[Introduction]

Imagine, you live in a country where you do not speak their language. 

One day, you are attacked by a stranger for no reasons other than your race and ethnicity. 

Even though you want to look for help from the  police, the police instead of protecting you, improperly treated and questioned you and your kid due to your race.

How would you feel living in such a country?

We are the plaintiff attorneys for the police discriminatory treatment of foreigner A and her young daughter. A did not start this litigation merely for herself, but for the Japanese society as a whole, where foreign nationals can live in Japan without fear of discrimination. 

[Summary]

1. A and her daughter were physically and verbally assaulted based on their race in the park.

In June 2021, A visited a nearby park with her 3-year-old daughter. When A was watching her daughter playing on the sandbox and the slide, suddenly a male stranger came out loudly and tried to push her daughter. When A rushed to her daughter, the man shouted "foreigner" and "Show your foreigner residential card" and posed to use violence against them. A escaped from the scene with her daughter, but the man chased after them. According to the person who helped A and her daughter on the spot, the male stranger repeatedly shouted discriminatory words against foreigners, such as "foreigners are not worth living" and "garbage".

The male stranger also said that A’s daughter kicked his son, but A was watching her daughter and she is sure that is not true.

The male stranger called the police, but even after the police rushed in, he continued his discriminatory words and behavior and took an insulting attitude against foreigners.

2. The police officers came, but instead of stopping the discriminatory behaviors, they affirmed that male stranger   is correct.

When the police rushed to the scene, A thought that she finally got the help. However, none of the police officers disciplined the discriminatory behavior. On the contrary, one of the police officers, after listening to the male stranger's allegation, asked rudely to A’s 3-year-old daughter that "You must have kicked" and "Do not pretend that you can’t speak Japanese" in such an insulting way. 

3. Police officers took A and her daughter to the police station and questioned her daughter alone.

The police officers took A and others in a police vehicle to the police station without giving A a chance to refuse. Then, in a small room, with several police officers constantly watching, the police officers repeatedly demanded A to admit that what the male stranger alleged is true. The interrogation lasted  for about three hours.

A said she wanted to go home many times and told the police so, but the police officers did not allow them to go home. Moreover,  the police officers didn't even allow her to go to the bathroom or change her daughter's diapers.

Further, regardless that A’s daughter is merely 3 years old, the police officers told A to leave her daughter. Several police officers surrounded and questioned A’s daughter alone in a locked room. The crying sound of A’s daughter out of sheer fear never stopped. 

In the end, the accident in the park and the police questioning make A and her daughter suffered inhumane treatment for about 4 hours and 30 minutes.

4. Police officers disclosed A's personal information to the male stranger without A's consent.

After questioning A and her daughter, the police officers asked A to consent to give A's phone number to the male stranger who insulted them in the park.

A refused because she was so scared of the man who was hostile to them. Yet, the police officers said that they will not be allowed to go back home unless A consents. Moreover, the police officers disclosed not only A’s phone number, but also her name and home address without A’s consent.

5. The broken peaceful  life of A and her daughter

Both A and her daughter were deeply hurt by the treatment at the police station. In particular, my daughter became afraid of adult men, people in uniforms, and police boxes, and began to show symptoms such as insomnia and hyperventilation when falling asleep. The doctor diagnosed the daughter with "possibility of post-traumatic stress disorder". The daughter still goes to the hospital regularly.

In addition, the man who made racist behavior learned A’s address from the police officer, so A is worried every day when a man would come to her house and harm her and her daughter.

The peaceful life of A and her daughter was robbed by the actions of the police officers.

[Words from the Plaintiff]

I want to create a society where anyone can live with peace of mind regardless of race or country of origin.

Currently, there are less than 3 million foreigners living in Japan. As members of the same society, we respect each other and want to realize a society where anyone can live with peace of mind regardless of race or country of origin.

However, there is no end to discriminatory and aggressive behavior based on prejudice against foreigners, including on the Internet.

Racism by police officers should not allowed

Police officers are authorized by law with very important policing enforcement capacity, and it is very important that such authority is executed rightly. However, discriminatory police enforcement against foreigner, like what happened to A and her daughter in this case, is not rare in Japan. There are times when police stop-and-frisk or search possessions of foreigners without reason. 

Many foreigners think that even if they suffer such improper treatment or damage, they have no choice but to "cry and fall asleep". This is because even if the foreigners are innocent, once they are arrested and charged with crimes, they will lose status of residence and the right to live in Japan. In general, it is not easy for foreigners to speak out against the police officers.

If the police, a public institution, tolerates discrimination and takes measures to support it, it will give the impression that discriminatory behavior will not be blamed, and it will have the adverse effect of further promoting discrimination. 

We, the plaintiff attorney team,  on September 21, 2021, based on the State Redress Act, filed a case with the Tokyo District Court, claiming damages against the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which has jurisdiction over the police station, to clarify that the police officers' response was wrong and to hold them legally liable, so as to reaffirm the stance that discrimination against foreigners in Japan should not be allowed, and to prevent the growth of disciminatory behavior in Japanese society.

[Use of funds]

In addition to legal fees, this case is expected to incur many other costs. Specifically, the cost includes:

・ litigation fee (stamp fee)

・ Interpretation / translation costs

・ Costs for preparing opinions from researchers and experts

・ Others (communication cost, court record copy cost, transportation fee, etc.)

※ Thanks to the supporters to our case, we reached our goal of 1,000,000 yen in merely 5 days after the crowdfunding started. We received so many messages and have translated the Japanese ones into English for A (plaintiff). So much thanks for the support.

From now, the litigation process will begin. The expert opinions will be filed to support the argument on racial discriminations. One expert opinion usually costs about a few hundred thousand yen, and we plan to submit multiple opinions. Further, the legal issues in this case are much more frequently discussed in foreign-language legal references, so we have to hire expert translators for professional and reliable translations, which will be very expensive. Also, our initial goal does not count the attorney fees, but we would like to have the attorneys continue working on this case without heavy economic burden. In consideration of all these factors, we decided to set our next goal as 2,000,000 yen, and will prove what we will do as described above. 

Thank you again for your support!

-Japanese legal system is too costly for foreigners-

Especially in this case, there is a high possibility that the interpretation and translation costs will be high.

In Japan, the interpreter's fee for a court interpreter in civil cases must be paid by the plaintiff in the beginning (in the case of a winning case, the defendant might be responsible for the court costs). There is no clear standard for court interpreter fees (Article 26 of the Law Concerning Civil Procedure Costs, etc. states that "(omitted) the amount of interpreter fees, fees and expenses to be paid (omitted) is deemed appropriate by the court. It is stipulated only on a case-by-case basis, but it can cost hundreds of thousands of yen. In particular, in this case, A's native language interpreter is few and can be more expensive than usual.

In addition, when submitting evidence in a foreign language, all parties are required to translate and submit it at their own expense.

In this way, the civil litigation system in Japan is a heavy burden and a high hurdle for foreigners who are not native speakers of Japanese, which is also a cause of foreigners' hesitation in filing litigations to protect their rights.

We appreciate your support.

[Attorney Contact Information]

2 floor VORT Hanzomon, 2-12-1 Kouji-machi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Integral Law Office 

Attorney at Law in Japan Nishiyama Atsuko

Phone number: 03-3288-5216