Japan... a land of many dangers

When evaluated on the basis of random violence, home break-ins, and other crime metrics, Japan scores as a relatively safe country. Even bustling Tokyo has a comforting police presence, with "Police Boxes" scattered about the city. But, after being here a few days, it has become obvious that Japan is not as safe as these statistics would indicate, once one penetrates the glossy technological surface. Dangers lurk in unlikely places. Take the elevator to the Tokyo Foreign Correspondent's Club, where we met Yoshi, a professor at Tokyo University. We were to have coffee and to travel to the University to appear in his class on reading the Economist... but only if we were able to exit the elevator without major injury. Apparently, the doors can pinch.

I have to admit that I found Tokyo a slightly intimidating city, and much prefer Kyoto, where we are now. Tokyo is enormous, and for one who doesn't read any Japanese, it is dificult to navigate: even identifying something as a restaurant can be somewhat difficult, though we have since gotten better at this (they often have a red lantern in front). So, I was comforted to be with Yoshi, who was very kind and took us to see an exhibition in the Diet (Parliament) and to the university. But it was only moments after he left that we first noticed this warning on the subway, and I realized that we were once again on our own.



I leave you to be the judge of how safe Japan really is.