Cut out for life as a crime-fighter

It is always reassuring to see a policeman keeping watch as you take money out of a bank cash machine. Well, not that reassuring at our local bank. Our officer is less a man of steel, more a man of cardboard. Is this an example of cash-strapped banks skimping on security? Actually, our recyclable bobby is just a friendly reminder to impressionable old folk to beware of con artists impersonating their cash-strapped grandchildren with designs on their pensions. And I thought Japan was a crime-free paradise...

Commentator's curse

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday, I blithely stated how safe Japan was, only to read today about the murder of a schoolboy in a park, the continuing inability of the police to catch the killer of an English teacher, and the 10th straight year that at least 30,000 people have committed suicide. Clearly, all is not well over here. It reminded me of a comment from a Japanese student I taught 10 years ago who had lived for some time in the UK. I asked him what the differences between the UK and Japan were. He said the UK had the little things wrong, but the big things right, but it was vice versa in Japan. For example, in the UK if you wanted to get out of an intercity train, you had to lower the window, stick your hand out and open the door manually from the outside, but you were free to spend the whole weekend with the family rather than playing golf with clients. He didn't give examples for Japan missing the wood for the trees, but I suppose you could cite the extreme punctuality of Japanese (my students often apologise for being late for a lesson when they arrive only two minutes early!) but then are expected to put in countless hours of unpaid overtime at work. But I've learnt my lesson - never generalise. Anyway, I'm off for a drink in Tokyo, so call the cops if I don't post anything on Sunday. 

Mean streets of Kounoyama

Japan, as we all know, is a very law-abiding, safe country. But I have to report a disturbing increase in crime. According to the local council newsletter, in our neighbourhood of Kounoyama, with I think 1,000 or so households, one bicycle was stolen. Granted, this was for a three-month period, but it was the first bike to be nicked in a year or so since we've lived here. And look at that picture of a park bench... what may be a typical sight in Vicky Park, Leicester, is something of a rarity round these parts. It wasn't me, I hasten to add, I gave up smoking years ago. I can only blame the youth of today, which brings me to a nice little quote I found in a textbook the other day: 

Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders; they contradict their parents and tyrannize their teachers.

Who spoke these wise words? Sarah Palin? Barack Obama? Boris Johnson? No, it was in fact Socrates, who died in 399BC. But I bet even he couldn't solve the riddle of the lake.