How do you describe your feeling of safety in Japan? Do you feel 100% safe or it’s relative? Watching Saitama crime in the news this morning made me realize that safety is relative and shit can turn south quickly.
Physically very safe if you are male, less so if you are a female.
Sexual harassment, creepy and weird unwanted behavior (stalking, being followed, groping, sexual assault, rape, etc.) are sadly quite common for girls and women.
Aside from that, would be more afraid of being scammed in some way, which is quite common.
Coming from France where you need to be born with a set of eyes on the back of your head if you want to live old, I feel particularly safe in Japan. Not the smallest bad thing happened to me during the last 10 years. And I am outside a lot.
There are always random nutters killing people in Japan, especially with the death penalty being handed out for two murders. It’s still, compared to most other places in the world, next to nothing.
Is it 100% safe? No, but nothing is.
Coming from the US, and living in Tokyo I feel 100% safe from murder, violent crime, theft etc. Just need to be careful about being run over by a crazy cyclist or driver. The vast majority of the violent crimes we read about in Japan are between people who know each other like relatives, neighbors, coworkers etc
As a large Italian man I feel extremely safe in 99.9% of situations
Of course no where is 100% safe, but I feel way safer here than in my home country. How safe? Just the other day, a friend of mine brought a brand new PS5 in the original package through a more sketchy part of the town, in the middle of the night, while drunk off his ass. Yet he and the console made it home without a scratch.
I am not in danger: I *am* the danger.
Pretty safe from violent assaults, less safe from random weirdos and xenophobic verbal assaults, not too safe about scams and burglaries, unsafe about theft. It’s all Tokyo and came with experiencing life here, elsewhere it’s different.
I feel very safe. I’m a man and larger than most people here. My wife I feel less safe for, but still very safe and no doubt safer than any other country/region we’ve lived in(China, S.E. Asia, ME, Europe). I don’t feel any need to accompany her anywhere.
Do not feel safe as a female. Get groped in crowed places, rubbish get threw inside my bag by some teenagers or maybe college students (I heard them giggling behind me while waiting on traffic light).
And I heard a lot of terrifying stories from my female friends also, like stalking, break into house, etc.
I feel so safe here, one of the reasons I don’t want to leave. In uni (US) I would get email alerts whenever shots where fired in/near campus. Even as a woman, I can walk around alone/at night and be OK here. That’s not to say there isn’t crime, period, but I am not always on alert like how I was in the US.
Safer than other places Ive lived in.
However. Women friends do not feel totally safe, especially from random men approaching them/harassing them. It seems to happen a lot if you are not Japanese. And not just from Japanese men. This is something that needs to be tackled (not through white knighting and macho vigilantism) but through education. Some men just dont get it, that its not ok to hit on/follow/stalk etc women.
Aside from that. An unpleasant situation (online) arose some years ago, which had me questioning my sanity. The man behind it all, was enabled to get away with certain unacceptable behaviors, and its not something I expected here. But that was just me being naive. And, you know, it was on the internet, so it wasnt real and I should have just grown a thicker skin. Apparently.
Overall, such horrific incidences as the family murder yesterday are rare. We should not live in fear because of isolated ocurrences.
This place is nowhere near as violent as the US. It also isn’t full of overtly hostile homophobes and crazy religious zealots who represent a threat to the well-being of some of us.
Even though the city I grew up in is a small farming area in Utah with practically zero crime, I feel completely safe in and around Tokyo. Most of the bad stuff seems to stay within the circles of people who are in that world.
I often go work at Starbucks, and when I need to use the bathroom I can leave my laptop, phone, AirPods, etc. and be 100% sure to see everything left in their place when I come back. Can’t fathom doing that in the US.
There’s freak accidents and killings in Japan for sure that make national news, but in perspective those kind of killings might not even make the 5 PM news in the larger cities elsewhere.
Completely safe
My home country is relatively safe, so I would say about the same overall?
In Japan, I have faced a lot more cases of chikan and people following me home, which never happened in my home country, but when that happens, I can at least hide at the local conbini, which I wouldn’t be able to do in my home country because it’s not a thing there.
Everywhere you go there are vending machines outside and many take large denomination bills. I can’t think of any other country where vendors could get away with that. I think that is a pretty strong indicator of the level of crime in Japan.
Rather than very violent or serious crime, the thing I really notice is the lack of petty and opportunistic crime. I believe, based on very little (!), it is because crime in Japan is well organized. I like to think that the average punk is more likely to be “employed” by a gang playing a part in larger scale crimes than on the street mugging people.
the hell happened in Saitama?
