- Source:
- node / © PIXTA / Shigepapa / © PIXTA / © Minato City / © The Japan Times, Ltd. / © World Economic Forum
- Tags:
- crime / High Five / lost in translation / Minato Ward / Police / safety / safety reports / suspect / suspicious behavior / Tokyo
Related Article
-
Tokyo’s Shibuya 109 Holding Competition to Design New Logo for the Iconic Mall
-
Creme Brulee Crepes are the Most Genius Dessert in Harajuku
-
Inside Tokyo’s New Pokemon Cafe: Bask in Pikachu’s Yellow Glory
-
Video game of Tokyo Governor Koike lets you stop public gatherings, combat coronavirus
-
The tiny doors of Tokyo
-
Swimming Pools To Enjoy When You Visit Tokyo This Summer
Japan is commonly described as one of the safest nations in the world. According to the 2017 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index published by the World Economic Forum, Japan had the third lowest homicide rate out of 136 countries in 2017 (0.3 out of 100,000 people). Moreover, according to the Japan Times, crime rates are decreasing, with the number of murder and robbery cases dropping from 10,889 in 2016 to 10,232 in 2017. At the same time, however, kidnapping cases, most of them involving young girls, have increased by 30% since 2013, and the police has issued a warning cautioning children against following strangers.
In Minato Ward, one of Tokyo's most affluent areas, a heightened sense of caution seems to have influenced the safety information messages on the ward's official website. Just looking at the last 65 messages in the past year (from May 22, 2017 to May 22, 2018), 78% were about suspicious behavior towards women and children. However, while we don't mean to downplay the importance of being alert and the potential threat of crime, some of the messages listed here are arguably bizarre, either in their phrasing, the details they provide or sometimes, even the fact that someone considered contacting the police in the first place.
We've listed a few of the most surprising messages so you can judge for yourself:
Harsh description
Police usually prefer objective terms like "heavy build" or "large" over adjectives such as "fat," but that nuance may have been lost in translation. As for the relevance of the man's "awkwardness" when he pointed his camera, your guess is as good as ours...
Go to hell
Maybe it sounded more natural in Japanese, but we can almost imagine this cantankerous killjoy channeling Charlton Heston in his outburst.
Serial High-Fiver
...Eight days later...
Sometimes descriptions are unreliable. Could it be a serial high-fiver or is it just a coincidence and we have two separate high-five incidents eight days apart? Inquiring minds want to know...
Suspicious sayonara
It's hard to know which is more perplexing, the man's message or the fact that someone thought it deserved a report to the police...
English school recruiting?
It doesn't seem to matter that the child was with his or her mother when it happened... It may be a good idea to avoid going around asking kids you don't know their name and age. Also, some advice for foreigners (or "foreigner-like" people) considering recruiting students to their English school: you probably shouldn't just approach strangers in the streets...
Wastes no time
Let's hope they caught this pervert...
If you'd like to keep up to date with Minato Ward safety messages, visit their page here (scroll down past the Japanese to see the English version, followed by Chinese and Korean). You can also track crime all over Tokyo with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's Crime Map here.
By - Ben K.