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THE stake-out lasted a week, but it paid off in the end. The tireless police of Kagoshima, a sleepy city in the far south of the country, watched the unlocked car day and night. It was parked outside a supermarket, and contained a case of malt beer. Finally, a passing middle-aged man decided to help himself. Five policemen instantly pounced, nabbing one of the city’s few remaining law-breakers.

Japan’s cluttered streets are not always pretty but they are remarkably safe. Crime rates have been falling for 13 years. The murder rate of 0.3 per 100,000 people is among the lowest in the world; in America it is almost 4 (see chart). A single gun slaying was recorded for the whole of 2015. Even yakuza gangsters, once a potent criminal force, have been weakened by tougher laws and old age.

Yet, far from being pensioned off, the police are growing in numbers: beat cops, known colloquially as omawari-san (Mr Walk-around), are a fixture in most neighbourhoods. Japan has over 259,000 uniformed officers—15,000 more than a decade ago, when crime rates were far higher. The ratio of officers to population is very high, especially in Tokyo, home to the world’s biggest metropolitan police force—a quarter bigger than the one protecting New York.
This means plenty of attention for crimes that would be considered too petty to investigate elsewhere, such as the theft of a bicycle or the possession of a tiny amount of drugs. One woman describes how five officers crowded into her cramped apartment after she reported her knickers being swiped from a clothesline. A small army of detectives was assigned last year to apprehend a group of 22 people who had been growing marijuana for their personal use only and smoking it in deserted rural spots.

In fact, as the police run out of things to do, they are becoming more inventive about what constitutes a crime, says Kanako Takayama of Kyoto University. In one recent case, she says, they arrested a group of people who had shared the cost of renting a car, deeming the arrangement an illegal taxi. Some prefectures have begun prosecuting people who ride their bicycles through red lights.

In 2015 a man was arrested for scribbling Adolf Hitler moustaches onto posters of Shinzo Abe, the prime minister. Ms Takayama says detectives have started appearing without permission on university campuses, to monitor “troublesome” students. One reason why police are going after cyclists may be to make up for the steady fall in driving offences. (Both drivers and cyclists can avoid fines by signing up for remedial training at certified driving schools, which are often staffed by retired officers, notes Colin Jones of Doshisha University.) Fifteen years ago police in Hokkaido, in Japan’s sparsely populated north, conspired with yakuza gangsters to smuggle guns into the country so they could meet quotas for finding them.
The hunt for things to do may sometimes be beneficial. The number of reported cases of children being abused at home has almost doubled since 2010, despite the declining birth rate. That suggests the police are increasingly intervening in the domestic sphere, which they used to avoid.

Even critics of Japan’s justice system accept that it gets a lot right. Rates of recidivism are low and a great deal of effort is made to keep young offenders out of the prison system; police work with parents to keep young people on the straight and narrow. Adults are incarcerated at a far lower rate than in most rich countries: 45 per 100,000, compared with 146 in Britain and 666 in the United States.

Yet the police are oddly inefficient. Even though there are so many officers and so few crimes, they solve less than 30% of them. Confessions, often made under duress, form the basis of most criminal prosecutions. The courts dismissed the case of the beer thief in Kagoshima, despite all the work that went into it. Japan is almost crime-free not thanks to the police, says Yoshihiro Yasuda, a campaigning lawyer, but because people police themselves.


This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline "Petty officers"
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teegrams:
why the thing dey pain you na ?? na your sister or wife??

I pray somebody should use your sister 's for such blackmail or better, HIV fall on you or her

I stopped trusting humanity after I gave my own sister 200k I saved and she spent it on the family..


To even give my wife a kobo to keep would be a big problem for me

teegrams:
Saw post on Facebook Mr Know it all ,you can go sue the Facebook poster,if your so called friend gloria no waka for mess mud no go splash for her body...we know your type

F*ck off

You saw the post and instead of making research to found out how truthful it is. As a professional blogger. You choose to do copy and paste.

teegrams:
why are you using paracetamol for another person's headache?

Must you tell lies to generate traffic?

Useless blogger.

This is the picture of ogbuka Gloria not the rubbish you put there

Besides, she is HIV free and I pray may HIV visit you and your family

I didn't go to church bcoz I didn't go to church

Nutase:
Myth or reality?

Reality...

"Killi-We" Nwachukwu

“Killi-We” Nwachukwu (1932-?) was for more than two decades celebrated as a homegrown Nigerian “superman.” Some of his legendary feats of strength included lifting buses, having cement blocks crushed on his head, and allowing cars to drive over his body.

Superman Killi-Wee Nwachukwu was the strongest man in Nigeria–Philip Emeagwali

Killiwe in action
He was a superman who was going from place to place to perform. People paid to watch him. I saw him perform at our primary school in those days. I think his real name was Nwozuzu Nwachukwu (or something like that). I heard that “Killi We” was a nickname he got after a fight with a certain man, one commentator said.

