Emergency Phones Lines and Non-Native Speakers

My friend Kelly and I went down to the beach near my house to hang out and talk the other night (fourth time I had been there this week, with grading and reading during the day and a rather lovely beach picnic on a different night). There were two policemen on bicycles when we first arrived, but the area was otherwise pretty empty. We enjoyed the breeze, view of Awaji island and the sound of crashing waves as we talked. It was nice.

After a while, we started hearing yelling. It was a jumbled, muffled sound (sort of like "ar ar ar ore ar are ar") so we just assumed it was two old men, drinking, talking loudly in the local dialect and watching the water... not uncommon... and ignored it. The yelling went on for some time.

When we went to get our bikes to head home, we came closer to where the old men were sitting. It was then that we realized it wasn't two old men, but one ojisan (old man) screaming and trying to force his wife out of his car. Neither Kel or I could understand what the old man was saying, but he was using his full body weight to pull his wife (or some older woman) out of the passenger seat. She was obviously scared, fighting to stay in the car with her full body weight and pleading with him to stop. She kept repeating that she wanted to go home. We stood and watched for a minute, a little frightened for the woman and shocked, too, but when we saw the man raise his arm and bring it down hard on whomever was fighting back, we decided it was time to call the police.

I called the emergency phone number (110 and 119 are our 911s here), explained what was happening... and to my surprise, they hung up on me! We watched as two Japanese girls walked by, acted liked nothing was happening and then, when another car pulled up in the dimly-lit, small parking area next to the beach, we saw the old man get in the car and speed away (turning onto the small, man-made island).

It was getting late, so Kelly and I went home. When I got to my apartment, I went directly to my Japanese neighbor's door and explained what had just happened. My neighbor called the police and they agreed to patrol the area (to make sure the woman was not getting beaten or stranded there), but I was pretty shocked that an emergency phone line actually hung up on me.

Miwa, my neighbor, explained that they get a lot of prank calls and probably thought it was a joke, but it made me wonder what would have happened had it been a more dire situation. Would I have been able to use Japanese if I was in shock or seriously injured? I am sure they don't speak English. What would have happened had it really been more serious?

Maybe it was just bad luck, but I was unsettled, not only by the situation we witnessed (which I hope turned out safely for all parties), but also in knowing that the emergency phone line is not necessarily available to all. I mean, I was using Japanese (not great Japanese, but it was understandable)! I want to say I can't see this happening in America, my native country, but it makes me wonder... even if they do record all calls, would happen if a non-native English speaker called with a serious emergency. Spanish might be alright, but what about if it was a woman from Somalia? Is this part of the Internationalization we are supposedly here supporting in our host country (spreading understanding and making things more widely available in the face of a changing society), or would this also happen in a more "diverse" countries, like the one I am from? Wow.