Police departments in Osaka, Fukuoka, Oita, and Tokyo are reminding potential recruits that a career in law enforcement promises drama, power, mystery and yes, monkeys.

First let’s look at Osaka’s offering:

▼ “Let’s go! Now I can show my strength!!”

This poster was very well received with people who said it draws you in with the feeling of a first-person shooter video game. It certainly appears gritty in its portrayal of what it takes to be a police officer.

However, if you look really closely at the suspect running away, his way of running is rather strange isn’t it? Furthermore, you can barely make out on his back a furoshiki (cloth used to carry things) with an arabesque pattern.

In Japan this is the trademark outfit of a typical cartoon thief, the equivalent to a guy with a horizontally striped black and white top carrying a bag with a dollar sign on it in America.

Osaka people rarely pass up a chance to make a joke when the opportunity arises and it looks as if the boys and girls in blue there are no different.

On the other hand, Fukuoka’s poster has a more polished appearance…too polished perhaps. Despite knowing that this was a recruitment poster in a tweet explicitly stating it was a recruitment poster, I still could have sworn I was looking at a movie poster.

▼ “Not alone. We are a team.”

Yes, a career in the Fukuoka Prefectural Police means joining the ranks of Soari Yamaguchi, a junior detective trying to prove herself in the male-dominated work culture as she’s protected by the enigmatic weapons expert Kazuma Nakamura to whom she finds herself increasingly attracted. This is all much to the dismay of Detective Keizo Ishii who loves Yamaguchi secretly from afar and could offer her the stable life and relationship she desires…if only she could just see it.

And then there Senior Detective Toshimitsu Kadoya with a kind heart but a short fuse when it comes to avenging the innocent. He suspects that his colleague Detective Koki Asada is involved in a drug ring being run by corrupt cops. Because of this, Kadoya’s former partner Michiko Aoki has postponed her retirement to keep the fiery Kadoya in check as they conduct an investigation by the book, lest his rage gets out of control and brings the entire Fukuoka Police crumbling to the ground.

Or maybe not… That’s just the impression of the Fukuoka Prefecture Police that I got from the poster.

Tokyo, on the other hand, didn’t leave room for such assumptions by producing an entire 11-minute semi-dramatic presentation of their police force dubbed in three different languages (hilariously I might add) and featuring real law enforcement personnel as the actors.

This video actually doesn’t mention recruitment of university students, however, and was reportedly made to demonstrate how safe Tokyo is to people around the world.

Meanwhile, Oita Prefecture forewent any sort of drama or intrigue and went the other route in its recruitment poster.

▼ “I heard I could meet some good people.”

Now this might look silly, but as Officer Taro Onsen (“Hot Spring Guy”) will tell you, Oita is home to not only the most hot springs in the country but also the best. Thinking of that, what better way to unwind from the stressful work of law enforcement than a soak in one of the thousands of nearby spas?

It’s not clear how well these types of ads actually boost recruitment numbers, but they’re certainly eye catching. With any luck they’ll attract Japan’s best and brightest, because despite what the Police Academy movies have taught us, slackers and ne’er-do-wells simply don’t belong in such positions.

Source: Twitter/@ichika_0927  via Wadai No Gazo
Top image: Twitter/@ichika_0927
Insert images: Amazon, Irasutoya, Amazon (2) (edited by RocketNews24)