While it occasionally happens, in Japan they still have a sense of civic responsibility. They wouldn't do that.
There's also the fact that you could (statistically) also forget your Macbook Pro in a crowded public park in Tokyo and come back 2 hours later to find it there untouched (and unstolen).
> in Japan they still have a sense of civic responsibility
Tell me if I'm wrong. But, I see your "still" as if things were better in the past.
In litte towns, as everybody knows everybody, the rules are different. As more and more people moved to cities there was no family presure to behave. So, things were worst because family pressure desapeared and there was no substitution to get good behaviour. Big cities were a source of trouble.
But, I have seen an improvement everywhere I go. I saw this kind of transformation in Spain. As the country become less corrupt after the dictatorship, economics improved and a safety net was expanded Spaniards become more civic in the big cities.
Also, Japan takes care of its citizens. Japanese expect the goberment and the company they work for to take care of them. Societies that promote a every-man-for-himself approach have a harder time to ensure public civic behaviour.
The thing is, Tokyo cities are some of the safest in the world. There are small towns, villages, (and certainly suburbs) much worse crime-wise in most western countries. So it's not just a village vs city thing.
> There are small towns, villages, (and certainly suburbs) much worse crime-wise in most western countries. So it's not just a village vs city thing.
My comment was about comparing past and present, and how some times people overstimates how good the past was. I agree with you that it is not only about big cities vs little towns.
I was in Tokyo to the emperors new years speach and we got two Japanese plastic flags to wave around that we could keep after the event.
We walked a bit in the city and my spouse wanted to take pictures of me in a park. She put the flags on the ground for a minute (with me thinking: you can't do that!) and went tops 30m away from them to get a better angle. When we were done, they were gone. I'm actually certain they were not stolen, but some Japanese just cleaned up.
In general, the collective effort of the Japanese to keep their cities clean with basically no public bins around is amazing.
Order of magnitude difference in cost, but one time I left my e-reader on a bench in Yoyogi Park when I got distracted by the baked sweet potato cart and wandered off without it.
I came back an hour later to find an old lady, having occupied my former spot, waiting a while to see if the owner returned before taking it to the nearby police box. I was all over myself apologizing and thanking her in my crappy Japanese, but she didn't get what I perceived as abnormal about the situation. She didn't even take me up on my offer of a baked sweet potato.
Another time, I accidentally sprayed 500 yen (so, roughly $5) coins all over the floor at Comiket when trying to extract change from pocket. Being Comiket, a coin rolling a few meters may as well have been a mile off due to the sheer crush of bodies. Since I was at the head of the line and didn't want to inconvenience everyone behind me, I mentally wrote them off as a loss and continued buying my hen^Wartbooks, only to have all the coins immediately returned by a guy who saw what had happened and went scrambling around for them. He, too, refused all thanks and melted back into the crowd.
So, although I can't attest to the laptop thing, it definitely wouldn't surprise me. The similar anecdotes in this thread seem to agree.
Sorta. It's not 100% safe, but it's good enough. In crime stats, it's among the lowest in the world, and 4 to 15 times less than the US (depending on crime).
Been bicycling daily here for 10 years, never lock my bike. It's been stolen once, but with a bike costing <$100 I figure I'd rather save the 10 seconds per day vs. not losing one bike per ten years.
Forgot an iPhone once on a bench outside. Person who found it immediately called my contacts to find out how to return it.
Dropped my wallet once in Tokyo. It was returned to the nearest police box in less than an hour.
If you ever have the chance, visit a Japanese police departments lost and found sometime.
My friend lost her passport in Kyoto, it turned up at the lost and found. Peering in through the window they had a little bit of everything, and roughly a million umbrellas.
Absolutely. In Japan most bicycles are left unlocked. You can leave your cellphone to hold your seat in a coffee shop. Things you lose get returned. My father lost his passport there and when he called, the embassy already had it.
No they’re not. Most bicycles are locked by the device that is builtin. Also bike registration exists for a reason: bike stealing is one of the most common crimes.
I never lock my bike. I know bike theft happens a few times per month because it is the only crime ever mentioned in our kairanban (a kind of neighborhood newsletter). My impression is that only high-end road/mountain bikes or very nice mamachari would be targeted. The easy solution is to ride a $200 Chinese bike and experience the tremendous freedom of taking on the extremely low risk. My local grocery store/mall has literally a thousand bikes parked at any time, and I would say about half don’t even bother with the built-in rear wheel lock.
I lived there so I’ve seen it. Bikes are usually locked in the neighborhoods with a lot of foreigners (Roppongi, etc), but in most of Japan they aren’t. I’ve seen hundreds of bikes parked outside work without a single lock.
I live in a more rural part of Japan where you can count the foreigners on your two hands and I find it hard to believe you can even see how many bikes have their ubiquitous ring locks[0] locked among hundreds of bikes
Yeah. I have had an iPhone returned after leaving it by accident on a train. A luggage with a MacBook air inside returned as well. Funniest part was reaction of my coworker who helped me figure out where I should call to get the luggage. It did not occur to him that stuff inside might get stolen(Japanese guy)
In Canada I just assume anything not bolted down will get stolen. I left company laptop on a taxi before and it got stolen, even so I called the taxi company 2 mins after.. lol one of the many reason I have no problem with Uber screwing cabbies.
Never heard about the laptop. But general rule is - not yours don't touch. Except for a bike and umbrellas. I know people who lost wallet, phone, I lost phone twice and few smaller things, ex. new pair of shoes in the train... Always returned or ready for me to pickup. Leaving your personal belongings on the table in crowded café is a norm. After some time you don't even get a thrill when loosing something.. "Come on, it's Japan, obviously you'll be able to find it." Unfortunately, coming back to the reality of the West is harsh. Not only WRT safety...
I once left my phone on a train in Kyoto. Managed to get it back in about 40 minutes with the help of station staff (it was a minor station so it was just one guy who didn't speak any English).
That's my thought as well. There's a bunch of street signs that constantly get stolen when I'm at, and those are nowhere near as beautiful or novel as these manhole covers.
