JAPAN: Policemen's Lot

"Regrettably," said Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, "the masses have shown a tendency of late to ignore the law."

Kishi thought he knew where some of the blame lay for the crime and violence that has rocked Japan since the end of the war: it lay on the good intentions of U.S. occupation reformers, and their determination to safeguard the Japanese against intimidating cops.

Powerless to Prevent. Japan's once-dreaded police today are circumscribed by so many restrictions, imposed in the name of civil rights, that they cannot even arrest a drunk until he hits someone....

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