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.

Day 3 Japan

We Get by with a Little Help from New Friends:
This morning Jim and I went into Kyoto University (aka Kyodai) to Jim’s new lab. Since his advising professor (and the only one in the lab who speaks English fluently) is at a conference Wednesday-Friday, he has given Jim the days to get settled. For today (Wednesday) it was decided that the department secretary and an undergrad would help us get some things done. The to-do list: buy used bikes, investigate cell phone plans, get our alien registration cards, and open a bank account.

At 10am we met Yasuko and Satoko and decided on a plan of action. (Satoko speaks some English and with the help of an electronic pocket translator we were generally able to communicate with effort). We first headed to a bike shop where Yasuko wheeled and dealed on our behalf. There were only a few used bikes available and Yasuko bargained for cheaper ones to be sent. (Also we needed a larger size than most of the bikes there…) So, in about a week our very own used bikes should become available. Check: pending.

We then stopped at a cell phone store and stood there while Yasuko discussed all the different options. When the salesperson finally gave her a monthly number I could tell by the panicked look on her face before I even saw the number punched into his calculator that it was high. I also realized that the complexity of cell phone plans far surpassed our small group’s language exchange abilities. Fortunately, Jim and I had found a salesperson in another cell phone carrier’s office yesterday who spoke English pretty well (!) and knew we could get a better deal there, so we were able to tell Y and S that it was okay. Besides, we needed our alien cards before we could get cell phones anyway, so this had to wait. Check: delayed.

Next, we headed back to the university to borrow bikes for Jim and I to use that day (Yasuko and Satoko were walking their bikes at this point). After some giggling in the lab with other students (I think about whose bikes would be big enough for us) two guys graciously (and bravely) gave us the keys to their bikes. [CORRECTION: I realize I made the “no one locks their bikes” statement (yesterday’s entry) too hastily. It seems that the bikes DO lock around the back tire. It is very small so we missed it initially. However, even then we do still see some bikes not locked…]

Although I am an avid bike commuter at home I was slightly terrified biking here. First, the bike I was on (even though borrowed from a guy not too much shorter than me) was so short that my legs were fully folded while riding. I must have looked like one of those clowns on a tiny bicycle, knees popping up everywhere. In addition to this, bikers and walkers are everywhere and it is a small miracle that there are not collisions every moment. Bikers are all over the side walk and manage to squeeze through any gap in pedestrians with little pause or hesitation. My only solace is that the bikes are all cruisers that don’t go too fast—and being lower to the ground makes it easier to touch ground if needed!

It was nearing lunch time and I was relieved to hear Yasoko ask if we were hungry. Something was decided on and we obediently followed Y and S. (Ah, the old “I have no idea where we are going because I don’t understand the language but I am following and trusting anyway” feeling!) We all headed down to a University entrance where several women were selling Bento boxes for 500 yen (about 5 dollars). We selected our choices and after a battle trying to pay for Y and S (which we lost) we all headed back to the lab to eat.

Ah. Japanese food is SO GOOD!!! My bento box had a battered chicken breast, rice, a cabbage salad, a spaghetti salad that tasted just like a US macaroni salad, pickled eggplant and yam (I think?) and some pickled radish. Everything was absolutely delicious! I can’t wait to have more Bento!! Yasoko showed us that the little packets included, when added to hot water, make miso soup. (I don’t think I would have figured that out on my own.) Yasoko was very concerned that we were happy and she kept asking if we liked the miso soup and the food. She needn’t have worried: we were happy as clams. (If clams can actually be deemed happy—what a funny expression.)
Anyway, we ate with Y and S and two other female students and when we insisted on eating with chopsticks, they were all very determined to teach us the correct way to hold them. Hmmm, I thought I was perfectly functional holding them in my self-taught way, but upon correction I could hardly get the food into my mouth. Oh well. I will have to practice more.

After lunch we realized that we needed to retake our photos for ID cards because the ones we brought were too large. (Ha, imagine something American being too large in Japan.) Yasoko had an appointment, so another student, Reiko took her place. She and Satoko took us (on bikes) to the student center where, after many confusing gestures and silliness, Jim and I got our pictures taken and poof, the pictures were ready and in our hands. Check: done. :)

We all then biked to the registration card office. It felt just like a DMV in the States, except that everything was in Japanese, of course. We filled out paperwork and then were informed that it would be a month (!) before our cards were ready. Fortunately there is a temporary form we can get for opening a bank account and getting cell phones, but we had to fill out more paperwork for this and we have to return to pick those up on Friday. Ah, government red tape is the same everywhere. Check: delayed.