I’m a girl and this is the safest country I’ve ever felt in. I’ve been here for about three months and I can confidently say I’m not terrified walking alone at night. It’s a nice feeling. I’m obviously still careful but when I lived in the US I would be practically running and ready with my self defense keychain. In Mexico (where I’m from) I wouldn’t even leave home after a certain time. Here I can just walk.
It doesn’t just feel safe, it **is** safe, by any benchmark you put it against.
Lowest rate of murder for any country larger than a single city. Lowest rate of rape of any developed country that isn’t a micro state (good work, Lichtenstein). Nearly the lowest theft rate of any country whose data you might trust (poor countries don’t collect systematic data).
It just ***is*** safe. Japan is pretty much the maximum that humans can achieve for safety, and you get it without even turning into an authoritarian state like China, or a cuddly despotic state like Singapore.
You can probably find a way to get someone to punch you in Kabukicho if you try hard enough, and there are some creeps groping women on the subway, etc., but it’s so so low compared to anywhere else. I encourage people to celebrate and reinforce that awesome part of living here rather than assuming it must be a fiction.
Before coming to Japan I was definitely aware of crime but I didn’t live my everyday thinking about it. I took normal precautions and never had any issues.
Almost immediately after coming to Japan realized the sexual harassment / sexual assault / sexual violence are really on a whole different level here & I have absolutely no hope that it will ever improve.
In inaka , I feel 100% safe as a female. Even from sexual harassment and assault. This might change if I go to the cities where I keep a bit more of an eye out but for the most part, I feel safe.
Just as safe as in Montana. Although in Montana I would do drugs and steal traffic cones in the middle of the night and I can’t do that in Japan. So more rules but just as safe.
Generally pretty safe, but there’s a lot of sexual crimes and harassment against women and girls. Very common experience on public transport.
Can you (anyone) name a place that you personally know is safer than Japan, all things considered. Reasoning?
My brain knows that, logically, no where is 100% safe but the feeling I get walking around at any time of the day/night in Japan is that I am 100% safe.
100% safe? Japan is not zero crime country so it is relative.
No way I am going to leave my bicycle unlocked. And I carry my umbrella inside konbini.
But I don’t have to worry about getting mugged so far.
No need to worry about pickpockets inside the train so so far so good.
Probably less road rage, but I heard there were stabbing due to honking horn according to my driving lecturer.
Lately I’m getting annoyed by investment scams. Usually a girl will add you on LINE and try to get you into stock/crypto trading.
Coming from Scotland, I’ve never once felt nervous about another human on the street here. Back home, you can always tell who is shifty and probably looking to rob or harass you various reasons, or some belligerent drunk ganting for a fight, and its not uncommon to encounter that.
Here though, drunks are either minding their own business or just fully passed out. Probably the only time I ever felt harassed so far was walking through Nakasu in Fukuoka and a guy suggested I come into his “bar”. Never felt a jot of apprehension about a human otherwise.
Meh got raped here and put up with the DV, learned that for eight years I didn’t notice ex husband taking upskirt videos.
Still feel relatively safe I guess.
I feel 100% safe here all the time
You can also go out one day and suddenly an airplanes crashes into you. Or you can drown in your hotel room on the 20th floor the middle of the night in Berlin…
Safety is not about what can happen, but how likely it _will_ happen. Note that there also might be a difference between feeling safe and being safe.
Realistically, you are safer in Japan than in most other countries – especially when we are talking about violent crime. If we are talking about harassment in the workplace, there might be better places.
I’m a man, I don’t have to worry about getting murdered/attacked/robbed/etc by people or the police, in general.
However, as with anywhere, situational awareness is key.
The only time that I got my face rearranged, we knew that the cops were already on the way.
We always lock the doors at home, etc.
I think that the situation can be quite different for women though. Most folks here, I suspect, know women who get molested from time to time, as well as rapists, panty thieves, shoe sniffers, perverted landlords, sexual harassment, stalkers, etc.
Never felt unsafe really. Just a bit uneasy when I went to places like ibusuki or bitchu Takamatsu where there was literally nobody around.
The feeling of “if someone robbed me here nobody would ever know” but ofc that never happened.
I’ve been stalked before. The guy even tried to break into my apartment. I couldn’t carry any self-defense items but the police couldn’t and wouldn’t do anything about it since no one/nothing was harmed.
So it’s not 100% safe but I definitely feel safer being here than my home country. It’s generally safe but safety pre-caution is needed, especially if you’re a woman. Also need to be careful with carrying self-defense items since it’s a punishable crime. I say just explore your options and stay cautious.
