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The Japanese have a lot of respect. When I visited a common thing said was "If you leave your wallet on the street and come back a day later, it's likely it wil

The Japanese have a lot of respect. When I visited a common thing said was "If you leave your wallet on the street and come back a day later, it's likely it will still be there or in the closest shop."

staunch 16y ago
This actually happened. When we were living in Tokyo my wife lost her wallet. A day later she found that it was sitting in the basket of her bicycle outside our building. This was a busy street in a business district (Nihonbashi) with hundreds of people going past it and it was a large new coach wallet with at least a few hundred in cash. Not that someone wouldn't have eventually stolen it though.
- kmfrk 16y ago
  >Not that someone wouldn't have eventually stolen it though. Japan is only nearly Utopian. Let's be careful with the orientalism. The suicide rate[1][2] is one thing that personally bothers me. Japan is fundamentally different from the West, and this has its advantages and disadvantages. [1]: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/List_of_count... [2]: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/List_of_OECD_countries_by_suicide_rate https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/List_of_OECD_...
  - nivertech 16y ago
    Clear trends: * Southern Europe/Mediterranean/Levantine countries - low suicide rates. * English-speaking/Northern countries/former Communist block in Eastern Europe/Developed Asian countries - high suicide rates. Seems to be related to amount of daylight, climate, stress and competition.
    - jules 16y ago
      Has anybody else noticed the magical effect of sunlight? A few days ago was the first sunny day of the year. Everyone was very happy.
      - defen 16y ago
        Magic, or a surge of vitamin D3 in their bloodstreams.
  - staunch 16y ago
    I deleted that line, so we don't have to have the world's most boring discussion on HN.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
  - angus77 16y ago
    If you follow the "more information" link on Japan, you'll find that the high suicide rate is a recent thing that's happened since the Bubble burst.
thret 16y ago
I can vouch for this based on my own experience, my wallet seemed safer by itself on the train than in my pocket in any other country. OTOH, every school girl gets felt up on the train.
- donw 16y ago
  That's why they have 'women only' cars now. As a slightly amusing story, a very Japanese-looking American ladyfriend of mine used to live here. She's ex-military, and more than a bit of a redneck, but you couldn't tell by just looking at her. So, one day she's on the train, and some guy cops a feel. Women here more often than not don't react to it, but ex-Navy chicks are a different story. Mr. Pervert got decked, cursed out in English, and arrested at the next station.
rheide 16y ago
Another example of this: when I lived in Japan, I used to park (and lock) my bicycle at a very crowded station and leave it there for several hours. I locked the bicycle but sometimes left my coat in the basket. I continued this habit for several weeks, until finally I left my bicycle there over the weekend while going on a trip. When I came back, the coat was gone. The bicycle was still there, of course. That said, the most likely and annoying thing to happen to your bicycle in Japan is that the parking police will steal it if you park near a crowded place (eg. any train station) and place it in some storage facility far away from where you live, where you then have to go by bus to pick up your bicycle and cycle home. This happened to me at least 3 times..

staunch 16y ago

This actually happened. When we were living in Tokyo my wife lost her wallet. A day later she found that it was sitting in the basket of her bicycle outside our building. This was a busy street in a business district (Nihonbashi) with hundreds of people going past it and it was a large new coach wallet with at least a few hundred in cash. Not that someone wouldn't have eventually stolen it though.

kmfrk 16y ago
>Not that someone wouldn't have eventually stolen it though. Japan is only nearly Utopian. Let's be careful with the orientalism. The suicide rate[1][2] is one thing that personally bothers me. Japan is fundamentally different from the West, and this has its advantages and disadvantages. [1]: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/List_of_count... [2]: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/List_of_OECD_countries_by_suicide_rate https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/List_of_OECD_...
- nivertech 16y ago
  Clear trends: * Southern Europe/Mediterranean/Levantine countries - low suicide rates. * English-speaking/Northern countries/former Communist block in Eastern Europe/Developed Asian countries - high suicide rates. Seems to be related to amount of daylight, climate, stress and competition.
  - jules 16y ago
    Has anybody else noticed the magical effect of sunlight? A few days ago was the first sunny day of the year. Everyone was very happy.
    - defen 16y ago
      Magic, or a surge of vitamin D3 in their bloodstreams.
- staunch 16y ago
  I deleted that line, so we don't have to have the world's most boring discussion on HN.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- angus77 16y ago
  If you follow the "more information" link on Japan, you'll find that the high suicide rate is a recent thing that's happened since the Bubble burst.

thret 16y ago

I can vouch for this based on my own experience, my wallet seemed safer by itself on the train than in my pocket in any other country. OTOH, every school girl gets felt up on the train.

donw 16y ago
That's why they have 'women only' cars now. As a slightly amusing story, a very Japanese-looking American ladyfriend of mine used to live here. She's ex-military, and more than a bit of a redneck, but you couldn't tell by just looking at her. So, one day she's on the train, and some guy cops a feel. Women here more often than not don't react to it, but ex-Navy chicks are a different story. Mr. Pervert got decked, cursed out in English, and arrested at the next station.

rheide 16y ago

Another example of this: when I lived in Japan, I used to park (and lock) my bicycle at a very crowded station and leave it there for several hours. I locked the bicycle but sometimes left my coat in the basket. I continued this habit for several weeks, until finally I left my bicycle there over the weekend while going on a trip. When I came back, the coat was gone. The bicycle was still there, of course. That said, the most likely and annoying thing to happen to your bicycle in Japan is that the parking police will steal it if you park near a crowded place (eg. any train station) and place it in some storage facility far away from where you live, where you then have to go by bus to pick up your bicycle and cycle home. This happened to me at least 3 times..