The police stopped me on my bicycle today.

I got stopped on my bicycle for the first time today. I was out in the middle of no where, literally nothing around me but rice fields; but it was a wide road with an even wider sidewalk. A patrol car pulled into the sidewalk in front of me and the doors opened. Rather than give chase, I stopped and let them chat with me.

The first thing they wanted was the ID card that all foreigners must carry at all times. I kept my arms relaxed and didn't say anything, trying to remember what it is I'm supposed to do when this happens. Finally, I just politely asked, "what's the problem?"

They were speaking really fast, and I had no problem following what they were saying, but there's absolutely no way I can get down what they said verbatim. I'll note they were very polite and in a phony sort of way downright obsequious. But they kept asking for my foreign ID card. They asked if I had it.

I told them, of course I had it, but I didn't reach for it. They were asking questions about one a second. I just told them, "I haven't done anything wrong."

They started going at again, so I said, "look, I understand you are doing your job. And there's some policy that you are supposed to carry out, right? But basically, you saw I had white skin, so you pulled me over. I know it's not your fault, but whatever the policy is, it isn't good. That's not a good way to do things." [That's not precisely what I said, but it's close enough.]

They told me it had nothing to do with me having white skin, and that it was a spot check as there have been lots of bicycle robberies recently, and I just happened to be the person going by at the moment. (They had scoped me out actually and followed me from a different street. What they were saying was disingenuous at best, how'd they know I wasn't Japanese? There probably have been bicycle robberies recently. That's a constant state of affairs. It's a given they weren't stopping anyone Japanese.)

Anyway, as I was playing offense, they got defensive. They asked how long I'd lived in Japan. I told them 15 years. They asked if I had a permanent visa, I told them yes. They thanked me for speaking Japanese, assured me I hadn't been stopped for being a foreigner, apologized for bothering me and left. I never bothered to show them my card. I guess, speaking Japanese was enough to demonstrate my innocence. Whatever. It's wrong what they did.

Arudou Debito has a lot of useful information up at his web site about what to do in a situation like this. However, I can't ever remember the details, nor did I ever expect to be stopped as I don't live in a big city. I guess it's time to start paying attention.

I was basically going to tell them I will comply with the law, but first please tell me which law it is that allows them to stop and question me and ask for my card. If they couldn't answer, I was just going to stand there till they went away or they handcuffed me and put me in the patrol card. It never got that far. I'm happy for that.