In a room of the Tokyo District Court I told my name, age, address and occupation as I was asked. “The prosecutor requested for further detention. I’ll read your suspicion,” said the judge. What he read was the same in content as the one the police officers said in their interrogation on the first day and the prosecutor said yesterday. Of course I knew nothing about what they said.
“Is there any mistake in terms of these facts?”
“Yes, all are mistake.”
I explained. I thought a judge could understand me. I was praying in my mind.
The judge rubber-stamped, saying, “Extension of detention period for 10 days more.”
“Why?” The strength drained out of me.
20 Mar. 2008
Thursday, July 30, 2009
No. 19 I’ll be home today
“I have been here for 3 days. Today is the last day because the police officer said to me that I should stay for 2 or 3 days.” I really hoped my detention would be over today. I wanted to return to my normal life. “Today I’m going to see the judge. A judge must be a person of sound judgment. So, the judge will accept my claim that I did nothing criminal. Then I can get home.” This is what I thought then.
I was taken to the court. Like the previous day, I went there in a black-colored car. The officer in charge of the cell and a vice head officer went with me. Now I come to think of it, we were going to the Tokyo District Court. We waited for the judge in the stateroom. I saw a poster on the wall that read “We can assign a defense counsel for you.” However, at that time, I didn’t know what the “defense counsel” was and what they did. I asked the officer who came to the court with me, and he answered me in a polite way.
I was called out, and then I went into another room. It was a small room. There were two men sitting already. “Please take a seat,” said a man in a black coat.
19 Mar. 2008
I was taken to the court. Like the previous day, I went there in a black-colored car. The officer in charge of the cell and a vice head officer went with me. Now I come to think of it, we were going to the Tokyo District Court. We waited for the judge in the stateroom. I saw a poster on the wall that read “We can assign a defense counsel for you.” However, at that time, I didn’t know what the “defense counsel” was and what they did. I asked the officer who came to the court with me, and he answered me in a polite way.
I was called out, and then I went into another room. It was a small room. There were two men sitting already. “Please take a seat,” said a man in a black coat.
19 Mar. 2008
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
No. 18 The second night
I got back to the cell in the Suginami Police Station.
As there was no clock, I didn’t know the exact time. Later I heard that I went out of the cell at 13:19 and came back at 17:50.
I ate dinner for the first time at the cell. As dinner time was over, I ate it alone spreading a gray place mat on the table of the smoking room. It was a box dinner with a sheet of dried laver. The food was cold. Quick-cooking miso soup was also cold. They were not good. I couldn’t eat them.
After dinner what I should do was to brush my teeth and go to bed. Like kids, 21:00 was time to go to bed. Everyone seemed unable to sleep. They were fumbling around.
I heard I was able to go back home in two or three days. I was glad to have a hope that I would go out tomorrow! Suddenly I was worried about my job for the first time since arrested. I am a driver of the Keihin-tohoku line. My work schedule was completed for a month to come. “Yesterday was my paid day-off, today’s timetable is No.12 and tomorrow’s diagram is No.1. Who will drive on my behalf?” Worksite traveling was planned on Nov.4. On 15-16 November I was to join the basketball tournament sponsored by the JR East Company, which I had continued training for. I really wanted to join the games.
Of course I was worried about my wife and son. The sight of my arrest came back clearly before my eyes. “Why am I given such cruel treatment? Why am I here in the cell?”Tears kept filling my eyes again.
18 Mar. 2008
As there was no clock, I didn’t know the exact time. Later I heard that I went out of the cell at 13:19 and came back at 17:50.
I ate dinner for the first time at the cell. As dinner time was over, I ate it alone spreading a gray place mat on the table of the smoking room. It was a box dinner with a sheet of dried laver. The food was cold. Quick-cooking miso soup was also cold. They were not good. I couldn’t eat them.
After dinner what I should do was to brush my teeth and go to bed. Like kids, 21:00 was time to go to bed. Everyone seemed unable to sleep. They were fumbling around.
I heard I was able to go back home in two or three days. I was glad to have a hope that I would go out tomorrow! Suddenly I was worried about my job for the first time since arrested. I am a driver of the Keihin-tohoku line. My work schedule was completed for a month to come. “Yesterday was my paid day-off, today’s timetable is No.12 and tomorrow’s diagram is No.1. Who will drive on my behalf?” Worksite traveling was planned on Nov.4. On 15-16 November I was to join the basketball tournament sponsored by the JR East Company, which I had continued training for. I really wanted to join the games.
Of course I was worried about my wife and son. The sight of my arrest came back clearly before my eyes. “Why am I given such cruel treatment? Why am I here in the cell?”Tears kept filling my eyes again.
18 Mar. 2008
No. 17 “You are not a member of Kakumaru”
I answered the prosecutor as accurately as I could. Actually I didn’t understand what he said. At that time I thought my explanation could help him understand me. But I couldn’t understand my suspicion. Little did I think that I was arrested on suspicion of the criminal act. It was a complete surprise to me. I have never experienced such a thing.
After that I went back to the Suginami Police Station. On the way the police officer who accompanied me from the morning told me, “Listening to what you said in front of the prosecutor, I believe you. As you said, I think you can’t be a culprit.”
I was arrested without knowing the reason, and since then the police had said definitively that I was Kakumaru. So, I was glad to hear his words. “He knows I did nothing criminal.” I was deeply moved and felt a little relieved.He was around 40 years of age, wearing glasses and tall. He was kind enough to answer my question politely when I asked him what would happen to me in the future. He seemed warmhearted.
17 Mar. 2008
After that I went back to the Suginami Police Station. On the way the police officer who accompanied me from the morning told me, “Listening to what you said in front of the prosecutor, I believe you. As you said, I think you can’t be a culprit.”
