On the way to work earlier this month, I heard the screech of tires. I turned around to see a taxicab skidding to a halt. But before it did so, it bumped into and knocked over an elderly woman who was trying to cross the road on her bike. I went over to see if she was OK, and then helped her to the sidewalk. As there was a police box about 150 meters away, I ran there to inform a police officer standing outside.
He said, "We know," but did not move. (All of our interactions were in Japanese.) There was another officer inside who continued writing something. I ran back to the scene and waited. A couple of minutes later, the officer who was inside emerged and walked at a leisurely pace to the scene of the accident. He talked to the cabdriver and the woman.
I listened, then asked if I should give a statement.
He said, "No, you can go."
"Well, I saw the whole thing."
"That's OK," he said. "I'll get the information from these two."
I was baffled, disappointed and somewhat irritated by his apparent lack of urgency in reaching the scene of an accident that involved an elderly person, and his not taking two minutes to get a statement -- or contact information -- from the only third-party eyewitness who could attest to who was at fault.
I have often read about police incompetency in Japan, but now I have experienced it firsthand.