I don't care I give up

[Ejemy]

警視庁
警察庁

Leave me alone already.
Whether you’re metro or national I don’t care.
Just please get past guru…

[Belthazar]

It might make a big difference when they come to arrest you.

Still, you’re free to add a user synonym with something more generic like “police department” or whatever. Or “whatever” - nothing stopping you from adding that either. WaniKani’s primary purpose is to teach you the readings of the kanji, not so much the meanings of the vocabulary.

[F1ForHelp]

Concentrate, conscious, consciousness, conscience. (Any more suggestions?)

… You’ll get past it.

[Rowena]

Yeah, the first one has been bouncing up and down for me a bit too. As far as 警察庁 goes, remembering that 察 is visually similar to 際 in 国際 (international) has helped that one stick when I see it, but it hasn’t yet stopped me misnaming the other one (I really wish it actually had 都 in there somewhere).

[Lesteropolis]

I absolutely know how to feel. I only recently started to tell the difference because I see 警視庁 everywhere in my city. I hope you get something similar to trigger you!

[Naphthalene]

@Ejemy

警視庁

Guess you live in 東京都, then
But yes, seeing them in real life has definitely helped remembering the difference in words.

[Rowena]

Thanks for answering my unasked question - Leteropolis’ statement had me wondering if it was any city police department, or Tokyo specificially (I thought the latter from the わんにゃん探偵団 books…).

[Naphthalene]

Yes, their jurisdiction is 東京都. Note that 東京都 is much larger than the city of Tokyo, and even includes remote islands.

Edit: This is in 東京都

[NicoleIsEnough]

@Ejemy

警視庁
警察庁

I had the same trouble for quite some time, but recently I realized that the first one has „see“ in it so now I‘m thinking that it can’t be too far away if you can see it, so it must be the city one, not the country one.

Hope you can find something that works for you! (maybe even the „Ignore Answer“ script )

[Belthazar]

I’d phrase that more as the islands being a remote exclave of Tokyo rather than Tokyo being “much larger”. I don’t believe the ocean in between is also part of Tokyo.

Also, there’s no city of Tokyo.

[Naphthalene]

@Belthazar

rather than Tokyo being “much larger”.

I was thinking of the cities that are not Tokyo but are still included in 東京都, like Fuchu or Hachioji. The part that is not Tokyo is more than twice as big as the actual Tokyo.

@Belthazar

there’s no city of Tokyo.

I was talking about the 23区. I don’t know how to talk about them in English.
Edit: The special wards of Tokyo, says wikipedia, which

occupy the land that was Tokyo City

So there was a city of Tokyo, at least, corresponding exactly to what I meant

[wct]

@F1ForHelp

Concentrate, conscious, consciousness, conscience. (Any more suggestions?)

Conscientious, consequence, consecutive, consecrate, consequent, conch shell, constellation, consolation, console station, confabulation, constabulary, confectionery, constabulatory, congratulatory, conciliatory, the Council is Tory, the counselor’s story, he counts a lottery, they conspired against me, a conspiracy theory, the Count’s piracy tutorial, it’s conspiratorial, combinatorial, combinational, compassionate, comparison, compatriot, compadre, (chili) con carne, company, companion, comraderie, commensurate, commensalism, communalism, communism, communication, consternation, concentration, concentrate …

… aaaand we’re back where we started… Hmmm, thought I was actually getting somewhere with that. (i guess not)

[Ejemy]

Haha I actually live in a smaller city. But I guess I should be one the lookout for signs with the kanji to help it stick.

[Leebo]

@Belthazar

It might make a big difference when they come to arrest you.

I don’t think the 警察庁 actually arrests people… My understanding was that it’s just a government agency that oversees police departments. Setting policies, researching statistics, etc.

[Belthazar]

And that’s why it’d make a difference.

[Naphthalene]

Oh, wow, I thought I was quoting the one from @Lesteropolis who mentioned seeing 警視庁 all the time. My bad
Still, looking for the relevant kanji also applies to you too indeed.

[Naphthalene]

@Leebo

My understanding was that it’s just a government agency that oversees police departments.

Also, police officers will have the name of the department they belong to on their back.
Like 大阪府警

警視庁 is the one for the police officers in Tokyo. As far as I know, all the other regional departments are names (place name)警察局. But Tokyo is special in a lot of aspects, anyway, so that’s not super surprising .

[aruke]

For me the trigger is Detective Conan movie 22: Zero the enforcer
They have much more government agency names thrown on the movie, and I didn’t care when I watched it. But when the word came for lessons, I was like “yeah, I already know the word, just need to remember the kanji now”