The study used data from Japan and America contained in the World Values Survey in 1981. This data collection is designed to facilitate cross-national comparisons of basic values in a wide range of concerns. The survey is based on national representative samples of the adult population in more than 17 countries. For the current study, a sample of 2,474 persons was selected for the analysis: 1,946 of them American and 526 of them Japanese. The dependent variable, "confidence in the police" was measured by the question, "How much confidence do you have in the police: Is it a great deal, quite a lot, not very much, or none at all?" Independent variables were classified into three groups: demographic variables, social bond variables, and a group of attitudinal variables thought to be predictive of confidence in the police. Preliminary findings in the multivariate analysis indicate, surprisingly, that the Japanese have significantly lower confidence in their police compared to Americans. In the past, scholars of Japanese police did not differentiate compliance with the police from confidence in the police. This study suggests that seeming compliance with the police does not necessarily mean confidence in the police. The Japanese outward compliance with the police out of cultural heritage may hide some of their deep suspicions about the police. The Japanese people suffered from an all-powerful and all-intruding fascist government during World War II. The police, as a repressive tool of that government, did terrible things to the public. It is typical that citizenries that have suffered under fascist regimes continue to mistrust police long after those regimes have been supplanted by less oppressive governments. 3 tables, 3 notes, and 49 references