Kyoto: Quite Possibly the World’s Safest City

I have been extremely blessed with living in safe places my whole life. This statement might astound many non-Americans who imagine that the US is a most dangerous and crime-infested place. And, of course, it is compared to most other parts of the developed (non-warring) world. But, I grew up mostly in a small Alabama town, then in a nice suburb of Lexington, KY. The college years I was nestled in the tiniest and most protected little women’s college campus and in a sleepy Scottish university town. Then I was off to a tiny African village where everyone certainly knew my name, then to a sketchy neighborhood in Berkeley where I nevertheless always felt safe, then to quiet Cambridge, MA and finally Redwood City where we seldom locked our condo. Anyway, all this is to say that I have indeed lived in pretty safe places. But, I do believe that Kyoto—a city of 1.5 million people and the largest city I’ve ever lived in--is perhaps THE SAFEST PLACE I’ve ever lived.

Here are a few examples to support my point:
I’ve already mentioned that at first I didn’t realize people locked their bikes since the bike locks are just small keyed loops that click through the back tire. Indeed, you can still pick up a bike and carry it away even when it is locked (which is probably by design so the police can routinely impound bikes that are parked illegally). But, nonetheless, I have left my locked bike all over the city for any number of hours and have never had to worry about it (expect for the police impounding it which, though I think is a crime, doesn’t exactly count in the crime category.) In fact, I have even forgotten to lock my bike several nights when I left it parked in the bike parking of our building. (The first time I did this, I was nearly late trying to locate my bike key when I finally gave up and went outside only to find it in my bike lock!) Last night, as I met an English student at a McDonald’s I forgot to lock my bike and left the key conveniently in the lock so that if someone took it, they’d even be able to lock it later. Over an hour later, I emerged to discover what I’d done, but fortunately, old Oranji (the name I’ve given my orange bike, not so creative since it’s the Japanese word for orange) was there waiting for me.

Another morning as I was heading out of the house I couldn’t find the key to our apartment. I finally gave up and opened the door to find the keys, there in the door lock all night…Good grief. It’s a really good thing I don’t live somewhere dangerous!

The other day I stopped in at a little fast food donburi (stuff on rice) place to get a quick bowl of beef teriyaki on rice and left my violin, purse, and shopping bag at my table while I went to the restroom. (I was on my way to an orchestra rehearsal and was alone and I didn’t think I could have fit everything in the restroom anyway.) Now I tend to be trusting, but I wouldn’t even do this in most of the places where I’ve lived.

What brought this post to mind today was what just happened to me on my way home from babysitting. I stopped at a grocery store and bought some things, but realized that I forgot to buy milk, so I stopped at another one that I passed on my bike ride home. Now, the tricky part about riding a bicycle everywhere is where to store things if you have multiple stops and bags. I couldn’t take a bag of groceries in to another grocery store, so I decided to leave them in my bike basket. A quick stop for milk turned into a stroll through the veggies and fruits, then the fish…so 30 min later I emerged to discover that my bag of groceries was not in the basket where I left it. I gasped--more from the shock of crime in Kyoto than from sadness about the groceries—but then I saw it. Someone had removed my bag from the basket and put it on the curb by my bike, perhaps to prevent the bike from falling over when another biked was parked near it. So, my hypothesis was not disproved; Kyoto remains the largest city and the safest place I’ve ever lived.