I live in Tokyo. It's a very safe city and you can walk around even in the evening/night (maybe it's best not to at *LATE* night, but still) without many issues

I live in Tokyo. It's a very safe city and you can walk around even in the evening/night (maybe it's best not to at *LATE* night, but still) without many issues. Obviously, there's still "bad people" no matter where you go on this planet, so you can't just drop your guard completely (especially in very tourist-heavy neighborhoods with people waiting to take advantage of you). In the 3 or so years I've lived here, the worst I've had was hearing people shout drunk at night every once in a while in my neighborhood. Oh, and also an old man with a wooden sword going nuts against another old man with a hammer but the police was called and they got both taken away, seemed like some family feud or some stuff at like 3am under my window. Regardless, if you live on the ground floor (or even higher floors), having bars on your windows is relatively common/normal/advisable no matter where you are. I'm in a high rise building on a high floor and my windows have bars but it feels more like an architectural design than anything (also it prevents people from accidentally falling off, especially if you have kids or pets). They also prevent stalkers or laundry thieves, which are sometimes common (unfortunately), especially towards women.