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
.