A great natural Superman! Nwozuzu Nwachukwu (Son of God). “Killi We” was a nickname he got after a fight with a stubborn man “Tick man” who refused to pay him his money for a truck load of goods he conveyed from the market to the man’s home. He used to push a wooden two wheel truck with which he carried goods for people. Then, Truck vehicles were not around, or were not affordable. So, after dropping off the goods, the man would not pay what Nwachukwu charged claiming it was too high. He tried to walk away and Nwachukwu grabbed him by the hand insisting he must pay. A fight ensued and he pinned the man to the ground. The man’s wife ran in and came out with a wooden pestle to assist her husband. Nwachukwu snatched it from her, lifted the woman up and pinned her on top of her husband on the floor. Powerless, she started screaming, Killi We Nwachukwu, Killi we Nwanchukwu” meaning, Nwachukwu, kill us!
In the early 90’s, we were asked to pay some money so that he will come and display his power. We gladly paid the money. On the D day od his assuMed coming, we waited, we couldn’t see him, so, we left. The following day in school, some students that were patient enough narrated how he came, how he carried four students on each of his hand and some many power acrobat . Menn….. It was like a hell to me that I didn’t wait to see this man.
He is real. That was anothr commentator.

And yet another.
He existed. Back in eighties, he came to our school, we paid 50 Kobo to watch him. He carried 10 bags of cement on his stomach and toyed a 504 peugeot SR with a rope on his teeth. Story had it that when he died, his body was deposited in Aladinma mourtuary, he in the night, will carry don all other corpeses and strech himself on them. He continued this till he was rejected by the morgue. He was real.

I remember hearing stories about Giant Alakuku as a child. But I don’t recall ever seeing him.

I remember Killiwe. He was a fat dude and used to tour the country performing stunts like grabbing cars by the bumper and preventing it from moving as someone stepped on the pedal.

I also remember a Seven-Seven song about Killiwe:

“Killiwe Nwaozize Nwachukwu
Abeg make you help me carry my load”

Great Ibeabuchi alias Pistor Killer of Ngodo Isuochi the Lion of Africa who was a great Superman who contested and won the mighty Kill-We Nwachukwu in the sixties.

https://udumakalu./2014/12/17/superman-killi-we-nwachukwu-real-or-fake/

Op must be typing from Canada not in Nigeria.


Few days ago, federal ministry of health warned that mosquito nets can no longer repel mosquitoes.

Anyways, is your own decision but those options are not convincing

igborubausa:
within 14 days, I will be on African soil. and I will post my photos then.

I said, you should send me a message. I will put you through. I am also hot with 10inches dick and very expandable.

I have good experience in f*cking white women

I have f*cked in Germany, England, California and will be happy to f*ck you in my father's soil.

Should I give you my number?

White woman, pm me

Attention seeking mofo

How did you know he was the one. With your look, can your family afford his demands??

xnigga:
I received an SMS that my application was not properly processed that I should visit Npower.gov.ng to reapply, I did and was told that I have already applied

It happened to me too.. Maybe they just don't want to employ ppl

Why are you ppl checking names, these ipob yoots.


Don't you know that afonja had sold all their properties just for you ppl to develop their land while they go to club, rob and do rituals

I can't check name..

We are one Nigeria

I can't check name..

We one Nigeria

DavidLoves:
bro...u said its a stone throw frm ur sister's house Dat means u dnt pay for transport n i assume u stay with ur sister which means u have a roof over ur head Hmmm
25k would do u alot if only u can v rethink....
Crime no dey pay ohh...
Ask d famous kidnap kingpin......didnt call any name o

Crime paid him but just like everybody he is destined to die that way .

While growing up I had struggled against All odds to make sure I give myself quality Education. After which I will get a job and then chase my political career. I am a Machiavellian but have never commit any crime in getting to the end.

I have grown to be a law abiding citizen of this country. By 2015, I earned a Degree from a reputable ivory tower in Nigeria. Concluded my service early this year. Have heard much about unemployment currently pulling the youths down but choose to ignore that very news. I had so much believe in God, I have this believe that if I can actually get admission those days when writing WAEC and Writing JAMB used to be a stream dream that I will earnestly jump unemployment.

My eyes began to open after i had applied for more than 200 jobs online and had worked round Lagos submitting Cvs. Within three months, I can count few places I have never been to in Lagos just because of job hunt.

I remember within this period, how I had gone to a near by shop to buy Sniper, had blocked and deleted my WhatsApp account and facebook. But something told me that *I have come a long way to give up*. I read different articles on Nairaland and talked to my friends. Who encouraged me a lot. My parents are all gone and sisters are married. Most pressures were actually coming from them as they keep on saying that I made a wrong career choice.

To cut the story, after reading articles on Nairaland, I decided to keep my certificate aside and start hustling from scratch. I went and applied as a laundry man just a stone throw from my sister's house where I stay.

I am supposed to be paid 25k but they deduct from 500# for tax every month with the stress of washing one Yoruba Man's underwear.

Now, I have made my mind up to join Crime and defeat unemployment. By tomorrow I will be meeting ppl who will put me through and I won't regret whatever I see or will be doing in days to come.

Below is my first salary after NYSC.

Pardon my diction.