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  • Alright so I was actually going to do a totally different video today

  • on laws in Japan but then I realized

  • A. There is a lot of good content out there for it and

  • B. None of them really cover the three

  • main points I want to cover today which are really

  • simple things that might get you in trouble in Japan.

  • *sneeze* oh boy,

  • I really hope that I don't have hay fever.

  • That's a thing that happens by the way, people who live in Japan long enough

  • who have never had hay fever or allergies before can develop them.

  • and I've been sneezing a lot this year.

  • There is a pigeon coming. What's up pigeon?

  • That's the pigeon.

  • Alright guys welcome to the video, I'm going to try and cover

  • a fairly serious topic without making it

  • overly serious. I want to talk about a couple things

  • that you can end up bringing to Japan

  • unsuspectingly, totally normal things

  • that might end up getting you in trouble

  • with the police, detained, or even arrested.

  • I want to start by saying that I

  • am by no means a legal professional and

  • mostly for that reason I a going to encourage you guys to

  • do your own research. When it comes to these types of things

  • but I am going to share anecdotes and stories that will

  • hopefully give a little bit of context to all

  • of this.

  • So I just want to jump right into things, there

  • are three main things I want to talk about today. So all of this

  • actually started back in the summer when my little brother Alexander

  • came to visit me here in Japan. We were

  • planning on doing some camping

  • and he suggested bringing along

  • walkie talkies

  • and my instant reaction was no don't do it

  • for one main reason, you see the walkie talkies that are

  • used in most counties around the world that use frequency bands like FRS

  • and UHF and I don't know all the technicalities,

  • but they're not really legal for use here in Japan.

  • There are tons of websites that document all the details.

  • So I wont go super technical but I will say that

  • it interferes with things like the

  • emergency bands for police, firetrucks and all that

  • it interferes with television waves,

  • and so much more, trains, you name it.

  • I would personally just play on the safe side and

  • probably not bring them but

  • there are cases of people who have been in Japan

  • who have been caught using these

  • and found themselves in fairly big trouble.

  • One of the most famous cases that I heard and its why I told

  • my little brother like don't bring them into Japan just don't

  • bring them was a case of a bunch of like

  • motorcyclers who came into the country

  • rented motorcycles and used their

  • used their walkie talkies as they were traveling and on

  • day two they were stopped by the police

  • and it became a whole big thing.

  • And because walkie talkies are such a

  • normal thing back home in most countries you wouldn't expect

  • to get in trouble for bringing something as simple as

  • a walkie talkie. Now I know a lot of people are probably gonna jump in and be like

  • but there are entire radio shops in Akihabara that sell

  • walkie talkies and radios and everything like that and

  • a lot of them run on a different band or you need to be licensed for

  • them. Again I don't know all the details.

  • I'm not a radio pro but if you're thinking about bringing

  • walkie talkies to Japan

  • Do your research or just avoid it altogether.

  • I don't know about you but I kind of already want to change

  • up the scenery a little bit.

  • Alright that works. Now the second one is going to apply to a lot

  • less people but this one was more of a

  • surprise to me than anything. So I was sitting there with a friend and he

  • was talking about how a locksmith buddy of his

  • came in through Haneda airport like a year or

  • two ago and this person is a registered

  • locksmith back in the United States and when they landed in

  • Japan, they had their locksmiths kit.

  • Their little tool kit

  • in their bag. They got held right there at the airport

  • because any lock-picking tools

  • are completely and utterly illegal

  • in Japan. Again I don't if the licensing and

  • all that is for it. All I know is that you can't have it.

  • One of the reasons that I brought this up was because I was scrolling through

  • Instagram the other day and like this ad for like you know

  • lock-picking stuff for some like, you know one of those

  • Chinese cheap sites came up

  • And I was like I wonder if they would actually allow me to purchase this and

  • as I was looking through it

  • I realized, ya actually I could purchase this

  • and ship it to Japan, there's nothing on there

  • that says I can't ship it and something like that can really throw

  • off an unsuspecting buyer who sees it online

  • and is like well you know international shipping

  • everything's available nowadays. You

  • end up buying something like that and it turns out it's not legal

  • and it's such an unsuspecting thing. It's just, it's a lock-picking kit.

  • and again it's not like the average person is really going to want a

  • lock-picking kit.

  • But I guess the moral of this part of it is that the most

  • tiny, unsuspecting thing can end up getting you in

  • a lot more trouble than you would expect and potentially

  • ruin your trip to Japan. Something like

  • walkie talkies or a lock-picking kit.

  • Depending on your country these may be completely and

  • utterly normal things to have.

  • Change up the angle a little bit. I really like this sakura tree.

  • Anyways back to the main topic. This next one's going to be

  • really important to hobbyists and people who are looking for

  • alternative ways just to get around Tokyo

  • or Japan. Surprisingly, enough

  • you may run into trouble using things like

  • roller blades or skateboards.

