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POLICE, TROUBLE AND EMERGENCIES |
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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 .
Earthquakes
Earthquakes are a part of life in Japan, with at least one quake
recorded every day somewhere in the country. It is home to one tenth of
the world's active volcanoes and one tenth of its major earthquakes
(over force 7 on the Richter scale), with the most recent major quake
occurring at Kobe in January 1995. More than 6000 people died, many of
them in fires that raged through the old wooden houses, though most of
the newer structures - built since the 1980s, when tighter regulations
were introduced - survived. Fortunately, the vast majority of Japan's
seismic activity consists of minor tremors, which you probably won't
even notice.
Prior to Kobe, the last really big quake was the Great Kanto Earthquake,
which devastated Tokyo in 1923, killing an estimated 140,000 people.
There's a sequence of major quakes in Tokyo every seventy-odd years, and
everyone's been talking about the next "Big One" for at least a decade.
Whilst scientists argue about the likelihood of another serious
earthquake, Tokyo is equipped with some of the world's most
sophisticated censors, which are monitored round the clock, and
architects employ mind-boggling techniques to try to ensure the city's
new high-rises remain upright.
Nevertheless, earthquakes are notoriously difficult to predict and it's
worth taking note of a few basic safety procedures You should beware of
aftershocks, which may go on for a long time, and can topple structures
that are already weakened, and note that most casualties are caused by
fire and traffic accidents, rather than collapsing buildings. In the
aftermath of a major earthquake, it may be impossible to contact friends
and relatives for a while, since the phone lines are likely to be down
or reserved for emergency services.
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