Uniformed volunteers patrol Tokyo streets to intimidate people hanging out

The Shibuya Center-Gai Patrol is a volunteer group of people who patrol the streets of Tokyo wearing police-like uniforms and yelling and blowing whistles at loiterers, smokers, and other people who don't behave like salarymen or shoppers. They bring German Shepherds (also in uniform) on their patrols with them.

Japan Probe has a number of videos and commentary.

Video Clip 1 Summary
* The patrolman yells at some young people sitting along the side of the street, telling them to stand up because they are being a nuisance.
* Another patrolman goes after a couple young men who are leaning on a guard rail, telling them what they are doing is dangerous and inappropriate. When the men insist they are doing nothing wrong, the patrolman shouts at them until they leave.
* The patrolmen force other young people who are sitting or crouching in areas of the street to stand up, yelling at them and using whistles.

Link

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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Takuan

if the local yakuza isn’t already running it, they will be
Antinous

This might explain why so many body parts have been washing up on Japanese beaches lately. Everyone not immediately engaged in commerce has been driven into the sea.
Stefan Jones

“They bring German Shepards (also in uniform) on their patrols with them.”

Consequences of reading through bOING bOING story summaries too quickly:

I mentally conflated the previous story with this one, and for a moment imagined those German shepherds in a girl’s school uniform. (Would that make the dogs more or less intimidating?)
Santa’s Knee

God, this is almost as funny as when the Guardian Angels tried to clean up the DC metro.

Priceless.
Takuan

congratulations, you have just invented a brand new fetish. Copyright it quick.
jacktd01

h jpn, wht grt cntry. Thr sgns r s ndrstndbl t, ths n s my prsnl fvrt.

http://www.bty.cm/cmpttn/f576d6/fnnst-sgn-n-s/ntry/410474/my-jpns-mght-b-bttr
Anselm

My first thought was “only in Japan…”

My second thought was “no, that’s not true; that could happen here in the US too…”

My third though “…and the Phelps Klan would be running it.”
Downpressor

Yer welcome Jeffkw, I just calls em likes I sees em though.
Antinous

jacktd01

Link asks questions.
Takuan

sez Down as he scrubs, scrubs, scrubs the back seat upholstery… you looking at me?”
Takuan

we know who ye be, Bablyon!

Guiltiness (talkin’ ’bout guiltiness)
Pressed on their conscience. Oh yeah.
And they live their lives (they live their lives)
On false pretence everyday -
each and everyday. Yeah.

These are the big fish
Who always try to eat down the small fish,
just the small fish.
I tell you what: they would do anything
To materialize their every wish. Oh yeah-eah-eah-eah.

Say: Woe to the downpressors:
They’ll eat the bread of sorrow!
Woe to the downpressors:
They’ll eat the bread of sad tomorrow!
Woe to the downpressors:
They’ll eat the bread of sorrow!
Oh, yeah-eah! Oh, yeah-eah-eah-eah!

Guiltiness
Pressed on their conscience. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
These are the big fish
Who always try to eat down the small fish,
just the small fish.

I tell you what: they would do anything
To materialize their every wish. Oh, yeah-eah-eah-eah-eah-eah.

But: Woe to the downpressors:
They’ll eat the bread of sorrow!
Woe to the downpressors:
They’ll eat the bread of sad tomorrow!
Woe to the downpressors:
They’ll eat the bread of sad tomorrow!
Oh, yeah-eah! Oh yeah-e-e-e-e-e!

Guiltiness. Oh yeah. Ah!
They’ll eat the bread of sorrow everyday
Antinous

Sometimes I wonder if I’m the only commenter who doesn’t live in Edo.
Takuan

just the only one currently out of prison
swoody

hmmmm…this may lead to a new type of protest. the sit-out.
minamisan

@Downpressor:

Just curious how many of the previous posters live in Tokyo and or have ever been on Center Gai in other than a Gee Wilikers tourist context? My bet is zero but of course I could be wrong.

yep, you’re wrong. i’ve lived here for years and i’ve walked the streets of shibuya hundreds of times. it’s seedy as hell, yeah, but it still feels 50x safer than the equivalent in any western city i’ve lived in. loitering teenagers and touts don’t bother me. people who verbally or physically threaten me, bother me.
Downpressor

Takuan,

Its a nickname I picked up years ago from listening to Peter Tosh constantly. Does yours refer to the pickle or the monk?

