While waiting recently at Tokyo’s Ueno Station to board an early afternoon express train on the Joban Line, I heard an announcement on the public announcement system that an incoming train was being considerably delayed due to an accident, and as a result, the departure of my train would be delayed as well.

　　　No further detail was given, but knowing it had likely been a suicide, I felt very sorry about what had happened. A significant number of other departing passengers were on the platform at the time, obviously looking concerned about the accident and the person involved in the tragedy. They all waited quietly, using their cell phones to inform families, friends, or business associates of the delay.

　　　Eventually, the train pulled out of the station some 30 minutes behind schedule. What annoyed me was not really the waiting itself, but the apologies for the delay announced countless times both on the platform and even after departure. It was simply too much, making me feel growingly uncomfortable. The accident was most likely not the fault of the train company. Why then did they so endlessly say, “We deeply apologize for the inconveniences caused”?

　　　Honesty, can there be any other race who apologizes so easily and profusely as the Japanese? In a world full of nations not prone to apologize, is it really a good thing for the Japanese to apologize this much? As these thoughts flashed across my mind, I could not help wondering if this Japanese propensity to keep apologizing excessively -€ often for no logical reason at all -€ may in fact lead to a deplorable mental servility and tacit trepidation as a people. It was then that an intriguing book I recently read came to mind: Recollections of a Police Interpreter/Detective, New Edition by Tadanobu Bando, Keizaikai Ltd., Tokyo; May 2012).

　　　Bando is a retired Chinese-speaking Tokyo police detective with an interesting view on the vast differences between the Japanese and the Chinese.　He started out as a police officer with the Metropolitan Police Board (MPB), eventually becoming a Chinese-speaking criminal investigator after serving at several “koban” (local street corner police boxes) and with the MPB riot police, retiring in 2003 due to heart problems. He says he was present at more than 1,000 interrogations involving Chinese charged with various offenses.

　　　Not that he interrogated Chinese criminals alone. He also interviewed a good number of decent Chinese residents in Japan, including students who cooperated with the police in criminal investigations. Introducing dramatic anecdotes of his extensive encounters with Chinese nationals in Tokyo, he depicts an image of the Chinese markedly different from that of the Japanese -€ markedly differing from the excessively apologetic Japanese that I experienced that day on the Joban Line.

The Chinese Way of Making Excuses

　　　The international community, as well as international security, is managed, or manipulated, by human beings. Therefore, it would seem next to impossible for Japan to expect to resolve its many tough problems with China without coming to grips with this unfathomable chasm of sensibility separating the two peoples.

　　　One striking difference between the Japanese and the Chinese clearly discernible from his years of experience as a Chinese-speaking detective is what repentance means, stresses Bando. At the end of an interrogation with a criminal, says Bando, a detective typically asks this question: “Is there anything more you wish to say?” The same process is observed in court, with the judge giving the accused one last chance to make a statement when closing the hearing, encouraging him to speak his mind.

　　　Bando says most Japanese criminals state how deeply they have reflected on their acts and mention how very sorry they are for the victims. However, he goes on to note that after interrogating more than 1,000 Chinese criminals, he came across virtually nobody who genuinely reflected on his act or expressed repentance. In other words, he says, Chinese criminals he dealt with might have regretted their act but never repented.

　　　Bando says a suspect may, for example, show regret for having chosen the wrong timing to leave his home, only to be apprehended by the police. When Bando would ask the suspect if he had anything to say to the store owner in terms of apology for having caused damage to his store, the suspect would say this, according to Bando:

　　　“I myself have been having a very difficult time. Please tell the people in the store that they should understand my situation.”

　　　I suppose repentance is something that the Chinese expect of others but not of themselves.