By this time we had pretty much exhausted what we could get done that day without ID cards, so we decided to reconvene on Friday for the temporary cards and bank account opening. Before we left Yasuko wanted to introduce us to a Canadian at the University so we followed again. [Note: If you haven’t gathered this already, Y, S and R spent a good part of their day helping us and would have spent many more hours with us had there been any more we could have done. I can only hope that international students without English skills receive some similar support when they study in the US. We are so thankful to our new friends for the incredible graciousness and kindness they have showed us!]

Once we arrived at another lab, Yasuko poked in and saw her friend (who looked Japanese—huh) and then the friend took us all to two white men in another office. Jim joked to me that Yasuko was saying “We brought our white people to meet your white people.” Ha. We then met two guys, French and French Canadian who were working as researchers. They were very nice and told us about the Japanese language courses offered by the University and how to get to the appropriate office. After chatting with them for a while we headed to this office to see if we could enroll in the language course. It turns out that the language course has been running for a month and is not supposed to admit late applicants but we were taken to a professor’s office and she (speaking perfect English) gave us permission, primer books to start learning characters and a list of books to buy at the bookstore. Wow! (It turns out the University allows spouses of researchers to take a semester of Japanese language. I imagine them realizing that makes for happier spouses (and in turn, happier researchers!)

So, Jim and I are both enrolled in a beginning Kanji class (characters) and a Japanese language class. This means we will spend 5 hours in class--all on Wednesdays. Whew. At least I don’t have to go back to another Kumon center (see Day 1 post)!! ;)

If you are half as tired reading this lengthy thing as we were doing all of this, then I apologize. It was a very busy and full day!!

Day 2 Japan

Today was a national holiday so Jim didn't have to go in to work and when we went to see our local temple there was a sign in front of closed doors that must have said "Closed for the holiday". It is SO strange to be illiterate. Suddenly even the most mundane signs seem very alluring...Jim and I are taking to making up what the signs say which can be pretty amusing. For example, in our first Japanese department store today there was a bin that had a cat and dog with an X over them. Jim then remarked, "That sign says that we can't put our dogs and cats in there."

Fortunately most food stores and shops were open since it wasn't really a big holiday. (Jim's professor said it was not a big holiday, just a government one.) So...more shopping for us! I am quickly realizing that shopping could easily be my main pastime if I don't get a job. Uh oh. We did manage to find the big mall about a 20 min walk from our apartment. There is a Starbucks, McDonald's and Body Shop in it which is so odd since everything else is so Japanese. There was also an international food shop that my Italian friend from yesterday was telling me about. Of course, this was also full of Japanese food as well and we were the only non-Japanese in the shop, but still--we found peanut butter, more cereal, herbal teas, Hellman's mayo (that was my splurge Southern girl that I am), cheap pasta, pasta sauce, and even snickers and M&M's! The most surprising thing was that most things were really reasonably priced, comparable to home prices even though they were imports. This means that we actually WILL shop there. Yay! (Don't worry folks, I promise we won't only be eating "our" food. It's just that a taste of home now and then is really comforting.)

Tonight we ate at our first ramen noodle shop. We were trying to chose from the many little tiny restaurants and noodle shops on our walk home from the mall and we ended up picking one that had a bit of a line outside. (We figured the locals knew where to go.) It wasn't as good as Pho, but pretty tasty and very cheap! I am relieved to know that we can actually afford to eat here. Everyone had told me over and over how ridiculously expensive Japan was, so I have been pleasantly surprised--no relieved--to see that it isn't too bad. In fact, a number of things cost less here than in the US. And, what's more, the fast food is really good and healthy (aka Sarah edible) unlike fast food in the States. :)

I also had my first Japanese public toilet experience. I visited that necessary place in the department store and met the non-Western squat toilets. Fortunately, after two years of pit latrines in Africa I am an expert squatter, so no problem there. I was a little perplexed as to how to flush since everything was written in characters. I pushed one button but it only made a flush sound (so one can cover up uncomely noises perhaps?) but the second button I tried did the job.

Thankfully no major misadventures were had today aside from the ever awkward feeling of not being able to converse with people. Oh, I did almost get run over by a man on a bicycle. It was totally my fault as I was blocking the narrow path caused by a long line outside a donut store we were passing. He made a funny "uuooh" utterance just as I scurried out of the way and everyone in the donut line turned around in response to his proclamation. Dumb white girl...

Everyone seems to ride bikes in Kyoto. Bikes are absolutely everywhere!! In fact, Jim and I were looking at bike stores today since we plan on purchasing our own bikes and we were heading across the street to one such store before we realized that it was just bike parking out front, not a bike store. The most amazing part of this bike culture: NO ONE LOCKS THEIR BIKE. Yes, that's right. In a city of 1.5 million people, no one locks their bike. All the bikes are the cruising kind with kickstands and everyone of them are simply parked out in front stores, completely unattended. Amazing...