Antinous,

“Edo”? Are we in a time warp or something? Should I be booking a passage on a sailing ship to New Amsterdam?
Takuan

I am unquestionably a pickled monk – some of that voluntary

O Fortuna O Fortune,
velut luna like the moon
statu variabilis, you are changeable,
semper crescis ever waxing
aut decrescis; and waning;
vita detestabilis hateful life
nunc obdurat first oppresses
et tunc curat and then soothes
ludo mentis aciem, as fancy takes it;
egestatem, poverty
potestatem and power
dissolvit ut glaciem. it melts them like ice.

Sors immanis Fate – monstrous
et inanis, and empty,
rota tu volubilis, you whirling wheel,
status malus, you are malevolent,
vana salus well-being is vain
semper dissolubilis, and always fades to nothing,
obumbrata shadowed
et velata and veiled
michi quoque niteris; you plague me too;
nunc per ludum now through the game
dorsum nudum I bring my bare back
fero tui sceleris. to your villainy.

Sors salutis Fate is against me
et virtutis in health
michi nunc contraria, and virtue,
est affectus driven on
et defectus and weighted down,
semper in angaria. always enslaved.
Hac in hora So at this hour
sine mora without delay
corde pulsum tangite; pluck the vibrating strings;
quod per sortem since Fate
sternit fortem, strikes down the string man,
mecum omnes plangite!
Antinous

Believe me, my mind is in Heian-Kyo.
Rob Cockerham

Ways to discourage unofficial uniformed policemen:

Become unofficial District Attorneys.

Cheer them on with relentless cheering and enthousiastic undersized paper flag waving.

Call the real police station and ask for them, by name. Explain that they are “ace detectives”. Refer to them as the “New, hardworking officers on the street”.
Takuan

suffering from a Hearn-ia?
Takuan

ah, I see you

If you wanna live
Treat me good
If you wanna live, live
I beg you treat me good

I’m like a walking razor
Don’t you watch my size
I’m dangerous
Said I’m dangerous
(2X)

If you are a bully
Treat me good
If you are a bully, a bully
I beg you treat me good

I’m like a stepping razor
Don’t you watch my size
I’m dangerous, dangerous
(CHORUS)

If you are a chucky
Nobody chucky from me
If you are a chucky, a chucky
Nobody chuck from me, Yea

CHORUS

I’m like a chopping razor
Don’t you watch my size
I’m dangerous, dangerous

If you eat asphalt
I beg you treat me good
If you drink lead soup
You better treat me good

CHORUS

If you are bull bukka
Nobody buk from me
If you are duppy
You move away from me

CHORUS

I’m like a stepping, walking
I’m dangerous, dangerous

If you wanna live
Treat me good
Warning you if you wanna live You better treat me good

I’m like a stepping, walking, cutting, flicking,
jumping,chopping, walking
I’m dangerous(2x)
I’m like a stepping, jumping, flicking, bumping, boring
I’m dangerous(2x)

If you drink mortal
Treat me good
And if you eat brick
Treat me good

I’m like a flashing laser and a rolling thunder
I’m dangerous(2x)
I’m like a stepping razor
Don’t you watch my size
I’m dangerous, dangerous

Treat me good
If you wanna live
You better treat me good

Talking: …You don’t through a fifth of the trilliation
I go through…
O
Antinous

suffering from a Hearn-ia?

Consorting with upstart mercenaries? I think not.
Downpressor

@29 minamisan

I didnt say it wasnt safe, just that its dirty and has gotten worse in the last few years. Any thoughts on that matter?
EH

The only solution is to dress exactly like them.
Emily (daturazoku)

Downpressor,

Having spent many a night drinking on center gai (yes, even sitting on those supposed ‘feces and tampon’ strewn streets) I can say you’re over-exaggerating.

