Street crime in Japan

<p>I have a colleague whose college-age daughter is intent on backbacking across Japan for several weeks this summer with a girlfriend. What is the crime situation like?</p>

<p>The father is concerned about the girls getting either robbed or kidnapped, or worse. I remember reading that there is pretty much no crime on tourists in Japan.</p>

<p>[[The father is concerned about the girls getting either robbed or kidnapped, or worse]]</p>

<p>Something tells me it doesn't matter how low the crime stats in Japan are. This father is going to object no matter what. </p>

<p>You may be right. He's terrified the girls will be kidnapped and sold as sex slaves in Thailand! Clearly off the wall. </p>

<p>Well, I have a daughter (grown now) and spent two years in Japan (OK the 1960's). Like your friend's father, I wouldn't want my daughter backpacking across Japan either. There are differences between being a tourist in Tokyo and backpacking around rural areas. Two young girls, by themselves, are vulnerable, crime statistics or no crime statistics. It's easy for you to be nonchalant. They're not your daughters.</p>

<p>Both girls are pretty tough and street smart, the one girl is in Army ROTC, but I hear you. I just feel that parents today tend to be over protective compared to when I grew up in the 50s and 60s.</p>

<p>Many years ago when I was much younger, I backpacked all over Europe and the Middle East with a girlfriend. We were both very street wise and, in fact, we carried knives and knew how to use them to defend ourselves.</p>

<p>But we never had any real problems, just some minor scrapes but nothing remotely life threatening. I should think Japan today is a million times safer than Europe and the Middle East 25 plus years ago. You have to be careful, have keen situational awareness and know some self-defence, even if you cannot handle a weapon confidently. If the girls are not very independent and self-assured, I think they would do better with an organised tour.</p>

<p>My son and his girlfriend recently toured Japan although they were not backpacking. The impression I get talking to them is that Japan is very low on personal crime - homicide, robbery etc. It is a very orderly nation where being anti-social or criminal is a much bigger deal than in many other countries as it conflicts with their strong sense of community. Have a look at these stats from the OECD.<br>

http://www.oecd.org/statistics/<br>

and look under 'crime'<br /> <br /> Japan comes out consistently at the very bottom of the lists. That is not to say that crime is non-existent in Japan and that no sensible, normal precautions should be taken. Just that Japan seems safer than almost any other place you care to mention.</p>

<p>.</p>

<p>Japan is about as safe as it gets. They don't want to go into the sex area but I can't imagine them being interested anyway. This isn't a youth hostel country. That's one of the ways they keep crime low.</p>

<p>The problem is that unlike other countries, it is not set up for backpacking. You need some kind of hotel room wherever you are and no one wanders along roads on foot or, God forbid, hitchhikes.</p>

<p>If they check with Japan Tourist, they will find out that what they want to do is all but prohibited.<br>

Conni<br>

Conni</p>

<p>Conni,</p>

<p>I think their idea of "backpacking" is staying in cheap hotels. I know they plan on using mass transit to get where they're going. Both girls are veteran NYC subway riders so mass transit will be more comfortable for them than renting a car and driving on the other side too.</p>

<p>My memory of traveling in Japan with a friend (this was 14 years ago) is that it's a fantastic country for hostels and trains. Look up Japan Rail passes - not exactly cheap, but having unlimited rail travel in a country with such a good rail system is worth it. When I was there I stayed at one hostel near Kyoto, another in Tokyo, another in Hakodate and another in Niseko. We had a few extra days and a rail pass, and it was January, so we figured, what the heck, let's go skiing. The Niseko hostel was the best of the lot - it looked like a Swiss ski chalet, short walk to the lifts, and the owner gave rides in his van to hot springs in the evening.</p>

<p>I remembered having to get the rail pass in the US because they were for foreign tourists only and weren't sold in Japan, and having to book rooms before entering the country because they required us to have a place to stay. We also needed repatriation of remains insurance, which seemed weird at the time. The worst part of it was that I was moving a lot at the time and I'd shot a lot but lost all my prints and negatives shortly after getting back.</p>

<p>At the time there was almost no crime in Japan except for organized crime. Crimes against individuals were very rare. We knew Japanese people who didn't lock the doors to their houses.</p>

<p>I was there in 2009 and my youngest daughter spent a summer in school in Kanazawa and later toured the country by herself for four months. It's may be the safest country in the world for young women. In the major cities, there are police and private security everywhere you look.</p>

<p>The costs are high there. In large cities there are many English speakers, but language can be a problem in rural areas. My daughter is fluent in Japanese, so we had no problems and there are English subtitles in most of the major transportation hubs, but it can still be very confusing.</p>

<p>Cheap and hotel don't go together!</p>

<p>All the regulations Andy recalls are still in place.<br>

Owners always take you to the spa if they don't have their own. The rail pass purchase here saves a lot of money but you really can't buy it there.</p>

<p>Hostels are almost all in either famous places (Kyoto, Tokyo) or kind of not at all. Walsking along highways is forbidden as well as some well-traveled by-roads.</p>

<p>Traveling with a daughter who is fluent in Japanese and lived there for a year is very different thaan just dropping in to backpack.</p>

<p>Safe? Unreally safe. Easy, not so much.</p>

<p>My house is filed high and wall-to-wall with photos and ccarefully filed negatives. now we don't have to do that.<br>

Conni</p>

<p>Yeah, I think on a scale of 1 to 10 in worrying about street crime, on the whole, Japan is probably about a zero. Especially for a visitor or guest. OTOH, like many other places, girls on subways might get some gropes. That was practically unheard of when I was there but that was 30 plus years ago.</p>

<p>However, now my daughter is going to school in another country and I won't be really happy until she gets home. Dads and daughters are like that.</p>

I was stationed in Japan for over 3 years. I absolutely love that country. The crime rate in Japan is extremely low.

