This is great, but I'd recommend using "koban" instead of "police box". "Police box" carries a different connotation from koban, one more mobile...and deep blue.
I'd like to think most of our readers can tell the difference between a smaller-scale police station and a Tardis.
If the Doctor could get the bloody Chameleon Circuit fixed, that would be much more difficult.
The TARDIS part was a joke. It's just that 'police box' and 'koban' are two different concepts (though they do serve some of the same functions).
Police Boxes were used by the public to call police stations back when mobile phones weren't really a thing. They were also used to alert nearby police officers (via the light on top), who I would then presume call in. Again, before cell phones and handheld radios. Apparently they were also used to hold criminals, hence the lock, but I've yet to find a case where this actually happened. More often, they were used as benches for police officers to rest. They fell out of use during the mid-late 60's. They were also all uniform in design (mostly, there are ~4 'marks' of design and each box differed slightly, and the police boxes pre-1929 were all of their own wacky designs). Police boxes were not staffed at all.
Kobans are, as you said, mini-police stations. They're fully staffed and (i presume) equipped. They're buildings, too. They just sort of feel like sufficiently different concepts.
last edited at Sep 14, 2022 6:52AM