First off, I’ve not seen ANY of the filth you’ve mentioned there any more than in any other part of Tokyo, which even then is negligible (aside from salaryman vomit).

Even if Center Gai were a cesspool, overrun with hustlers (Wouldn’t deny that one), the SCGP don’t tackle any of those issues and are instead concerned with people smoking and loitering. Hustlers here, and you should know, don’t loiter, they prowl. Really the SCGP is out harassing young people from having a good time on the street and creating scenes that deter traffic flow. Which is a shame.

On the other hand, I totally agree with your asessment that they’re pathetic and the video was set up. Here’s what has happened any time the SCGP or their Shinjuku equivalents (or the cops, for that matter) have come up to one of our streetside drinking parties.

them: hey, move on. You’re creating a disturbance.
us: fuck off!
them: *fucks off*

Really you only move if you don’t want to get nagged. They have no real authority and the police don’t normally want to bother with it.
Takuan

that would be great; a mob of wanna-be mall cop zombies all scretching at each other
David Carroll

Does Salvatore Rivieri know about this? If he ever gets sacked from the Baltimore PD for harassing young kids he could hook up with these guys. I don’t think a lack of Japanese will be an impediment, bellowing and choke holds are understood everywhere.

How do the real cops feel about a bunch of yahoos roaming the streets? They must give tacit approval.
Antinous

Tak-kun,

If you take a really authoritative tone in response and use the appropriately demeaning vocabulary and syntax, will they become submissive? Or does the uniform trump the social cues.
minamisan

we’ve found something else that crosses all national & cultural boundaries: overweight middle aged man + armband/badge/uniform + minor authority = instant bully.
oh well. yet another reason not to go to Shibuya anymore.
strumpet windsock

Gotta love that huge “WELCOME” at the top of their website, too.
ecobore

nothing a little canister of CS gas wouldn’t stop. Essentially these old guys are are harassing people on the public street. They should be named and shamed!
Takuan

if you are old enough, you could credibly shout them down. Or young enough and tattooed enough. Though these days I suppose you just have to sound foreign.
darrell

Wow, it hasn’t happened yet so: In before “you don’t understand Japan…wah wah wah.”

This seems pretty lame, but how is it different from any other rent-a-cop on a power trip?
Mitch

The cop-like guys are more annoying than
the people hanging out.
jowlsey

Once again, life imitates art
OM

…You know, if citizens wanted to put an end to this sort of vigilantism gone awry, all they need to do is to gang about 100 of them on these twits, and they’ll back down pretty damn quick. A previous comment about the Guardian Angels’ flopping in DC is a prime example. Kung Fu doesn’t block bullets, and when it’s five GAs vs. 100 Bloods, Crips and/or Registered Democrats, you gan guess which side is more apt to go home with a tag around their toe.
Downpressor

Just curious how many of the previous posters live in Tokyo and or have ever been on Center Gai in other than a Gee Wilikers tourist context? My bet is zero but of course I could be wrong.

As with most Japanese TV of this sort, things are being hammed up for the camera crews and some parts are clearly setups. I’ve seen some SCGP activity and it didnt look like that. No these guys arent polite, but they are in fact more polite than alot of the scouts(1), restaurant toffs, drug dealers or kids wallowing in their own piss and filth(2) which otherwise inhabit Center Gai.

Considering how foul Center Gai has become I’m not surprised at all that the SCGP arose to begin with. No one expects Center Gai to be like Daikanyama, but it really has gotten to the point where some response is needed.

(1) Recruiters for “dating services”, soaplands, “fashion health salons” (blowjob shops), etc.

(2) Center Gai is pretty much the urinal and vomitorium of Shibuya. As for filth, its becoming more common to find human feces and used sanitary napkins/tampons on the side streets in the last year or so above and beyond the usual garbage.
JeffKw

Thanks for the insight, Down “Travis Bickle” Pressor!