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JAPAN
Crime
& Safety
Japan boasts one of the lowest crime rates in the world, and personal
safety is rarely a worry. On the whole, the Japanese are honest
and law-abiding, there's little theft, and drug-related crimes are
relatively rare. The main exception is bicycle theft, which is rife,
so make sure yours is securely locked whenever you leave it. In
addition, it always pays to be careful in crowded areas and to keep
money and important documents stowed in an inside pocket or money
belt, or in your hotel safe.
In theory, you should carry your passport or ID at all times and
the police have the right to arrest anyone who fails to do so. In
practice, however, they rarely stop foreigners, though car drivers
are more likely to be checked. If you're found without your ID,
the usual procedure is to escort you back to your hotel or apartment
to collect it. Anyone found taking drugs will be treated less leniently;
if you're lucky, you'll simply be fined and deported, rather than
sent to prison.
The presence of police boxes ( koban ) in every neighbourhood helps
discourage petty crime, and the local police seem to spend the majority
of their time dealing with stolen bikes, and helping bemused visitors
- Japanese and foreigners - to find addresses. This benevolent image
is misleading, however, as the Japanese police are notorious for
forcing confessions and holding suspects for weeks without access
to a lawyer, and recent Amnesty International reports have criticized
Japan for its brutal treatment of illegal immigrants and other foreigners
held in jail.
Racial discrimination can be a problem in Japan, especially for
non-whites, though it is mainly directed at immigrant workers rather
than tourists. Sexual discrimination is widespread, and foreign
women working in Japan can find the predominantly male business
culture hard-going. The generally low status of women is reflected
in the amount of groping that goes on in crowded commuter trains
- there are even pornographic films and comics aimed at gropers.
If you do have the misfortune to be groped, the best solution is
to grab the offending hand, yank it high in the air and embarrass
the guy as much as possible. Fortunately, more violent sexual abuse
is rare, though rape is seriously under-reported and may be up to
ten times higher than the current statistics suggest (under 2000
cases per year). Women working in hostess clubs are particularly
at risk, as the murder of Lucie Blackman in 2001 sadly goes to prove.
In the wake of the publicity, several other women came forward to
make accusations of sexual abuse, that often occurred after they
were drugged.
If you need emergency help, phone 10 for the police, and tel 119
for an ambulance or fire engine. You can call free from any public
phone by pressing the red button before dialling, though with the
old-style pink or red phones you need to put a coin in first to
get the dialling tone. Better still, ask someone to call for you,
since few police speak English. If you get really stuck, Tokyo Metropolitan
Police operates an English-language hotline on tel 03/3501-0110
(Mon-Fri 8.30am-5.15pm), while the 24-hour Jhelp.com (tel 0120-461997,
www.jhelp.com ) handles emergencies as well general enquiries. Each
prefecture also has a Foreign Advisory Service, with a variety of
foreign-language speakers on call who can be contacted as a last
resort. |
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