“Bokuchu” Us vs the Police: 700-Day War

“We are the Wind” has gone on for four days now. This is the final chapter. Thank you for waiting for so long; today I’ll reveal the correct answer to the question: “Will bicycles get speeding tickets?”

At this point, there were five of us including myself that were caught by the police. For most people, especially when young, being alone and being with 5 friends was totally different. Even though we were in the dire situation of “being caught by police,” we were smiling young guys – in other word, we had big attitudes.

There were five of us and two policemen, one of which was our local resident policeman (Chuzai-san^*1). The first officer to interrogate us was the young Chuzai-san.
“What were… you guys doing?”
“Like we said, we were just racing on our bikes.”

Next to speak was the older policeman.
“Bikes are considered light vehicles. You understand?”
This policeman’s explanation was one of the answers to our questions. Because bikes were considered light vehicles, they must follow the speed limit when there was one. That’s number one. Therefore, the punishment is the same as a light vehicle. There was no speed limit on bikes if one wasn’t posted (I didn’t know this).

Though, that didn’t concern the policeman. It seemed that they were concerned about something other than the “Road Traffic Law.”

But because we were supported by the fact that “we didn’t have licenses or speedometers on bikes,” we were just casually brushing off their explanation and waiting for a chance to use those excuses.

“You guys are students at ○○ high school, right?”

“No, we’re from the boat club at Waseda University^*2! We’re currently on our spring training!”

Hey hey… read the air… Where the heck did Waseda University come from…?

*SNAP*

It was almost as if we could hear the policeman snap.

“You’re under arrest.”

What?

That’s right. We were placed under arrest for such a ridiculous joke.

????

I agree that it was a ridiculous joke, but should we be arrested because of it? Doesn’t the country of Japan guarantee the freedom of jokes?

“Your actions were intentionally obstructing official police business.”
“Therefore, at ○:○○PM, I place you under arrest for interference of a public servant in the execution of his duties.”

Eh? Was he joking?

Not a chance. It’s true. Officially, it was obstructing a police officer in the management of enforcing violations. It was a fact that because of us, a couple cars were not caught speeding.

After hearing this, our laughing stopped and our attitudes changed immediately.

“We’re contacting your school now.”
“There were some others, weren’t there? Are they in the same boat club? Hrmm?”
Chuzai-san said excitedly.

“No… they’re from the hockey club at Komazawa…”

*SNAP*SNAP*

My friend’s answer further infuriated Chuzai-san.

It turns out this friend has a brother, who is a police officer. That’s why he had a higher immunity towards policemen. Us ordinary guys are intimidated just from the uniform, but he’s used to seeing one every day. Unfortunately for him, Chuzai-san knew about his brother, being in the same jurisdiction.

“I’m going to call your brother in, too!”

The situation is already in the pits. Every word that we said made it worse.

One hour later, we were transported to the residential police substation, where in front of four teachers and our guardians we were lectured till dusk. In the end, we even got “suspended” from school. It was supposedly the first time since the founding of the school that someone was “suspended while biking.” … Of course it is. Though, since we were suspended from school, they took away our charge of “interference of a public servant in the execution of his duties.”

When we were about to leave, the policeman spoke to me.

“Hey you with the girl bike.”
“Yes?”
“You weren’t even going 30 km/h.”

So they can measure our speed! Hey, I wasn’t even over the limit!

— The End —

And so starts “Us vs. the Police: 700-Day War.”
The first chapter begins here->

*1 Chuzai is not a last name. It’s a way to call a local resident policeman.
*2 Waseda University is one of the better-known universities in Japan.

Trackback This Post | Subscribe to the comments through RSS Feed