seemingly safe places to live in japan

[Ebuka Valentine Nrialike]

which places would be the safest to live in japan, all countries seem to have places that are most safe and.....well not so safe places. for example
i live in britain, and london seems to be the least safest place to live in.
and another example would be new york, in the usa, that seems to be the least safest place to live.
were in japan would be safe places to live?
and were in japan would be least safe places to live in?

[Niphty]

New York isn't an unsafe place to live. But urban areas, with high number of people, means there'll naturally be more crime. I live in East Tennessee, which has one of the lowest crime rates of anywhere. However, Oak Ridge out here is a big nuclear facility. So you measure safety differently if something like that were to go nova

Though, I would be interested in hearing from some of the Japanese residents where are better places to live, not just to visit.

[Oyaji]

Japan is one of the safest countries in the world. I don't think safety even need be a factor when deciding where to live in Japan. There may be parts of some cities that would be considered unsafe, but you're not very likely to be shown an apartment in any of them.

There are no unsafe regions in Japan, but if you ask about a specific city, people may be able to tell you about areas to avoid.

[Takeo Saeki]

I wouldn't say Japan is the safest country in the world. I've never been there, but i'm going by what I hear. I have read that the Yakuza have been really getting involved in drug and human trafficking. I could be wrong, though. This is what I heard. Also, a friend of mine in Osaka told me that the rate of violent crime in Japan has been increasing over the last few years.

I too would like to know which places are safer and which places are to be avoided in Japan.

[Schattenjedi]

The Yakuza are mostly involved in organized crime and even if things get violent among them, outsiders are almost never involved.

[clay]

Most children still walk by themselves or with other children to and from school. Many people (including myself when I was in Japan) sometimes carry hundreds of dollars worth of yen without a second thought since Japan is still very cash based.

Even though you hear more and more bad things happening on the Japanese news, in my opinion Japan is still a very safe place. Of course the large cities all have potentially dangerous spots but as Niphty mentioned that is just how it is.

[jinksys]

clay wrote:
Even though you hear more and more bad things happening on the Japanese news, in my opinion Japan is still a very safe place.

(not to any specific person)
It's generally not a good idea to base your opinion of a place by their news programs. If the news actually showed only good news, they'd be out of business fast.

From what I've researched regarding crime statistics, Japan is usually on the bottom. So I'd feel pretty safe there, but I still wouldnt let my guard down... there are always scumbags in every country who'll try to scam a gaijin.

[sgtkwol]

I live near #3 safest city in america, amherst, ny. Too bad it is so expensive to live there. Japan seems pretty safe to me, even the cops dont carry guns.

[Takeo Saeki]

The cops don't carry guns? What do they do if someone starts shooting at them? While apparantly uncommon in Japan, it's bound to happen eventually there in this day and age.

[keatonatron]

Some cops do, but most don't. Every police officer is highly trained in Kendo and Judo, and is probably extremely good at disarming bad guys. Of course, even in the states, if a cop gets shot at they usually just hide and call for backup, so the backup brings the guns

[Machina Maw]

Prettymuch every country has both safe and unsafe places to live. And it does depend on what you mean by "safe" and "unsafe". The city of Sydney, Australia was considered a pretty safe place to live, but since the Cronulla riots, it's not considered "safe" if you're of Middle Eastern/Lebanese (etc) descent because of all the Australians that bashed them and ransacked their shops etc.

And Brisbane, my city, is smaller and therefore supposedly "safer" than the other capital cities along the east coast, but still people get mugged and assaulted in the CBD area. I think some people got killed as well, but I'm not sure.

Uh, yeah. My point is; everywhere has safe and unsafe places.

[Oyaji]

I said ONE OF the safest. Sure there is crime in Japan, but, other then a very few areas in some of the larger cities (where I would have no reason to be in the first place) there is nowhere in Japan where I wouldn't feel completely comfortable walking alone, even late at night. (I take that back - I would be a little concerned about wild boars on some of the roads around here.)

I repeat: I don't think "safety" need be a concern when deciding where to live in Japan. In fact it would probably be "interesting" to live near a yakuza headquarters B). As long as you don't stare too much.

[keatonatron]

Oyaji wrote:
In fact it would probably be "interesting" to live near a yakuza headquarters

I do

When I wen to the 不動産, we were looking at a map and the guy said "Over here is full of rich people and way too expensive, over here is nice but a bit far away, over here is a completely Yakuza-run neighborhood, so.... how about here?"

I never investigated the Yakuza neighborhood until one night my girlfriend and I decided to go for a walk. I wanted to go somewhere I hadn't been before, and chose the only direction left; forgetting that that's where the Yakuza place was.

It was really creepy. There were lots of dirty, shady people hanging out in the street; small, old restaurants run by elderly women who had voices deep enough to sing the blues; and all the vending machines were really cheap. (maybe if you buy something from the cheap vending machine you owe the yakuza a favor?) At first my girlfriend just said "This is really creepy, I'm scared" and then when we saw the pimped out cars with huge, crazy paintjobs she said "Oooookay, those are Yakuza, no doubt about it! Don't look at them! Let's hurry." When the vending machines were normal prices again, I knew we were safe.

I thought it was kind of a fun adventure.

[coco]

According to the date,crime rate　for 1000 people are..

Worst 5　March 2006 ( March 2005)
１ 大阪Osaka ( Aich)
２ 愛知Aich (Osaka)
３ 福岡Fukuoka (Fukuoka)
４ 兵庫Hyogo ( Saitama)
５ 千葉Chiba (Chiba)　
--January2007(人口10万人当り)
１ 大阪 おおさか
２ 愛知 あいち
３ 京都 きょうと
４ 兵庫 ひょうご
５ 東京 とうきょう

Lowest 5　
１ 秋田Akita　(Akita）
２ 山形Yamagata (Yamagata)
３ 岩手Iwate (Iwate)
４ 福井Fukui(Aomori)
５ 青森Aomiori(Nagasaki)
----January 2007(人口10万人当り)
１ 秋田 あきた
２ 青森 あおもり
３ 山形 やまがた
４ 岩手 いわて
５ 鹿児島 かごしま
　　
http://www.police.pref.gunma.jp/seianbu/01seiki/zenkoku.pdf

Each prefecture police has a "Crime map" like this
http://www.keishicho.metro.tokyo.jp/toukei/yokushi/yokushi.htm

日本に住むことを想定しているご質問とは思えませんでしたが＾＾;
日本に住んでいる方、日本での居住を考えている方のご参考までに。

編集:警視庁のリンク切れを新しいリンクに修正,2007年1月データ追加

[Ebuka Valentine Nrialike]

ahh, so i guess everywhere have its bads and goods, i think i have been reading too many bads, which was one of the reasons that made me start this thread in the first place. good vs bad, it always seems to balance all over the world. really depends on the ones you see first. and it tends to make things more interesting.

just like flipping a coin, will it be heads or tails?

they probably isnt a safest place, this thread has made me think that living in places with both good and bad things make life worthwhile.

then again:|