My kids generally don't mind it when I write about them in this column, although on occasion my older son has accused me of exploiting him for professional gain. It happened again when he heard the topic for today's column. "You're writing about foreign kids who get in trouble with the police?" He rolled his eyes. "And I suppose you want me to get myself arrested so you can write all about it!"
Actually, that's one experience I could live without. I hope neither of my kids ever get arrested, particularly in a foreign country. But such things happen. Last year, more than 1,000 foreign juveniles were arrested in Japan. More than half were either Brazilian or Chinese, but kids of many different nationalities were detained. Some get convicted.
Of the 5,809 minors admitted to the Japanese juvenile correction system in 2002, 153 were foreigners. There are currently three U.S. citizens under the age of 20 in Japanese reformatories.