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Insofar as the police, because you have adopeted a civil tone I will do likewise in refferring to them as you seem not to like it otherwise. I dont neccessarily dislike them but when one is pulled up like he is a criminal 2 times and a third time after helping them, and having my details recorded, merely for having white skin, it tends to leave a negative impression. That is on an impression which wasnt very high to start with. I wasnt belligerent the first time and wouldnt go so far as to say that the second time though I wasnt cooperative either. Of course the third time, recently, I was extremely belligerent (only after they turned on me after I helped them). I guess those ones were smarter than average becasue it wouldnt have reflected well on them if i was arrested and the details of the situation became known to a judge or someone like that.
Insofar as my interpretation of the law, if others disagree thats fine. If I am stopped again i will test it and let you know what happens of you like. What no one disputes is that you have the right to first inspect their ID. As I have said several times, doing it slowly and publicly should be enough to humiliate them and discourage such behavior in the future. I just hope any foreigners who read this arent docile lackeys enough to just hand their I.D. over.
Finally, it just seems like several people who have replied to me have been beated down and abused so much they actually like it. Take the message by "Pachipro" as a classic example. I just got the impression giving yourself a username that is generally used as a derogatory term to be an example of this. It is basically the same as a 3 letter word (which I never use because I dont like to insult people on the basis of their race, ethnic group or nationality.) for Japanese people. The origin of the name isnt derogatory but it has come to be derogatory. Being a 外国人 here, I would hope that you would discourage people from using it because I dont want them to think they can use it with me.
I think there's a matter of decorum that is important when you deal with these kinds of situations in Japan. Like it or not, you are viewed as a guest, and being visibly foreign will make you a target for discrimination both benign and tiresome. When you're stopped by the police, most of the time they are just doing their job and enforcing the law as they see it. This doesn't mean they're necessarily power hungry or looking to ruin your day. But the more of a fight you put up and refuse to cooperate, the more suspicious they're likely to become, and the less likely they are to let you get on your way. If you have a lot of free time and feel that your rights are being violated, go right ahead and exercise those rights, but realize that it's much more important 
