A koban is a police station, or small police "box." I went to my first one today in order to report the theft of my bike. Sparsely "decorated" with desks, austere maps of the area, posters of wanted people and crime fighting ads, a man in a green jacket took the magnetic sign on top of one the desks and stuck it to the side as we sat down with him to file the report. I wondered the purpose of the desk before we took a seat at it, or the name of the officer whose space we were temporarily using. It hung there in a very old-hat sort of way while we went about our business.
A friend from HPAC so very kindly offered to come with me to help with the Japanese, and I'm not sure what I would have done otherwise. So many questions and such thoroughness, lasting nearly 30 minutes. Detail given to my job (a musician, what kind, where, clarity and more clarity needed on this point), confusion about a combination lock, one which has no key. My name and address written several times by this officer but then for some reason in a certain place, it needed to be written by me. I can't write kanji. Telephone calls to other offices; is it ok if someone else writes it for me, is it ok if I write it in romaji. Finally I was allowed to put the numbers of the date on this form as well as my name and address. And for clarity, the officer dictated my own phone number to me, digit by digit.
A very thorough job and perhaps it will lead to the recovery of my bike. It's hard to say what will happen with these thoroughly filled forms and their thorough eyes. Perhaps they will see my bike, and perhaps they will give me a call. Perhaps I will be able to answer and ride away, carefree once more.
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