I have no idea where to ask this, so I'm gonna ask it here.

[camwyn]

Those of y'all who know more about Japanese culture and society than I do, I have a colour question for you. If the Japanese government were looking to design a uniform for a national police force and wanted it to look both authoritative ('we report to the central government, not any lesser authority') and reassuring ('no, seriously, we're here to help'), what colour would they be most likely to use?

Comments

[hangingfire.livejournal.com]

When I was over there earlier this month, I noticed that all the police and other officials wear extremely tidy uniforms of dark to medium blue. We're talking immaculate. Here's a picture (http://www.princeton.edu/~tpeng/direct.jpg) of a female police officer from a page on Japanese police (http://www.princeton.edu/~tpeng/officers.html).

[camwyn]

Ok, great. That'll help. Thank you.

[maxineofarc.livejournal.com]

I think that of the standard uniform colors, khaki would probably come closest - though I'd think that would be true of any major government these days. Black is too authoritarian, OD green is too military, white is too medical, navy blue is what civil authorities (e.g. police) wear.

[camwyn]

Well, this is actually for something that's got its roots in a history that split off from ours back around the time of the Meiji Restoration. The force in question is an entirely new development in this alternate history.

[hangingfire.livejournal.com]

Okay, my curiosity is truly piqued by this. When it's ready, I'd love to know more.

(As might be expected, I'm on a bit of a Japan kick, seeing as how we just got back and all.)

[maxineofarc.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm just trying to think in terms of the usual uniform colors. As it is now, yes, the police and I think other civil authorities wear navy blue; I think that this has been the case since the Restoration, since they copied their new police uniforms from European models. So that's probably a good bet.

[redplasticglass.livejournal.com]

Green = military fro quite a number of Asian countries. So even if their military was different, it would still have that sort of conotation

Black is for right wing guys in black trucks, authoritorian types, badasses, businessmen, and/or homicide detectives who wear uniform suits fr some reason (though not always in black)

I agree with the others that dark blue is the way to go. Though, you'll have to get around the typical Asian mentality that all police should be avoided.

My mother used to tell me that she was absolutely terrified of police when she came to te US and that she had to work hard to get used to the idea that kids here are taught "Police are you friends"

Because in HK, they're definately were not.

I think police in Japan don't have guns... and are hobbled by a great number of law I think the bosozoku find them particularly useless because underage kids can't be jailed for long at all. (this is in the case of youth -- I think that they're a lot... 'meaner'the moment you're legal) --

A lot of the police "aura" would really depend on how much power they are given.

[hangingfire.livejournal.com]

One thing I noticed in Japan is that there seems to be a real "Police are your friends and they're here to help" publicity campaign going on. Posters outside the koban with peculiar, grinning cartoon critters on them, pictures of friendly cartoon police with cute kids, etc. As I can't read Japanese, I don't know the details, but the general message seemed pretty clear, even to me.

Cops on the street don't carry guns there, although when they're guiding traffic, they do use these super-cool light-up red nightstick/baton things. Which, not incidentally, you can buy for your very own in Akihabara. I sort of wish we had, as it would be highly entertaining at parties.

I was also told that unless you're in a really dire emergency, it's not a good idea for gaijin to ask for help at a koban. The police might take the opportunity to harass you, or even use you as a scapegoat for something. However, I think that's not so much a peculiarity of Japanese police as it may be an aspect of a phenomenon observable everywhere: while many are good and upstanding sorts, there are also the ones who get into the line of work because they like being in a position of power, and nothing brightens their day more than a helpless someone to pick on.

[redplasticglass.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think they've been doing something similar with the school system as well.

Japanese cops were allowed to be physical with the people they arrested up until fairly recently. (within a 1-2 generations, I think) I was told this during a conversation with a friend, however, so I'm not very clear on exact details. But ever since they overhauled the system, they've been aggressively going for the "we're you friend" thing.

I think in Japan it's against the law to incite fear/use fear as a topic for elections? Do you think this might possibly be related? Er.. :P I think I just exhausted my knowledge about the police.

Propaganda-wise, many of their current day methods remind me of poster ads during the 60s and 70s I saw in old films and the like. I mean, with the kids and the cartoon character and smiling face. Then again, I think it's practically believed that a company/business will fail without a mascot. Mascot = approachability. So it makes sense for the koban to be slathered with cute images.

