Is Taking Back Something Really a Crime?

Just about everybody has either loaned out or let family and friends use a personal item like a phone or bicycle purely out of goodwill. Even if the lender is the original owner of the item(s), there are many cases in which the borrower becomes the owner of these objects, albeit temporary. Please be aware that this arrangement can lead to a sticky – and even criminal – situation: regardless of whether or not there is trouble between both parties, if the borrower fails to return an item even after the lender expresses their desire to have it back, and the lender simply takes back the item(s) in question without permission, theft charges may be applied to the lender because, in this situation, that item belongs to the borrower.

For more details, please check the Japanese Government’s official information site, known as e-Gov. The site is available in Japanese (please note that a high level of language comprehension and special vocabulary is needed to navigate the Japanese portion of the website). Recently, an English version has also been made available.

※ It is recommended for people who need assistance in interpreting the law to consult with a lawyer who has a high-level of Japanese and comprehension of specialty words.

URL: https://elaws.e-gov.go.jp/

The e-Gov website provides legal data authenticated by each government ministry regarding the Constitution, laws, government orders, imperial ordinances, government ordinances, ministerial orders, and other regulations. For data on laws and regulations that are not yet being enforced, the site provides articles which reflect the revised content by the date they are scheduled to come into effect.

The e-Gov Portal is a website developed and managed by the Digital Agency (Dejitaru Chō) with the purpose of contributing to information navigation, targeting information on policies and measures provided by administrative agencies, administrative services, various online services, etc.

URL: https://www.e-gov.go.jp/