Unfortunately, a large majority of crime in Japan is committed by American military. It's about as worry free as any place I

have ever been. I would go backpacking there without a second's hesitation.

<p>The idea that someone from the US (I'm assuming) would be concerned about someone's safety in Japan is rather amusing. In my personal experience it would be virtually impossible to find a safer place to backpack - especially in the rural areas. Of course, one should learn and follow the local etiquette norms to the extent that a westerner can. That usually means being polite and respectful of whoever you encounter and understanding that you are a guest in their country. </p>

<p>Two other things to keep in mind: Americans, especially young ones are kid magnets in Japan. Grade school kids will want to practice their english. Engage with them. Carry some nominal value trinkets to exchange. Second, among the older generations, outside of major cities, english will not be readily spoken. A two way phrase dictionary is very helpful.</p>

<p>One more thing - a Japan rail pass is one of the best values on the planet. Good for unlimited travel over a time period. They MUST be purchased out of the country, and then exchanged at a JR station once there. They are good on all but the top of the line Shinkansen (that means the latest and greatest are off limits, but all the rest are fine) and Japan's rail system is amazing. So, the backpacking thing may be great, but being able to augment it periodically with a couple of hundred miles of near instantaneous transport would be useful I would think. I say that because there are plenty of things to see in all parts of the country, and it would probably be best to not have to walk ALL of the way.</p>

They definitely need to check out Kamakura and Kyoto, two very historic and beautiful cities loaded with temples, shrines,

sword shops, and gorgeous old buildings.

<p>One really odd thing about Japanese culture, particularly among "salarymen" in the big cities, it's okay to be atrocious in public, IF YOU ARE DRUNK and they get puking, stinking drunk with regularity. It's not unusual to see them throwing up in the street, in their suit and tie.</p>

<p>At night, on trains, they will talk about foreign women and even grope if it's crowded enough. It's okay to push them away and threaten to bust their chops. My daughter is fluent in Japanese and she'd say, in Japanese, "Do you want me to tell your wives" and they'd all be bowing and saying sorry, sorry. It's a bit weird, because generally, people are so considerate and polite, which is the national standard. The salarymen are really odd by Western standards.</p>

<p>Thanks so much for everyone's contributions. They answer a lot of questions and will hopefully quiet the parents' fears. The girls plan on travelling wherever they can by rail. I always assumed Japan is probably the safest country on earth, but then it's not my daughter who is going! Neither girl speaks any Japanese but one of them started taking some kind of lessons on campus in preparation for the trip. Obviously, they are keenly interested in Japanese culture and will do their best to be respectful and polite. Hopefully they will return home with plenty of jpegs to share.</p>

Many people in Japan speak enough English to get around, but it is definitely worthwhile to learn some essential

Japanese. When I first arrived in Japan, a few friends and myself got lost in the train system and didn't know how to get

back to base. An older Japanese gentleman saw us studying the train map and could tell we were lost. He asked us

where we were trying to go, we tol him the base's closest station. He rode with us through all the train changes to our

final stop. When we offered to reimburse him for the train tickets, he kindly refused. That's what kind of people live in

that wonderful country.

<p>If anyone is still following, does anyone know what the film development situation looks like in Japan? The one girl is a retro freak and will taking pictures with a Leica M3. Will she be able to buy colour negative stock easily or should she travel with a large stash? How about C-41 processing? Get it done locally or bring everything home?</p>

<p>She can get film. Not the broad variety available 15 years ago. She can carry some 'starter' film and then get film there rather than cart it over.<br>

Conni</p>

<p>Here's a list of labs. You might want to Google it on your own as there may be others.<br>

http://photoguide.jp/txt/PhotoLabs_in_Japan</p>

<p>This has nothing to do with Japan, but as the relationship between “young girls backpacking” and “knives for self-defence” has been mentioned:<br>

- Several years ago, my daughter (now 40) decided to spend the time between her high school diploma and college with a 6-month backpacking tour through most of Asia with a girlfriend. As it would be easily imagined, my wife and myself were a little bit worried – the more so, in that said girlfriend was (and is) a busty blonde that would immediately attract male attention everywhere she goes even in the West, let alone Asia.<br>

- As correctly pointed out, knives can be very effective for self-defence – however provided that the user has some previous training, otherwise pulling a knife in a threatening situation would just make things worse. After some consideration, I bought my daughter a push dagger (illegal where I live, but I couldn't care less), to be carried with a band just above her knee. A push dagger can be used to serious effect without any formal training, and what’s more it is nearly impossible to disarm an opponent yielding one.<br>

- My daughter and her girlfriend returned unscathed, although she had to flash her dagger on at least two occasions she cares to talk about. Just showing she had the will and means to resist was enough, and I reckon I never made a better investment.<br>

- She kept carrying the dagger on subsequent trips, until finally losing it on the Annapurna Trek. However she brought back her current husband and father of two wonderful girls, and that’s a bargain.<br>

- All this said, I reckon carrying a knife (and a push dagger at that!) would be the safest and quickest way to land you in very serious trouble in Japan.</p>

 

<p>Don't plan to carry a knife in Japan.<br>

Conni</p>