Pedestrian Crossings Aren’t a Part of Japanese Culture!
The crossings are there because other countries have them. You are no safer on a pedestrian crossing in Japan than jaywalking on a German Autobahn. The only difference is the German drivers are less insane.
This morning the stakes were much higher than usual. Gacuette crossed the road to leave the waste paper at the designated collection point. On the way back, he raised his arm like the school children are taught to do when crossing the road.
He had only taken the first step when a car coming towards him sped up noticeably, instead of slowing down. It became a “fight or flight” situation; however, as it was a Wednesday morning, the author decided to let the car go first.
Wednesday mornings are never good times for being run over by a car on a pedestrian crossing.
But wait a moment, how could this be? Mustn’t they let you go first when you raise your arm? The author always does. Suddenly it downed on him that he was wearing his gaijin style hat. Still, that was too aggressive, even by the Japanifik standards.
After an Earthquake, Don’t Let Anyone Know You Are a Foreigner!
Later in the afternoon, Gacuette heard about the magnitude 6.8 Tohoku earthquake. He had always wanted to write a few lines about the quakes in Japan, and today was as good time as any. Here’s what he discovered among other information:
[Quoted from Wikipedia]
,
The 1923 Great Kantō earthquake struck the Kantō plain on the Japanese main island of Honshū at 11:58 on the morning of September 1, 1923. Varied accounts hold that the duration was between 4 and 10 minutes. …
Marunouchi after the Great Kanto Earthquake
The quake was later estimated to have had a magnitude between 7.9 and 8.4 on the Richter scale, with its epicenter deep beneath Izu Ōshima Island in Sagami Bay. It devastated Tokyo, the port city of Yokohama, surrounding prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa, and Shizuoka, and caused widespread damage throughout the Kantō region. …
A view of the destruction in Yokohama
Casualty estimates range from about 100,000 to 142,000 deaths, the latter figure including approximately 37,000 who went missing and were presumed dead. …
Damage
Because the earthquake struck at lunchtime when many people were using fire to cook food, the damage and the number of fatalities were amplified due to fires which broke out in numerous locations. The fires spread rapidly due to high winds from a nearby typhoon off the coast of Noto Peninsula in Northern Japan and some developed into firestorms which swept across cities. This caused many to die when their feet got stuck in melting tarmac; however, the single greatest loss of life occurred when around 38,000 people packed into an open space at the Rikugun Honjo Hifukusho (Army Parade Ground) in downtown Tokyo were incinerated by a firestorm-induced fire whirl. As the earthquake had caused water mains to break, putting out the fires took nearly two full days until late in the morning of September 3. The fires were the biggest cause of death.
Desolation of Nihonbashi and Kanda seen from the Roof of Dai-ichi Sogo Building, Kyōbashi.
The Imperial Palace caught fire, but the Prince Regent was unharmed. The Emperor and Empress were at Nikko when the earthquake struck the city, and they were never in any danger. …
Over 570,000 homes were destroyed, leaving an estimated 1.9 million homeless. Some evacuees were transported by ship to as far from Kanto as the port of Kobe in Kansai. The damage is estimated to have exceeded one billion U.S. dollars at contemporary values. There were 57 accountable aftershocks.
Metropolitan Police Office burning at Marunouchi, near Hibiya Park, Tokyo.
Post-quake violence
The panic and confusion created by the earthquake led to numerous false rumors spreading both inside and outside of the affected regions. Japanese newspaper articles carried confused stories, variously reporting the total annihilation of Tokyo, the Japanese cabinet getting wiped out, the entire Kantō region sinking into the sea, the destruction of the Izu Islands due to volcanic eruptions, and a monster tsunami reaching as far inland as Akagi (at the northernmost corner of the Kantō Plain, almost halfway across the width of the country).
The Home Ministry declared martial law, and ordered all sectional police chiefs to make maintenance of order and security a top priority. One particularly pernicious rumor was that ethnic Koreans were taking advantage of the disaster, committing arson and robbery, and were in possession of bombs. In the aftermath of the quake, mass murder of Koreans by vigilante mobs occurred in urban Tokyo and Yokohama, fueled by rumors of rebellion and sabotage. Some newspapers reported the rumors as fact, which led to the most deadly rumor of all: that the Koreans were poisoning wells. The numerous fires and cloudy well water (a little-known effect of a big quake) all seemed to confirm the rumors in the eyes of the panic-stricken survivors living among the rubble. Vigilante groups set up roadblocks in cities, towns and villages across the region. Because people with Korean accents pronounced “G” or “J” in the beginning of words differently, 15円 50銭 (jū-go-en, go-jus-sen) and がぎぐげご (gagigugego) were used as shibboleths. Anyone who failed to pronounce them properly was deemed Korean. Some were told to leave, but many were beaten or killed. Moreover, anyone mistakenly identified as Korean, such as Chinese, Okinawans, and Japanese speakers of some regional dialects, suffered the same fate. …
More than 2,000 Koreans were taken in for protection from the mobs across the region, although recent studies have shown that there were incidents where army and police personnel are known to have condoned or even colluded in the vigilante killings in some areas. … In some towns, even police stations into which Koreans had escaped were attacked by mobs, whereas in other neighbourhoods residents took steps to protect them. …
The total death toll from these disturbances is uncertain … Actual estimates range as high as 6,600 … Three hundred and sixty-two Japanese civilians were eventually charged (for murder, attempted murder, manslaughter and assault), though most got off with nominal sentences, and even those who were sent to jail were later released with a general pardon commemorating the marriage of Prince Hirohito. In contrast, the actual number of Koreans who were charged for crimes during this period were 2 for murder, 3 for arson, 6 for robbery and 3 for rape.
All of those charged with the killings were civilians, despite the fact that some military and police units are now known to have taken part in the crimes, prompting accusations of a cover-up. … On top of this violence, Socialists like Hirasawa Keishichi, anarchists like Sakae Osugi and Noe Ito, and Chinese communal leader, Ou Kiten, were abducted and killed by members of the police who claimed the victims had intended to use the crisis as an opportunity to overthrow the Japanese government.
The importance of obtaining and providing accurate information following natural disasters has been emphasized in Japan ever since. Earthquake preparation literature in modern Japan almost always directs citizens to “carry a portable radio and use it to listen to reliable information, and [not to] be misled by rumors” in the event of a big quake. [Charming!]
[End quote.]
Conclusion:
1. [Caveat lector] Not a lot has changed in Japan since 1923.
2. [General case] If you are foreigner living in Japan, don’t let anyone know who you are afetr an earthquake.
3. [Special case] Don’t wear a gaijin hat, or show your face when you walk on a pedestrian crossing after an earthquake!
