Following are a selection of readers' responses to the July 28 Hotline to Nagatacho column headlined "Pocket knife lands tourist, 74, in lockup."
Brian Hedge's account of the arrest and nine-day detention of a 74-year-old American tourist for carrying a pocket knife that exceeded the permitted length by 1 cm is truly a horror story. It kept me awake, and I feel compelled to offer my comments.
First of all, if the incident occurred as described, it is not only a flagrant abuse of power by the police, but potentially a case of a police officer on duty having broken the law rather than the hapless tourist, as the incident took place on July 2, three days before the applicable law went into effect.