Help me figure out if I was arrested

This was many years back, So very long story short:

I was joy-riding a junk broken old bike in the parking lot of my apartment complex(the bike was in the bike rack of the apartment complex). Police Came in their car, found out the bike wasn't mine then took me into the station took my details and finger printed me, they were going to make me sign some type of confession but the other policeman came in and said it wasn't necessary. They told me I needed to have someone come pick me up, the secretary from work did so and we apologized to them and left.


My Question: Was I arrested? I really have no clue what happened those many years back. I have no problem getting a student visa after this for graduate studies, but could this have impact on a future work visa application?

Thanks for your help.

Side Note: I'm pretty sure the weird religious Buddhist cult group that was visiting my apartment every now and then called the police on me, because they asked the next time I saw them what happened between you and the police about that bike.

I don't think you were arrested in terms of your written past history on riding motor bike.

It's illegal to ride on someone's bike other than you actually own. The police came to you, whether the religious group reported you or not, they checked the ownership of the bike and then it was not yours, you were taken to the police station and recorded all of your details.
If it was the first time criminal report of you, they don't normally arrest you due to the minor criminal issue such as this.

The police reports to your physical parents/relatives to come and pick you up, but I suppose you have no physical family in JP so the secretary came. The police report on you is classified under "Decision not to prosecute". This means that you were not arrested but the report is kept by the police forever. If you do the same criminal again, you will be arrested and can be sent to the crown prosecution office, you need to wait the judge decision.
Never ride on someone's bike.

I agree with tokyo friend 48 about everything.

Bicycle thefts are unfortunately very common in Japan, so policemen randomly stop a rider and question them from time to time. I myself have been questioned before, I've seen modest friends being questioned on the streets, and thanks to that I've had a couple of stolen bikes returned to me. So the questioning is no big deal. Theft is, though.

That's interesting Uco.

I always had, an apparently over romanticized idea that Japan was nearly crime free.

Guess it has high property theft rates?

It's just bicycles and umbrellas that are commonly stolen, but the police only cares about the former. You will recognise signs encouraging people to "carry your precious umbrellas with you at all times," sort of implying that no one else can be responsible for them, but they don't say that about "wallets" or "bags," ha!