[lekythen.livejournal.com]

Mmm, I asked for help at a koban once. I'd lost my glasses at a big shinto festival, and just wanted to leave an address just in case they were found. (They weren't) The officers got ready for a laugh at the hapless gaijin, broadly grinning and making with the "English? What's that?"... but had to pay attention when I spoke Japanese. Nonetheless, when a month later I got jumped by a chikan, I decided not to report it. I didn't have a problem explaing that a pervert had pooped out of some bushes and grabbed my boobs. I just couldn't think of a way to explain in Japanese that I'd automaticaly jammed my ice cream cone into the guy's groin.

[dancing-moon.livejournal.com]

White is the colour of west, winter and death, blue is the color of east, water and spring, red is the south, fire and summer and black/green is age, north and autumn if I remember my buddhist symbols correctly.
The first western-style police men in Meji era wore dark, dark blue uniforms that looked a lot like their school uniforms today.

The Shinsengumi, sword-bearing force just before Meiji wore turqois and white - here's a good pic (http://www.hiramoto.com/oms/figure/hijikata/shinsengumi-hijikata1.jpg)
They were on the losing side, but from what I've understand they were seen as intimidating, but still a force of justice and order among many citizens.

Hope this helps =)

I plunk for royal blue.

[maps-or-guitars.livejournal.com]

On the strength of a survey that gives royal blue as one of Japan's favorite colors, collectively, and that the police there already sport the dark blue.

The white gloves seem to be important. I haven't been, but having been through a period of obsession with the place I'm inclined to doubt that a police officer would be taken seriously in Japan without them.

[zed42.livejournal.com]

I'd go for a nice medium blue like everyone else, but with white accents (belt, bandolier, gloves, etc.)... for that extra touch of authority, you can add the imperial crest to the uniforms, signifying that these guys are pretty much the emperor's men and messing with them is a bad idea... (in wwii the imperial crest was a crysanthemum) ... maybe in the middle of their badge or on their spiffy while helmets or something...

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Possibly totally off the wall and not much use, but I lived there for five years. The police in the kouban /were/ your friends- they gave directions, helped you find lost stuff, assisted in reporting flashers, blah blah blah. Maybe it's a coincidence but all the ones I ever spoke to were of the short roundish Japanese build- I hesitate to say teddybears, but that's the impression one got. Same for the vanishing breed of o-mawari-san, cop on the beat, who stops by people's houses for a cup of tea and a chat when they first move in, and sometimes thereafter, so he can place the people in 'his' area. That's one reason why kouban cops are so efficient with their directions: they know the place.

The cops I saw around crime scenes and whatever looked different- a lot grimmer. (Yes well I was there for the Sarin thing, they had reason to look grim.) Something about them gave me the vague fantods and flashbacks to the reputation the police had in the 30's and earlier. Very much not nice guys with a lot of power. The police can arrest and hold you on their own initiative without a warrant and without giving you access to a lawyer; or they could ten years ago. I don't know if it's changed or not, but in any case you walked very carefully when you had to deal with them.

The cops on TV shows are like neither of these, but that's TV shows. ^_^

I'm for dark blue too, just by reflex, but I agree that it depends whether your national police force is doing civilian duty, or whether it's also like those Taishou era secret agents/ FBIish guys. Japanese officialdom in royal blue seems... frivolous, somehow.

[hangingfire.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, all the cops I ran into on my trip seemed perfectly nice -- not that I had any occasion to interact much. In fact, everyone I encountered in Japan was exceptionally pleasant and polite, and I found that by being polite and making an effort to communicate in some way other than that of the Stereotypical American Abroad, we did just fine.

(We did have an odd encounter with a Japanese guy, probably in his forties or fifties, who insisted that there was a whole "dark part" of the Japanese psyche -- his words -- that the politeness covers up. He had stopped us because we were American, and bent our ears on the subject of Japanese isolationism, international community, communication between the sexes, and similar for about twenty minutes, totally out of the blue. A strange, though fascinating moment.)

[dhole.livejournal.com]

Since the last time this came up, I've done a bit of thinking.

As I recall, the Imperial Mon is a crysanthimum on a field, and when displayed as a banner, it's usually yellow on red. Given that red is commonly used as an accent color in armors, and that it has a distinctly militaristic connotation, I'd probably not use it, but it'd be arguably reasonable to go with red with yellow accents.

Blue with yellow might work, all yellow would hurt the eyes, grey with a yellow sash would be a Shaolin costume.

While yellow's not quite as strongly linked with the Emperor in Japan as it is in China, it still seems to have some Imperial significance. If my books were here, and unpacked, I might have been able to give you somewhat more information, but, alas, this is all I got.

[camwyn]

Hey, it's still helpful. I need to go back and rework what you've already seen, but I wanted to ask about the colours first because that's not really the kind of thing I know how to find in a textbook.