  • Let me explain and I'm going to try and go

  • as basic as possible. You see in Japan

  • roadways are designated for cars

  • and bicycles and sidewalks for the most part are

  • designated for pedestrians and bicycles.

  • There's a lot more detail and technicality in there

  • that I am just going to kind of blow over. The main point being

  • there's no specific designation for something like

  • roller blades or unicycles if you're

  • a unicycler for some reason, which is actually really

  • popular in Japan.

  • or skateboards,

  • Now there is a law

  • that states that these can be used but they can't

  • used on major roads. I'm not

  • going to go deeply into the details of what a major road or

  • frequently used road is. Simply because

  • it doesn't really matter. It's like a certain number of cars, bicycles

  • and pedestrians per hour but the main point is

  • that it's a real grey zone. This for the most part is

  • on purpose. A lot of Japanese laws leave a

  • bit of ambiguity or grey zone in there to enable the authorities

  • to interpret and use that law

  • as they see fit based on the situation.

  • Now as someone who uses a penny board to get

  • around Tokyo quite often, every now and then the police

  • will stop me and be like "mmm can you get off the board?" and I just

  • get of the board and say "Yep, sorry, no problem."

  • and make it along my way. Kind of want to change this up again

  • Alright, I'm aware that, that is almost no change at all

  • but I like having this little guy in the shot.

  • Getting back to things, more importantly than just

  • skateboarding and rollerblading and all that. There's one

  • really important one that might actually lead you to breaking the law

  • and getting in a lot of trouble. See recently

  • I went to Brisbane Australia and those little

  • electronic scooters, the little lime scooters

  • or you know they're named different in every city,

  • are insanely popular.

  • That kind of thing will get you in big trouble in Japan.

  • Like a year or so ago a company sent me

  • one of those electronic scooters

  • and an electronic skateboard to zip around Tokyo on and

  • I ended up stopping using it really really quickly when I

  • found out that you can get in really big trouble

  • for using those. In Japan

  • any motorized vehicle under

  • 5CC's is considered a genski,

  • it's kinda like

  • a low powered motor vehicle. If you've seen everybody's

  • favorite Mario karts that are driving around those are also

  • classified under the same thing. If you have something that has

  • two wheels, you are legally required to wear a helmet,

  • three or more I don't think you are, again don't quote

  • me on it and along with this

  • classification comes it's own set of rules

  • and laws for example, you have to have

  • a license plate and a car license at the very

  • least to drive one of these. They can't go on the

  • sidewalks, etc. etc. etc. So,

  • if the police were to see you zipping down the road on a motorized

  • scooter or skateboard you could

  • potentially land yourself in a lot of trouble.

  • Which going back to the lock picking thing

  • is one of the tricky parts because getting these into Japan

  • isn't all that hard. That company sent

  • me an electronic scooter and a motorized

  • skateboard. They had no problem getting it through

  • customs and it went right to my front door but

  • actually using those on the roads is a

  • totally different situation. Now those are

  • the big ones but there are also a slew of minor

  • things that you should watch out for. For example if you have

  • prescription medications and you're traveling to Japan

  • make sure A) that your prescription medication is

  • allowed in Japan because some aren't and B) whether it's allowed or

  • not definitely make sure you carry your prescription slip.

  • You can get in trouble for that. Even Tylenol with codeine

  • codeine is a no go in Japan. Other ones that throw

  • a lot of people off. You are legally required to carry either your

  • passport or your residence card in Japan and

  • not carrying one of these can land you in hot water but something like this

  • the police are more often than not pretty kind about it.

  • I actually almost never carry my passport or my

  • residence card and in the odd time that I've been asked

  • to show ID, I've shown my drivers license and they said do you,

  • do you have your residence card? and I'm like uh at home and they're like

  • for future reference you need to carry that, um

  • we could technically go to your home right now

  • just to confirm that you actually have it. We're not going to do that cause

  • we can see that you have a Japanese issued

  • drivers license but point in case they're

  • usually pretty nice and they tend to be

  • more so as long as you are nice and respectful

  • of them. I can't really emphasize that enough.

  • So I know these aren't the big broad super applies to

  • everybody in the world information but

  • I do hope that this video helped you in one way or

  • another. Usually I would say leave questions in the comments

  • below but more than anything I encourage you

  • guys to really really do your own research.

  • There are countless other websites and youtube videos out there

  • documenting things that can get you in trouble in Japan

  • but I hadn't actually seen these points covered in

  • any video so I wanted to

  • share these with you guys today in the hopes that

  • maybe they'll be useful to you. If they were at all

  • or if you even just enjoyed the video it would mean the world to me

  • if you would give it some love

  • and if you leave me something in the comments below

  • if you are new to the channel, I would love to have you consider

  • hitting that subscribe button, maybe check

  • out another video or two. And you guys know...

  • I will see you again...

  • real soon.

Alright so I was actually going to do a totally different video today

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