36 comments
What happened in Saitama?
Physically very safe if you are male, less so if you are a female.
Sexual harassment, creepy and weird unwanted behavior (stalking, being followed, groping, sexual assault, rape, etc.) are sadly quite common for girls and women.
Aside from that, would be more afraid of being scammed in some way, which is quite common.
Coming from France where you need to be born with a set of eyes on the back of your head if you want to live old, I feel particularly safe in Japan. Not the smallest bad thing happened to me during the last 10 years. And I am outside a lot.
There are always random nutters killing people in Japan, especially with the death penalty being handed out for two murders. It’s still, compared to most other places in the world, next to nothing.
Is it 100% safe? No, but nothing is.
Coming from the US, and living in Tokyo I feel 100% safe from murder, violent crime, theft etc. Just need to be careful about being run over by a crazy cyclist or driver. The vast majority of the violent crimes we read about in Japan are between people who know each other like relatives, neighbors, coworkers etc
As a large Italian man I feel extremely safe in 99.9% of situations
Of course no where is 100% safe, but I feel way safer here than in my home country. How safe? Just the other day, a friend of mine brought a brand new PS5 in the original package through a more sketchy part of the town, in the middle of the night, while drunk off his ass. Yet he and the console made it home without a scratch.
I am not in danger: I *am* the danger.
Pretty safe from violent assaults, less safe from random weirdos and xenophobic verbal assaults, not too safe about scams and burglaries, unsafe about theft. It’s all Tokyo and came with experiencing life here, elsewhere it’s different.
I feel very safe. I’m a man and larger than most people here.
My wife I feel less safe for, but still very safe and no doubt safer than any other country/region we’ve lived in(China, S.E. Asia, ME, Europe). I don’t feel any need to accompany her anywhere.
Do not feel safe as a female. Get groped in crowed places, rubbish get threw inside my bag by some teenagers or maybe college students (I heard them giggling behind me while waiting on traffic light).
And I heard a lot of terrifying stories from my female friends also, like stalking, break into house, etc.
I feel so safe here, one of the reasons I don’t want to leave. In uni (US) I would get email alerts whenever shots where fired in/near campus. Even as a woman, I can walk around alone/at night and be OK here. That’s not to say there isn’t crime, period, but I am not always on alert like how I was in the US.
Safer than other places Ive lived in.
However. Women friends do not feel totally safe, especially from random men approaching them/harassing them. It seems to happen a lot if you are not Japanese. And not just from Japanese men. This is something that needs to be tackled (not through white knighting and macho vigilantism) but through education. Some men just dont get it, that its not ok to hit on/follow/stalk etc women.
Aside from that. An unpleasant situation (online) arose some years ago, which had me questioning my sanity. The man behind it all, was enabled to get away with certain unacceptable behaviors, and its not something I expected here. But that was just me being naive. And, you know, it was on the internet, so it wasnt real and I should have just grown a thicker skin. Apparently.
Overall, such horrific incidences as the family murder yesterday are rare. We should not live in fear because of isolated ocurrences.
This place is nowhere near as violent as the US. It also isn’t full of overtly hostile homophobes and crazy religious zealots who represent a threat to the well-being of some of us.
Even though the city I grew up in is a small farming area in Utah with practically zero crime, I feel completely safe in and around Tokyo. Most of the bad stuff seems to stay within the circles of people who are in that world.
I often go work at Starbucks, and when I need to use the bathroom I can leave my laptop, phone, AirPods, etc. and be 100% sure to see everything left in their place when I come back. Can’t fathom doing that in the US.
There’s freak accidents and killings in Japan for sure that make national news, but in perspective those kind of killings might not even make the 5 PM news in the larger cities elsewhere.
Completely safe
My home country is relatively safe, so I would say about the same overall?
In Japan, I have faced a lot more cases of chikan and people following me home, which never happened in my home country, but when that happens, I can at least hide at the local conbini, which I wouldn’t be able to do in my home country because it’s not a thing there.
Everywhere you go there are vending machines outside and many take large denomination bills. I can’t think of any other country where vendors could get away with that. I think that is a pretty strong indicator of the level of crime in Japan.
Rather than very violent or serious crime, the thing I really notice is the lack of petty and opportunistic crime. I believe, based on very little (!), it is because crime in Japan is well organized. I like to think that the average punk is more likely to be “employed” by a gang playing a part in larger scale crimes than on the street mugging people.
the hell happened in Saitama?
