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Nihongo

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Busted!

This year a friend of mine was caught at Narita airport. He brought over one kilo of skunk from Amsterdam. He went to Amsterdam and bought a bunch of pretty good stuff. After finding the weed they checked his urine and that reagent turned red. He had smoked 10 hours before at a coffee shop. He loves Amsterdam because he can smoke freely. But after that it turned into a nightmare. Kind of a bad trip, right?

They took many photos, his portrait and photos of the grass, and finger prints. That afternoon they moved him to a police station jail in Chiba because the airport jail was so crowded that time. It's so funny. Lots of travelers bring something into this country, it didn't have space for him.

That night he asked for Mr. Marui as a lawyer. He is a famous guy about legalise taima, but he couldn't contact him and no other attorney showed up. So his parents recomended one, a relative of his family and he arrived the next day. He used to be a judge. His parents trust him so hard. He is a very conservative guy. He asked him to please work with a human rights side attorney. His answer was "No". He said "if you asked for Mr. Marui it takes time to get out to prison".

My friend was so confused and quite lost at that time. He had chosen a relative as an attorney. He thought he quit fighting since that point. No excuse works for him about this fact.

The next day he met the prosecutor. The judge decided he couldn't get suspension of indictment. His crime name is "Taima torishimari hou ihan" meaning he broke the Hemp Control Law and "zeikan hou ihan" because of smuggling HEMP. Three days later local police started to investigate him. Another three days later local police and and a customs official (he works under the ministry of finance) searched his home. They found more than 20 books on HEMP and 2 pipes but they didn't find any drugs in his house. The following day the customs official interrogated him. For the next week and a half they tried to interrogate him almost every day. 20 days after his arrest the judge decided they prosecute him. Immediately the lawyer asked the judge for bail. Bail was denied a few days later.

About two months after his arrest the trial opened and the prosecutor asked for 4 years in prison. About two weeks later the second hearing took place. He was sentenced to a suspended sentence of 5 years in prison.

It's taken a long time. He hates this part of Japan. Government works too slow! So anyway, he got probation and he says, he can't complain about this deal, even though it's 5 years.

He was in jail all the time, for 11 weeks. He never succeed to get released on bail, even before the 2nd trial.

Real prison and Police station prison are different. This is his police station prison diary.

AM:7  Wake up. Put in FUTON at shelf.
      Wash your face. Brush teeth. Clean the room.
   8  Breakfast
  11  Excercize (just smoking cigarettes) a suspect 
      can smoke 3 cigarettes each day. How ironic! 
      Excersize time is a smoking cigarettes time. 
      But this deal is a kind of symbol of prison life

  12  Lunch
      Wed and Sat are washing clothes day.
      Thu and Sun take a bath (this is the most 
      comfortable time in prison)
      Tue  Cut nails

   7  Dinner
   8  Set up Futon
   9  Lights out                     

It's like this every day.

He was pretty bored with this routine, especially as he didn't have plan to investigation or meet prosecutor. But they can read books, magazines, comics, all kind of books! They can write letters (police checked inside). he tried his own exercise program based on Taichee & Yoga. Basically Japanese jail isn't so bad. Police tried to be nice to him.

A message from my friend Nihongo

by "Hedonist"
(posted anonymously)

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Nihongo