Tokyo Detention House (Tokyo Prison) 東京拘置所

Tokyo Detention House (Tokyo Prison) 東京拘置所https://t.co/8L6eiuiMWt pic.twitter.com/nsnk20WSjf

— the tokyo files (@thetokyofiles) March 11, 2016

The only thing I know about Japan’s criminal justice system is its famously high 99% conviction rate.

(On a related note, I watched a fascinating film from 1956, 真昼の暗黒  (Mahiru no ankoku / “Darkness in the Noon”). It was the first depiction of a false conviction in Japanese cinema, based on the real-life Yakai Incident 八海事件 (1951). Very powerful, engrossing, & oddly amusing.)

It was only until I saw a strange shape on a map did I even notice that Tokyo actually has prisons.

This large, asterisk-shaped building, is the Tokyo Detention House (Tokyo Prison)  東京拘置所, located in Katsushika-ku 葛飾区, Tokyo (map). I understand that Carlos Ghosn, the Nissan CEO, is being held here as part of his recent arrest (November 2018).

Here is the prison from an aerial photograph (circa 1945-1950), and per a map from 1945. The prison is labeled Kosuge Prison 小菅刑務所, the old name for this facility.

On the grounds of the prison are the Kosuge palace ruins 小菅御殿跡, the location of a hunting and falconry grounds during the Edo times (source).

See the following photo sphere:

Links:

• 小菅御殿（２０１５年１月３日）東京都葛飾区小菅１－３５－１ Kosuge palace (January 3, 2015) Katsushika-ku, Tokyo Kosuge 1-35-1
• More things to do in Katsushika, Tokyo: Tokyo day trip: riding into Shibamata on Tora-san’s coat-tails
• Tokyo crime maps 東京犯罪情報マップ
• Japan’s Women Police, 1946 and beyond 日本の女性警察官

Information about the 300-million yen incident, near Fuchu prison:

• 300 million yen robbery (Wikipedia)
• THE GREATEST ROBBERY IN JAPANESE HISTORYWHO DUN IT? (Tofugu)
• After 44 years, unsolved bank truck heist continues to fascinate in Japan (SCMP)