Land of the Rising Crime Rate

[Taro Toporific]

In Japan, the crime rate also rises
By J Sean Curtin / August 28 / ASIAN TIMES
Once Japan was among the safest countries in the world for its own citizens, travelers and business people. Now, however, the once-cherished sense of personal safety appears antiquated, and national security has been supplanted by deep anxiety about crime....
....The sharp increase in crime has generated numerous theories. Criminologists have tended to identify a complex web of causes stemming, among other things, from the prolonged economic recession, changing social patterns and inadequate policing structures.
On the other hand, many Japanese lawmakers as well as senior police officers have pinned the blame for the crime wave on delinquent youths and foreign criminals, labeling these two groups "the twin causes of rising crime".
Although detailed analysis of the crime statistics disproves the youth-and-foreigners notion, the media have tended to side with lawmakers who have promoted this idea. Large swaths of public opinion believe that these two groups - youth and foreigners - are responsible for most crimes, even though they only comprise small groups in the overall crime figures.

NEWS FLASH(sokuhou)
STRANGE! (henda) SUSPICIOUS! (ayashii)
DON'T HESITATE. CALL 110 IMMEDIATELY
BEWARE OF BAGSNATCHING BAD-FOREIGNER GROUPS
PROWLING FOR PEOPLE ON THE WAY BACK FROM BANKS!

[blackcat]

wow what a sign!!

japan is a rich third world country, no doubt.

the ONLY sign i saw in japan that was grammatically flawless...was in a ATM room, stating money is`nt stored here.

hopelessly xenophobic

[Blah Pete]

I like all the signs in grocery stores, etc. that say something like
We do not change the money

I also like the beware of crime signs around ATMs with the characters with 'foreign' features. They used to have a cash machine in Machida with a sign and the figure had an afro. By the time I finally decided to go down and take a photo it had been changed to a more PC version.

[plaid_knight]

Guys, you need to get a small digital camera and keep it with you
to record the insanity. Get one of those flat pocket-sized ones.

You can share the love with us using a geocities site, tinypic.com, and photobucket.com .

[Captain Japan]

I like all the signs in grocery stores, etc. that say something like
We do not change the money

This baffled me for some time as well. Each one is written in the very same lousy language. But I think "exchange" is the word. I asked a guy once and the meaning is that they won't break big bills, in other words give change. For a long time I thought the signs were trying to say that they wouldn't exchange foreign currencies. So I assumed a lot of stupid FGs had tried swapping bills and they were tired of it. Nope, they fear FGs providing counterfeit big bills.

[AssKissinger]

I like all the signs in grocery stores, etc. that say something like
We do not change the money

This baffled me for some time as well. Each one is written in the very same lousy language. But I think "exchange" is the word. I asked a guy once and the meaning is that they won't break big bills, in other words give change. For a long time I thought the signs were trying to say that they wouldn't exchange foreign currencies. So I assumed a lot of stupid FGs had tried swapping bills and they were tired of it. Nope, they fear FGs providing counterfeit big bills.

I thought that maybe in Brazil or the Philipines you can exchange currencies in normal stores or something. I thought like 'What are people coming in all the time and trying to buy yen from them with their foreign currencies, that's so odd' I didn't know it was some kind of paranoia about a gaijin counterfeiting conspiracy. What a bunch of lunatic xenophobes! I mean, it's the only English language sign in the whole store and they do it all over Japan.

[Taro Toporific]

I like all the signs in grocery stores, etc. that say something like
We do not change the money

This baffled me for some time as well.

The weird thing is that all stores with the We do not change the money signs actually do make change for large bills. They might grumble well I buy my 140yen ice milk-coffee, but it's a store, dang nab it. A 10,000yen note is legal tender and extremely common (basically, if you aren't carrying at least 20,000 to 80,000yen in cash, you must be homeless in Japan).

[AssKissinger]

Yeah, I'll use a man note to buy a pack of gum. I do it all the time. They never said a thing about it. In America, it's always, 'Do you have anything smaller?' With signs that say 'We can't break bills over $20' but I never saw one written in Japanese in the States. My wife says 'Well if they sell you a pack of gum at least they saved that 15 yen profit'.

[tomasurii]

God damn foreigners. Always screwing things up.

Somewhat unrelated question: Is there such a thing as equal protection under the Jp constitution?

[mr. sparkle]

Noticed a good many signs at the Shibuya Gas Panic warning of pickpockets last weekend. Dubious outline of a black foreigner, for sure. Dreads, I think...

[Charles]

[cstaylor]

God damn foreigners. Always screwing things up.

Somewhat unrelated question: Is there such a thing as equal protection under the Jp constitution?

Yes, but the Japanese Supreme Court, shortly after the end of the Occupation, interpreted it to mean Japanese citizens only.

[omae mona]

[Captain Japan]

[Taro Toporific]

I don't think the logic (or lack of) behind the sign is really all that important. The point is that there is a sign that is written in the same shoddy languange, and it's everywhere (well, except for where Omae is living) and nobody understands it (even in Japanese). ....
...Hell, the grocery store near my house has one such sign. I'm going over there tonight and will ask.

Actually, that would a funny Gonzo-journalistic style of a story:
Why/who f'ed up the sign and why does it remain f'ed after years?


I mean.... it took decades for the Humorists-at-Immigration(tm) to change the signs for "ALIENS" to "Foreign Passports" (and the smaller sign underneath saying "Non-residents"). You would have thought the humorists would have become tired of the UFO-alien jokes from every 4th or 5th gaijin and the tourists taking pictures of the "ALIENS" sign.

[Captain Japan]

Not much in the way of new material, but this is related:

Asahi Shimbun
So, what is it really like being black in Japan?

So what's all the paranoia about? It's not just crime.

Consider those ladies handing out ad-plastered tissue packets or, even worse, those with Galaxy Art-store fliers in Ginza, Shibuya and elsewhere. Egad! I fear they will snap their poor necks with the severity in which they whip their heads around pretending not to see my approach. Honestly ladies, I will be no more or less offended if you just don't give me that prized advertisement-don't hurt yourselves in the process.