Here's parts 3-5 of a fascinating first-hand account of being jailed in Japan, by "George," a 36-year-old American living in Japan with his wife and two young children.
George wrote the journal while spending a few weeks in a Japanese Ryuchijyo ("Prison for people that haven't yet been convicted of any crime"). In Part 1, George explained what he did to land in prison (basically, he behaved like a drunk, violent jerk and hurt a cab driver).
In Part 2, he describes going to the police station the day after the incident to apologize and pay restitution. But after he is grilled for hours on end, it dawns on him that he's not going to get off as easily as he thought.
In Part 3, George describes the experience of the "classic good-cop, bad-cop routine," as two detectives work on him to confess. Part 4 covers George's day at the prosecutor's office in the Tokyo Metropolitan Courts. George describes the daily routine in Part 5.
Entertainment was one of only a few options for me. I was not allowed communication or any materials from the outside world, so I was able to spend my time by sleeping, reading, writing or talking. Once, while the Chinaman was there in the early days, he was struggling his way through a Su-Doku puzzle that came with the newspaper. I helped him through it, as it was a fairly low grade puzzle and he was mighty pleased with the help. He then in turn took the time to help me with some kanji, though his Japanese was not so good. Wajima would help me out also. Once I got my notebook and pen (pens were only allowed 1 per cell during the hours of 9am to 7pm), I was able to create a draughts/checkers board and we made some checkers out of tissue. We called them "tamagos" and "tadpoles," as when the checker made it to the opposite side and became able to jump forward and backward, we would twist out a tail from the rolled up tissue ball. We had to keep this game hidden from the guards as any such interaction was strictly forbidden. One of us would read his book near the caged wall and watch out for the guards who would occasionally patrol. A quick kick to one of the other two who would be engrossed in the battle of wits, and the guard would only see three chumps in a cell reading books. The game was hidden under my notepad.
Be sure to read the comments at the bottom of each segment.
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