　　　They not only refuse to repent for any wrongdoing, but adamantly refuse to admit their guilt as well. In the face of these baffling excuses, Bando says he more than a few times wondered if something was wrong with his comprehension of Chinese. Here are a few examples:

　　　●A Fukienese man, caught passing through the checking counter at a supermarket in Tokyo with a raw fish he picked up concealed in his bag, was apprehended for attempting to flee after hitting an attendant who tried to stop him. Bando quoted the man as saying:

　　　“It must be some kind of a mistake on the part of the attendant. I didn’t steal the fish, because I hate fish.”

　　　●A Fukienese woman was quoted as saying when caught passing through the checkout counter with unpaid-for merchandise concealed among her belongings:

　　　“Oh, I thought the checkout counter was located somewhere outside.”

　　　●A Tokyo corporate executive loaned 150,000 (US$1,875) to the first Chinese woman he hired, but was puzzled when she asked for another loan a short while later. Asked what happened to the first loan, the woman, indignant that the president had become suspicious, blurted out:

　　　“What business do you have asking about my own money?”

　　　Bando suspects she reasoned that her boss had no right to inquire about the first loan, because, as far as she was concerned, it was “her own” money, since she had promised to repay him at a later date.

　　　These, however, are relatively trivial matters compared with the more outrageous crimes actually committed by Chinese in Japan today. According to the National Police Agency, Chinese constituted the absolute majority in terms of crimes committed by foreign residents in Japan in 2011. In fact, they accounted for 35% of muggings, 50% of theft, 85% of break-in robberies, 58% of fraud, 35% of shoplifting, and 83% of forgery, including credit card forgery.

Three Causes for Increasing Chinese Crimes in Japan

　　　Bando notes that the Chinese committing crimes in Japan are not especially vicious human beings, but that a large number of them are “ordinary Chinese having lived seemingly ordinary lives.” In Japan, before an individual is driven to commit robbery, he typically experiences some unspeakable trauma, such as family conflict, societal friction, or a grudge against someone. Meanwhile, he observes, there are disproportionately numerous cases in which Chinese appear to be suddenly driven to serious crimes from what appear to be ordinary circumstances.

　　　Bando sees three possible causes for this phenomenon: (1) the absence in Japan of ties, such as family and relatives, makes it easier for Chinese to act as unattached outsiders; (2) fear of penal punishment is not as severe as it is in China; and (3) illegal entry into and overstay in Japan are not viewed as significant infractions, because they are “victimless” crimes.

　　　Cause (2) appears to be a particularly serious problem, notes Bando, as Chinese criminals sent to Japanese jails are absolutely unafraid of the Japanese police. Not only that, these criminals share a common awareness that “hospital bills are free, so we might as well get deported back home after taking advantage of Japan’s highly advanced medicine to completely recover from whatever physical disorders we may be suffering while we are still in jail.” In point of fact, Bando gives more than a few examples of how the taxpayers’ money was spent by the Tokyo Metropolitan government to foot extravagant medical bills for criminals awaiting deportation.

　　　Chinese criminals in Japan used to make money hand over fist illicitly, going home with bundles of 10,000 yen (US$125) bills. But the times have changed and Bando makes the point that many of them now strongly desire to continue to enjoy living in Japan. So they rack their brains for ways to continue to stay in Japan under any circumstance.

　　　Koreans used to constitute the largest group of foreign nationals in Japan, but have recently been replaced by the Chinese, whose number is constantly expanding.

　　　Naturally, we all know that not every Chinese in Japan is of dubious character and that there are in fact many Chinese of upstanding character. That is all the more reason for the two peoples -€ the Japanese on the one hand, who readily reflect on whatever misconduct they think they have committed and continue to endlessly apologize for it; and the Chinese on the other hand, who may regret their misconduct but are prone to rarely repent or apologize -€ to meet halfway with each other in the spirit of reciprocity and strive to build mutually beneficial relations. For that purpose, we Japanese must first and foremost commit themselves to breaking out of the mental servility which prompts us to repent and apologize excessively whenever the opportunity presents itself.

(Translated from “Renaissance Japan” column no. 517 in the July 12, 2012 issue of The Weekly Shincho)