Policeman on a motorbike

In Japan, they seem to have many ranks of police. This guy on his motor-bicyle, I think he's probably the lowest, which is the guy at the ko-ban. They carry guns, but I've never heard of police in Japan actually using their guns, which is a good thing. I think these guys are considered somewhat at the same level of of postal delivery person...they seem to just sit around all day and run paperwork back and forth between who knows where.

Police in Japan are non-threatening, and they don't seem to carry much authority. Most of them are very helpful if you ask them for directions. I've only seen this type of police officer so far.