Bayley, and American scholar, was the first researcher to receive permission from the Japanese Ministry of Justice and the National Police Headquarters (NPH) to conduct participant observation of the Japanese police. He spent 3 months in 1972 and another 3 months in 1973 working closely with the police through an interpreter. Permission for this research was probably granted because the police believed they had few weaknesses and that Bayley could be guided to see the positive aspects of Japanese policing. Bayley obliged the police by concluding that the police foot patrol system and the Koban explained the low crime rate. Subsequently, Ames, an American graduate student in anthropology who was fluent in Japanese and possessed a thorough knowledge of Japanese culture, was granted permission by the NPH to conduct participant observation of the police from January 1974 to July 1975. Ames concluded that the informal social controls of Japanese society had the greatest effect in keeping crime rates low. Japanese police officials rejected these findings. Parker (1980-81 study) reached the same conclusion as Ames. The first Japanese scholar to use participant observation with the Japanese police was Setsu Miyazawa. He focused on the Hokkaido Police Department. He observed conflict between police executives and frontline crime investigators due to executives having to restrain overzealous investigators prone to violate citizens' rights in an effort to clear crimes. 5 references.