tsurara

I hear it all the time:

"Japan is a safe place."
"There isn't any crime in Japan."
"Japan is the safest place in the world to live."

...on top of this you get the assertion that "most criminals are foreigners."

I have to say I'm not convinced at all!

I live in a relatively quiet area... I work in a small, modern port city. Today school was let out early because of a local woman being randomly stabbed shortly after the lunch rush in front of a busy department store. The perpetrator got away... children were told to go directly home and not to leave their houses unless they had an important, inavoidable errand.

I've been stalked and photographed/videotaped over the period of a month on the even smaller island where I live. He also got away... with his night vision camera. Police recommended that -I- move.

Panty theft is common in the area... as are creepy adults walking up to and soliciting children (resulting in frequent police reports coming into the school and our buying personal alarms for all of the female students).

I'm not sure how safe I really feel O_o; The crime here is so twisted and random (and nearly all of it directed at women and children). At least in the states most crimes are committed for a REASON! Drugs, money, theft, anger, revenge...

Here it's just like... random unhinged people are floating around waiting to snap. And the police force is utter crap ~_~;

I don't feel any safer here than I do in New York City... and I've never rushed home so that I wouldn't be stabbed by a random psychopath in the states O-o;

What do you think? Is Japan as safe as everyone seems to think?

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Legend

How often do you get a neighborhood stabbing?? I do not have much of opinion since I've never been to Japan, but what I can say that I'll take crazy picture takers and panty thieves over what we have here at the states any day. Of course you never had to run home back in NYC, perhaps it was because the streets are wider that you can spot a guy with a knife miles away.

I mean, have you gone to your local 7/11 with a stun gun at night?? I did. :P Driving through the projects, I rather run a red light (deal with cops) than stop. I mean there are probably bad neighborhood and heinous crimes in Japan too, but probably not as bad as the states.

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Abu Dhabi

i've heard about the horrible things that happen in Japan...

^_^ there's crime everywhere, but you have to admit that there is a rare breed in Japan... something that's very unsettling...

i guess it's becuz i posses girly parts, so being in a place that disrespects women in such ways makes me very nervous... and scared! ^__^ good thing i have such a scary looking boyfriend to keep them away~! and, i'm pretty big too so hopefully they would leave me alone!

and, honestly... not to be a totally rude, uneducated American here... but how can you really respect a police force that has no guns? i mean, they're not allowed to publically beat anyone... and i haven't heard harsh things about their judicial systems, so what's stopping all the weirdoes from doing what they want besides their own self loathing? of course... America did have something to do with the guns being taken away, but it's been almost fifty years! ~_~...

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atomik_sprout

I've never been, but I plan on going one day. I DO, however do my homework and I've read about the same crimes that Tsurara has brought up. MAN, such random crime for no apparent reason what-so-ever!

Like those creepy guys who are in to enjo kosai (i think that's how you spell it); y'know the guys who pay young girls for "favors"? Those are the same guys commiting the panty thefts, from what I've heard. If you go to any random video blogging site (similar to YouTube), you'll come across tons of videos of guys following girls and takin' panty shots, stealing panties, trying to get the occasional grab of naughty bits, or just simply following the girl around to get a general idea of her routine so they can continue to stalk the girl.

I haven't heard much of stabbing or any other murders/attacks, but rape is up there! I wouldn't doubt that sh*t like that happens all the time though.

In my opinion, people think that any place outside of their country is "safer" than where they are now, but I happen to know that's a pile of BS. On my way to Thailand, I thought that I'd be goin' to one of those sparkling, clean countries you see on the Travel Channel. Come to find out the pollution is ridiculous, it smells like a land fill as soon as you get off the plane and the STD rate is one of the highest in the world. Ever since then, I've learned to not judge a book by it's cover and to not judge your future surroundings by means of Travel Channel.

Suprisingly, it seems that the cops in Japan seem to do just about as much as the cops in Minneapolis... Absolutely nothing at all! >_<

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Scourge

Well I have never been to Japan, like many of you I would like to one day go there as I love to travel. And may be see Chiaki, the exchange student who had stay with us. Even though she was only with us for a few months I always looked up to her as an older sister. But any way back to the topic at hand. I know how it feels to deal with creepy people, well not so much my self but rather my girlfriend. The stuff she tells me and all the creepy things that go on even when I am with her is EXSTREAMLY disturbing!! Stalkers fallowing her around, peeping toms, all of that is extremely disgusting and gives me the shivers just looking back on it. It’s very scary to go through and deal with not to mention very dangerous.

rematche

there's no such thing as a safe place...even in japan. i've been there and it's dangerous and has a lot of disturbing things that happens especially in my cousin's neighborhood. and we actually encountered one, we spot and chased a stalker who's been stalking my cousin's neighbor. and also one my friend in japan was a victim of a stabbing incident...luckly he was able live and tell about it.

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Hassun

Yes, Japan is a very safe place in terms of armed robberies, mugging and physical violence. Of course it's not crimeless at all. That's just a side effect of having a relatively low violent crime rate for a long time. The 'foreigners committing the most crimes' attitude is something you see in nearly all modern countries.
Japan's biggest crime problem is white-collar crime, something the average person on the street doesn't encounter directly.

My advice is not to get rattled so easily Tsurara, Japan is a very safe country compared to nearly every other country in the world. To my knowledge, foreigners in Japan have even less to fear than the Japanese themselves.

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Shodokan

Well I hope you don't end up in a bath tub full of sand like that other white woman who was an English teacher.
Japanese police hunt for killer of British teacher found buried in bathtub of sand | World news | The Guardian

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