I was arrested without knowing the reason, and since then the police had said definitively that I was Kakumaru. So, I was glad to hear his words. “He knows I did nothing criminal.” I was deeply moved and felt a little relieved.He was around 40 years of age, wearing glasses and tall. He was kind enough to answer my question politely when I asked him what would happen to me in the future. He seemed warmhearted.
17 Mar. 2008
No. 16 “Kakumaru”?
I answered immediately. “No. I’m not a member.”
I knew the word, “Kakumaru.” I knew the slander which said that JREU had many Kakumaru members. So, in the workplace, union members often said in fun like “JREU is Kakumaru,” or “You are Kakumaru.”
But these were only jokes. We could say “Kakumaru” just because we had no connection with it. We played a joke using this word. Listening to the prosecutor’s question, I felt curious. He asked me, in a grave appearance, “Are you a member?” Of course I had never said that I was a member of it.
The prosecutor asked me some questions, looking at the paper where my suspicion was written. There were 15 stories on it, and I was allegedly got involved in the seven of them. I responded confidently as “No” or “I don’t remember what you say.” From the very beginning, all were suspicions of which I knew nothing. So, I explained what I did. I believed that he could understand me. I said “I don’t remember” on the parts I forgot. I couldn’t remember what happened more than one year earlier.
After questioning, the prosecutor wrote a document and showed it to me. In terms of content, as a whole, he wrote as I denied what the prosecutor asked to me. I signed my name and sealed the document with a thumbprint.
The prosecutor said, “You are going to the Court tomorrow.” I felt relieved to hear that. “Tomorrow will be the last day. I can go back home,” I thought.
16 Mar. 2008
I knew the word, “Kakumaru.” I knew the slander which said that JREU had many Kakumaru members. So, in the workplace, union members often said in fun like “JREU is Kakumaru,” or “You are Kakumaru.”
But these were only jokes. We could say “Kakumaru” just because we had no connection with it. We played a joke using this word. Listening to the prosecutor’s question, I felt curious. He asked me, in a grave appearance, “Are you a member?” Of course I had never said that I was a member of it.
The prosecutor asked me some questions, looking at the paper where my suspicion was written. There were 15 stories on it, and I was allegedly got involved in the seven of them. I responded confidently as “No” or “I don’t remember what you say.” From the very beginning, all were suspicions of which I knew nothing. So, I explained what I did. I believed that he could understand me. I said “I don’t remember” on the parts I forgot. I couldn’t remember what happened more than one year earlier.
After questioning, the prosecutor wrote a document and showed it to me. In terms of content, as a whole, he wrote as I denied what the prosecutor asked to me. I signed my name and sealed the document with a thumbprint.
The prosecutor said, “You are going to the Court tomorrow.” I felt relieved to hear that. “Tomorrow will be the last day. I can go back home,” I thought.
16 Mar. 2008
No. 15 “Are you a member of Kakumaru?”
“No. 7, you are going to see the public prosecutor,” said the police officer. When someone is arrested by the police, the prosecutors question the arrestee and then decide if the case is billable. Once he or she is indicted, the prosecutors pursue conviction in the court. Only those who are excellent enough to pass the difficult bar examination can become the prosecutor. At that time I didn’t know what the prosecutor is. I hardly got interested in such things. My mind was broken up by shock of arrest and I was gripped by anxiety about my family.
Out of the cell I was handcuffed. The officer asked if my wrists pain me. After that every time he cuffed me, I was asked the same question. Tying a string around my waist, I was taken out of the police station. I saw three men in suits waiting. They were different people from those who had searched my house on the previous day. The police officer took a back seat of a car with me holding the end of my string in his hand. I was sandwiched between him and one of the men. One of other two was a driver.
The car started. One of the men asked me, “Did you sleep well last night?”
“No. Not enough.”
“Did you eat meals?”
“No.”
I got angry to hear that. I had been confused to be arrested before my loved ones. I didn’t know what was what. Don’t talk nonsense! I don’t see why I can eat.
The car went down into the basement of a building. We got off the car at the parking. We took the lift, but I didn’t remember what story we went up to.
I was called. I entered the big room with a sofa set, planters and bookshelves. I saw buildings out of the window. The room was quite different from the interrogation room of the police station where I had been questioned the day earlier. I saw the prosecutor and another man in the room. I was said to sit down in front of the prosecutor.
“I am N., a prosecutor.” He added, “Are you a member of the Kakumaru faction?”
15 Mar. 2008
Out of the cell I was handcuffed. The officer asked if my wrists pain me. After that every time he cuffed me, I was asked the same question. Tying a string around my waist, I was taken out of the police station. I saw three men in suits waiting. They were different people from those who had searched my house on the previous day. The police officer took a back seat of a car with me holding the end of my string in his hand. I was sandwiched between him and one of the men. One of other two was a driver.
The car started. One of the men asked me, “Did you sleep well last night?”
“No. Not enough.”
“Did you eat meals?”
“No.”
I got angry to hear that. I had been confused to be arrested before my loved ones. I didn’t know what was what. Don’t talk nonsense! I don’t see why I can eat.
The car went down into the basement of a building. We got off the car at the parking. We took the lift, but I didn’t remember what story we went up to.
I was called. I entered the big room with a sofa set, planters and bookshelves. I saw buildings out of the window. The room was quite different from the interrogation room of the police station where I had been questioned the day earlier. I saw the prosecutor and another man in the room. I was said to sit down in front of the prosecutor.
“I am N., a prosecutor.” He added, “Are you a member of the Kakumaru faction?”
15 Mar. 2008
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