Photo/Illutration The headquarters of Osaka prefectural police who falsely arrested a man. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

I was a serious baseball player in my teens. I remember how I would reflect on errors I made, mulling over where I had gone wrong.

“Defeat is the mother of humility and caution,” writes Katsuya Nomura, a former Japanese professional baseball catcher and highly esteemed manager, in his book titled “Makekata no gokui” (The secret of how to lose).

The point is what you do after you lose. If you try to learn from your mistakes, he says, you come to tackle challenges as they occur.

This applies not only to sports. The same is true with activities in the political and economic areas.

Take criminal justice. So many cases have come to light in which law enforcement officers imposed lengthy detentions during which they pressured suspects into confessing crimes that they did not commit.

Every time the false charges were revealed and this approach was criticized, law enforcement organizations pledged it would not happen again.

What happened to their vow of humility?

A man in Osaka was arrested on a false charge of threatening a woman he knew through social media. His claim of innocence was ignored. He was detained for 42 days. Police admitted that investigators did not check out his alibi properly.

The man kept notes of the interrogations he endured. His notes show police officers trying to pressure him into confessing his guilt.

“A gang leader was given an unsuspended prison sentence on circumstantial evidence. You will be too,” one officer told him.

Another investigator said: “I believe 100 percent that you are the culprit.”

I was horrified at the fact that police still use such an interrogation method.

Another case that shocked me was one involving the president of a company and two employees, who were indicted for unapproved exports of equipment with a dual military use. The indictments were later quashed. One police officer told the court the case had been “fabricated.”

How did the investigation go so badly awry?

Nomura also writes that to learn from their mistakes people must start by having a healthy sense of shame. That is because people do not learn from errors when they do not feel ashamed and simply forget them.

Should I believe that the investigating authorities are truly ashamed of their mistakes this time around?

--The Asahi Shimbun, July 16

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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