Japanese Court

Back in July of this year, two tenants in my building got into a fight over some issue. The fight escalated to the point where one guy attacked the other guy with an aluminum baseball bat.

I was witness to the initial confrontation and witness to the act of violence where the victim was actually struck with the baseball bat.

I was the one who called the police and assisted with identifying the two parties involved. I spent hours and hours at the police station going over my statement time after time after time.

Then, when it came to preparing for the trial, I spent hours again going over the details with the prosecutor. The court finally held the trial today. I answered all the questions the prosecutor had repeatedly asked me before. Then, under cross-examination by the defendant's lawyer, I realized that he was trying to discredit my statements. The wonderful thing about the truth is that you only have to tell the truth and not worry about covering your tracks.

The trial finished just minutes ago and I feel exhausted. The defendant looked totally different -- he was clean, well groomed, dressed in clean clothes, and seemed despondent or repentant. Before the trial, I was afraid that he might actually try to attack me in court out of spite or anger. He was a short-tempered, volatile person when he lived in my building.

Today, I actually felt kind of sorry for him. My company got him evicted from our building; he seems to have no family whatsoever; has been living off of welfare (which is barely enough to survive); and will most likely be jailed for the next couple of years. When he gets out of jail, I wonder if he will try to start a new life, become homeless, or seek me out for revenge.

I am sure there are many cases where foreigners find themselves in court. I could barely follow along with all of the questions from the judge and the defendant's lawyer since I am unfamiliar with courtroom terminology. Such a situation must be extremely stressful for foreigners who cannot speak or understand any Japanese to begin with.

I had an interpreter, but I could see a couple of cases where her translation lost the nuance of what I was trying to say. So, for the rest of the trial, I just tried to get by with my own Japanese and used the interpreter only occasionally for clarification, especially for questions from the defendant's lawyer.

The defendent's lawyer gave me the impression of a cunning rat! He seemed to be trying to make me commit an act of purjury. He kind of pissed me off! I know he was just doing his job, but I could see where someone could get tripped up by the way he asked questions using double negatives, and such.

I now realize why so many people would rather not involve the police in a civil issue that might go to trial. It would be much easier to ignore the situation and move to another apartment where you hope your fellow tenants are more respectful of fellow tenants and take an investment in maintaining harmony in the building and neighborhood.

If anything, I wish I could send the defendant a bill for the hardship he caused me and get reimbursed for my moving expenses, lost time at work, and expense of going to the station, prosecutor's office, and the trial.

Funny how life is so unpredictable. Who would have guessed a skinny little farmboy from "Smalltown" U.S.A. would have a year where he buries his wife of 20 years, lives alone with a border collie, and goes to a Japanese courtroom to help convict a violent neighbor.

I hope and pray 2017 will be a better year. What else could possibly go wrong?


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