to dwell upon them here.

According to the Government statistics, there were in the year 1901 2,116 police-officers, and 31,833 men; total, 33,949; and the average number of population per head of this total was 1,332.

In the above description Formosa is not included, although Yezo (Hokkaido) and Liuchiu (Okinawa) are. But even in Formosa the system does not differ much, except that there is no prefectural assembly. This is also the case with Liuchiu.

The duties of the police force are pretty much the same as in any other civilized country. They are various, but may be summed up as being ‘to keep peace and order’; nay, not only to keep peace and order, as they are, but also to promote the welfare of the people without being over-officious. Hence they have to look after the sanitary conditions or such like of the people and enforce sanitary regulations and such like. As a rule, their actions are expected chiefly to be ‘preventive’ in the first place, and ‘suppressive’ only in the second place. There is another function belonging to them, that is the so-called ‘high police,’ which means the observation of political movements or intrigues which may be fostered within the Empire.

They have also another function, which is that of ‘judicial police.’ This function comes into action when an act which is punishable by law is committed by a person. Here the police force is to be considered as forming a part of the officers of the law court, and they are expected, as assistants of the court, to ​search and arrest the offender. For searching or arresting an offender there are stringent rules for preventing abuses of authority, but that is a matter to be discussed separately. When stating all this, it must, of course, be understood that no individual officer or man is expected to undertake them all. On the contrary, the division or rotation of the tasks is regulated by minute rules and regulations.

Fire brigades form a separate organization apart from the police, but they are also under the control of the police authorities.

In the eyes of the law in Japan, policemen, low as their position is, are regarded as a part of ‘Government officials,’ and not as mere servants. As a matter of fact, their social standing is comparatively higher than that of the Western nations. True, they are incessantly taught to be civil and obliging to all they come in contact with, and not to display any official arrogancy; but they are not expected, nor do they feel it their duty, to do some things which appear to me quite common among Western nations—I mean they would not oblige one by doing a thing which is, prima facie, inconsistent with their dignity, and, therefore, one would rather offend them if he were to expect some such thing to be done for him—say by offering them a ‘tip.’ For instance, they would not come officiously to your carriage and open the door for you if there were not some special reason for them to do so—say an apprehension of accident. This is a very important matter for foreign visitors to Japan to keep always in mind. It is desirable that foreign visitors should not judge our policemen hardly on account of that difference from the Western point of view. I do not in the least mean to say that our system is in any way better. The Western methods and habits have their good points. They are very useful and well adapted to the requirements of their countries. I only mean to say that our customs and habits differ in these respects.

In Japan the police force in its modern shape was formed only after the abolition of the feudal system, as one may well surmise, though it has gone through much evolution. There was a time when thousands of the young samurais had lost their employment, and it was chiefly those samurais who were enrolled in the police force. The standard of their social position and intellectual culture was of a rather higher degree than that of those with whom they had to come into daily contact. That condition has never been lost sight of. Even now only those who pass a certain special examination prescribed for them are taken, and the examination is not a very easy one. Such being the case, it will not be difficult to understand the cause of the difference which exists between the Western police and those of ​Japan. Here I will call attention to a detail of some importance. It is the constant desire of our authorities that the police should be especially civil and obliging to foreign visitors, but I fear some unhappy incidents may sometimes occur without intention. I once read in a newspaper that in a country town a policeman went up to a foreign lady who was watching the Crown Prince and Princess as they passed and requested her to take off her bonnet. In Japan it is the usual custom that men should take off their hats on such occasions. Of course, our women wear nothing on their heads. The policeman in question did not know the Western custom concerning ladies’ bonnets, hence the request to take it off. There was no wrong intention in the matter. At another time I heard of an incident taking place of a foreign Prince, incognito, shooting pigeons in a temple contrary to the law. A policeman, without knowing who he was, and knowing that he was only doing his duty, tried to stop him. Both these occurrences were very unfortunate, but, of course, they were soon satisfactorily explained, and the matter ended. It is our hope that foreign visitors will always make certain allowances, remembering that they are in a foreign land, and that they, on their part also, will take the trouble of explaining calmly rather than becoming irritated. I may also add that discrimination in treatment according to the social position of a person with whom one comes in contact is, as a rule, a matter of great difficulty in Japan, especially on the part of such people as policemen. Here, therefore, some allowance must be also made. Apart from the police question, it is needless to say that there are many things which are socially permissible in one country and not so in another, and many things quite vice versâ. It is therefore desirable for foreign visitors to keep these facts always in mind, and make due allowances in such cases.

But to return to our subject. Although it is the endeavour of the Japanese authorities to keep up the standard of the police, the tendency of late years has shown that it is difficult, inasmuch as the remuneration given them is not sufficient either to men of the same standing as in former days to enlist or to remain long in the service. The salaries have been lately increased to some extent, but they are, after all, small, for they vary from between 9 yen to 15 yen per month, and this scarcely keeps pace with the general development of the country. The increase of local expenditure, however, prevents any significant augmentation. There is a system of pensions for policemen of long service, or for those disabled in the discharge of their duties. There is a regulation of rewards for conspicuous services done by them, and a few other kinds of inducements; but all these are not quite able to maintain the old standard.

​A few words more. There is in Tokyo a college called the Police and Prison College, under the control of the Ministry of the Interior. It is not a college in the strict sense. It is a place where police and prison officers are trained for the discharge of their special duties both in theory and practice. Each Governor selects a certain number of the most promising young officers from amongst the police force of his prefecture, and they are the police officers who are sent to and trained in the college. When they finish and go back to their prefecture, they in turn instruct others at the training station of their several prefectures. This college was instituted in the year when the old treaties with the Western Powers were revised, and has proved very successful. The majority of the teachers were foreigners at first, but their places are now mostly taken by natives.

And yet another word. With us there is a system of the so-called ‘applied-for policemen.’ A bank, or any great commercial firm, or municipal corporation, private schools, or even private families of sufficient standing, may apply for the permanent despatch of a number of policemen to their premises, and so establish a kind of police-station therein. These policemen do not differ from their colleagues in any way, except that the expenses pertaining to them are defrayed by the applicants. To make it more clear, there is a fixed sum, which is determined by the Governors, with the concurrence of the respective prefectural assemblies, to be contributed to the authorities for each of the men applied for. These men are not always the same, but the necessary number of them is always stationed on the same premises and keep watch, a plan which has proved both convenient and successful.