whatchoo sayin' about my neighborhood, homeslice?

[chronovore]

Worst Place to Live in Japan: (warning: linked page is mildly NSFW)

The above is a screencap (note: not included to avoid hotlinking) from a TV program with a list entitled "statistics which show the reality of Osaka." The figures show that Osaka comes out tops (worst) out of all the cities in Japan in the following categories...

* Theft
* Car vandalism
* Murder and other violent crimes
* Number of homeless
* Death by Cancer
* Number of offices declining
* Unemployment rate (2nd worse)
* Bankruptcy rate (2nd worse)
* Number of primary schools that don't serve food
* National learning proficiency test
* Child abuse deaths

Even so, with all of that against it, it still feels a lot safer here than in the USA.

Comments

[captainblack.livejournal.com]

This negative stereotype is mostly because y'all dress in striped 70's track suits and talk in Kansai-ben.

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

Not me. I just go out in my rhinestone thong. It chafes, but such are the sacrifices we make for fashion.

[captainblack.livejournal.com]

Well, at least get a punch perm and wear sunglasses, ne?

[sdemory.livejournal.com]

Part of it's probably the fact that you live in it, and you haven't been rolled, kiled or laid off. You feel safe because you've been safe... other than your nephew getting rolled, things have been pretty mellow.

We must also acknowledge the fact that statistics are bullshit and easily manipulated. There's a wealthy county in Kansas that has no STDs. None. Never reported one to the Kansas board of health... because they don't have an STD clinic and send people with STDs to the WT county to the east. Not saying that Osaka's particularly ghetto (although I do recall hearing a reference to "All my niggaz in the Sock, bangin' and slangin'" in a song a while back), but your municipality may not be cooing the books as much as some.

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

Statistics ARE horseshit, depending on the agenda of the presenter/organizer. And as you point out, there are HEAPS of ways to ignore critical facts in a way which supports the presenter's argument.

And the thing about my nephew, yeah, that was not just relevant because he's my nephew, but because it was SO out of the blue. At the time I presented it as The Decline of Japanese Society, but I still wonder how much of this is Japanese media learning from the west about how to get the general populace worked into a good fear state so they'll agree to restrictions on personal freedom.

[nattotastic.livejournal.com]

Hey, did they ever catch the guys that rolled your nephew? I hope they let your family "talk" to them privately in a locked room at some point.

[josienutter.livejournal.com]

Trying to compare Osaka to Oakland is pretty... yeah. :)

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

And there are all those wannabe gang homies in Japanese urban centers who really wish it was comparable.

[nattotastic.livejournal.com]

Heh, we have a running gag here that whenever we hear of a murder or kidnapping or something on TV news, we guess "it happened in Kansai", and unfortunately I'd say 4 out of 5 times we're right.

Interestingly enough, I brought your list up to my wife who said "I find it hard to believe that Osaka is the worst. I bet Wakayama-ken's statistics are worse than Osaka." I think her opinion belies that Japanese tendency to consider urban areas as more regulated and safe and rural areas as wild and depressed.

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

As sdemory posited, "statistics are bullshit and easily manipulated." I definitely felt less generally safe in Yokohama than I did in ANY area of Osaka. Hell, I've been through the sketchy areas in downtown Osaka, and I don't feel threatened. Sure, there's a bunch of that which deals directly with me being a Big White Foreigner, but I'm saying that even with that "advantage" I felt less safe in Yokohama and Roppongi.

[nattotastic.livejournal.com]

I'm more afraid of the foreigners in Yokohama and Roppongi than I am the Japanese. :)

I think Osaka on it's worst day is probably still way safer than San Diego. It's just funny how many times you can guess that a crime happened down in that neck of the woods and you'd be right. Without declaring the sources that the presenter of the "worst list" was using in the screencap on that blog you don't really have any way of knowing whether or not its BS or what the overall agenda is so you can essentially take it or leave it.

That said, I think it would be hard to argue that many areas of Japan aren't having some real societal problems related to the economic depressions that come from everyone moving to Tokyo.

[captainblack.livejournal.com]

Once again, the "hitman look" factor.

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

Yeah, if they only know how a simple little jalapeño can take me out, they'd not be so frightened.

[nattotastic.livejournal.com]

Incidentally, just looking at the image, it looks like Osaka actually ranks #2 worst for the National Learning Proficiency Test. Not #1. See, something to smile about!