I’m a girl and this is the safest country I’ve ever felt in. I’ve been here for about three months and I can confidently say I’m not terrified walking alone at night. It’s a nice feeling. I’m obviously still careful but when I lived in the US I would be practically running and ready with my self defense keychain. In Mexico (where I’m from) I wouldn’t even leave home after a certain time. Here I can just walk.
It doesn’t just feel safe, it **is** safe, by any benchmark you put it against.
Lowest rate of murder for any country larger than a single city. Lowest rate of rape of any developed country that isn’t a micro state (good work, Lichtenstein). Nearly the lowest theft rate of any country whose data you might trust (poor countries don’t collect systematic data).
It just ***is*** safe. Japan is pretty much the maximum that humans can achieve for safety, and you get it without even turning into an authoritarian state like China, or a cuddly despotic state like Singapore.
You can probably find a way to get someone to punch you in Kabukicho if you try hard enough, and there are some creeps groping women on the subway, etc., but it’s so so low compared to anywhere else. I encourage people to celebrate and reinforce that awesome part of living here rather than assuming it must be a fiction.
Before coming to Japan I was definitely aware of crime but I didn’t live my everyday thinking about it. I took normal precautions and never had any issues.
Almost immediately after coming to Japan realized the sexual harassment / sexual assault / sexual violence are really on a whole different level here & I have absolutely no hope that it will ever improve.
In inaka , I feel 100% safe as a female. Even from sexual harassment and assault. This might change if I go to the cities where I keep a bit more of an eye out but for the most part, I feel safe.
Just as safe as in Montana. Although in Montana I would do drugs and steal traffic cones in the middle of the night and I can’t do that in Japan. So more rules but just as safe.
Generally pretty safe, but there’s a lot of sexual crimes and harassment against women and girls. Very common experience on public transport.
Can you (anyone) name a place that you personally know is safer than Japan, all things considered. Reasoning?
My brain knows that, logically, no where is 100% safe but the feeling I get walking around at any time of the day/night in Japan is that I am 100% safe.
100% safe? Japan is not zero crime country so it is relative.
No way I am going to leave my bicycle unlocked. And I carry my umbrella inside konbini.
But I don’t have to worry about getting mugged so far.
No need to worry about pickpockets inside the train so so far so good.
Probably less road rage, but I heard there were stabbing due to honking horn according to my driving lecturer.
Lately I’m getting annoyed by investment scams. Usually a girl will add you on LINE and try to get you into stock/crypto trading.
Coming from Scotland, I’ve never once felt nervous about another human on the street here. Back home, you can always tell who is shifty and probably looking to rob or harass you various reasons, or some belligerent drunk ganting for a fight, and its not uncommon to encounter that.
Here though, drunks are either minding their own business or just fully passed out. Probably the only time I ever felt harassed so far was walking through Nakasu in Fukuoka and a guy suggested I come into his “bar”. Never felt a jot of apprehension about a human otherwise.
Meh got raped here and put up with the DV, learned that for eight years I didn’t notice ex husband taking upskirt videos.
Still feel relatively safe I guess.
I feel 100% safe here all the time
You can also go out one day and suddenly an airplanes crashes into you. Or you can drown in your hotel room on the 20th floor the middle of the night in Berlin…
Safety is not about what can happen, but how likely it _will_ happen. Note that there also might be a difference between feeling safe and being safe.
Realistically, you are safer in Japan than in most other countries – especially when we are talking about violent crime. If we are talking about harassment in the workplace, there might be better places.
I’m a man, I don’t have to worry about getting murdered/attacked/robbed/etc by people or the police, in general.
However, as with anywhere, situational awareness is key.
The only time that I got my face rearranged, we knew that the cops were already on the way.
We always lock the doors at home, etc.
I think that the situation can be quite different for women though. Most folks here, I suspect, know women who get molested from time to time, as well as rapists, panty thieves, shoe sniffers, perverted landlords, sexual harassment, stalkers, etc.
Never felt unsafe really. Just a bit uneasy when I went to places like ibusuki or bitchu Takamatsu where there was literally nobody around.
The feeling of “if someone robbed me here nobody would ever know” but ofc that never happened.
I’ve been stalked before. The guy even tried to break into my apartment. I couldn’t carry any self-defense items but the police couldn’t and wouldn’t do anything about it since no one/nothing was harmed.
So it’s not 100% safe but I definitely feel safer being here than my home country. It’s generally safe but safety pre-caution is needed, especially if you’re a woman. Also need to be careful with carrying self-defense items since it’s a punishable crime. I say just explore your options and stay cautious.