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Thursday, 9 of September of 2010

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Panic Policing

JAPAN POLICE
This is not a new photo but I thought it made for an amusing contrast to the story AP ran this week about police crackdown on photographer rights in the UK. Wander how long it will take for J-COPS to fall in line. Overall police here seem to be reasonably media-friendly and to my knowledge there is no law prohibiting the photography of on-duty officers (if anyone has any info on this, please let me know). Having said that, I have twice been hassled by police here while shooting, once for simply taking a shot of a company logo. A local had seen me to take the photo and reported me! I was interrogated for about 40 mins. Bit 1984-ish. My (official, government-issued) foreign press card didn’t make much difference. It was a pretty harrowing experience.

Date: February 21st, 2009 @ 01:02

Author: roblogger

Categories: photographer rights

Tags: , , ,

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Damon

in February 23rd, 2009 @ 14:43

Welcome to the blogosphere mate! Nice site, Nice site very elegant and professional. Anyway regarding photographer`s rights I agree that as of this moment the Japanese police seem to have less of the heavy handed approach to photography the British policeFORCE have employed. Even for freelancers without accreditization (I know of which i speak) careful approaches and getting the right badge, aggreement from non police authorities or even just acting in the right way when no-one stops you because you look like you belong can usually get you freedoms here only dreamed of in the UK where even those with the presscards and proper passes can get hassles. What there is here though, like at home, is the growing misconception that certain types of photography are not allowed. Have a look at the website of Visual anthropology and especially this article: http://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2009/02/ethics-of-visual-anthropology-in-japan_06.html though many of the related post s are interesting on this subject too. perhaps you were one of the photojournlists he interviewed even, forgive me if i am telling you something you already know.
Talk soon
Damon

Hunter

in March 1st, 2009 @ 02:07

1984 indeed, they government has started putting posters up over here warning against photographers in public areas. 40 mins of interrogation, ridiculous, given you are a fully fledged journo. I have had my cf card wiped but never ever questioned. It all seems a bit ridiculous really given that you can find all the places on google earth anyway..

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