Tokyo Warning or Danger Tips by sjvessey

People with children - don't go walking round Shinjuku at night with your kids. It makes Amsterdam's red light district look like a convent.

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There is little crime in Tokyo. It's perfectly safe to walk around the seediest areas imaginable at 4am by yourself (at least for guys) and you need have no fear of being robbed. One of my friends left his wallet in a taxi, and got it back within two days from their lost property office, with all cash and credit cards intact.

Part of the reason for this must be the fact that there are lots and lots of uniformed police on the beat in the city, and almost every intersection has a 'Koban' - signed in Roman script ('English letters' for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about) on a green background - essentially a little office opening onto the street that permanently houses an on-duty police officer. So if you do somehow get in trouble, that's what to look out for. Of course, they probably won't speak much English (or any other language but Japanese), but that's a different story...

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Take a good guide book, plus a street map and subway map written in your own language. You should buy these before you leave your own country. If you can't read Japanese, and aren't with someone who can, you could be in real trouble without these things, because a lot of signs are in Japanese only, and not many people speak English well enough to give more than basic help. If you don't speak English or Japanese, forget it, you're in deep trouble. Even with this stuff to help you, you're going to get very confused by a lot of things until you figure out how things work.

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If you're from the United States or Western Europe, find out where the nearest Citibank or Post Office is as soon as possible. Beware - there aren't that many Citibanks, although Post Offices are fortunately common. The three Citibanks I know of are in Shinjuku, Shinjuku-sanchohme and Roppongi. The one in Roppongi is easiest to find - it's right on Roppongi Crossing by Almond (don't ask, you'll know when you see it), although rather unusually it's inside a building on the second floor, so you have to take an elevator up from the street.

Why do you need to find a Citibank (or Post Office)? Because, in contradiction of what I've read elsewhere on VT, Citibank ATMs or Post Office Savings ATMs are the only ones you'll be able to draw money out of with VISA cards. Oh sure, most of the Japanese banks' machines have VISA symbols on them, but try to use them and your card will be spat back out at you and you'll be informed (probably in Japanese) that 'your card is difficult to read'.

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If you're a Western guy and you go out on the town in Roppongi (as most Western guys do at some point), then you'll have a much better time if you understand the following:

a) a lot of the women you will meet are strippers and hostess girls, mainly from Thailand, Korea and the Philipines, with some Europeans - there are very few Japanese

b) they usually hit the bars around 3am, when the clubs they work in close

c) they go to the bars to unwind and relax after work - they are most definitely not there because they want to meet guys...

d) consequently your chances of going home with one of them are precisely zero, although they will be very happy to let you make a fool of yourself buying them drinks all night at US$8 a pop for a bottle of Bud

Photo: a guy who didn't quite get it... he's going to have a big dent in his plastic at the end of the month.

The acid test of whether or not they're just out to have a good time at your expense is whether or not they ever buy you a drink. Try to find out if this is going to happen early on, before you've spent too much on them...

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Women, if you go out in Roppongi be prepared to have to deal with drunk Western guys who seem to think that because they are in Japan and Japanese girls are too timid (or afraid?) to strike back this gives them a licence to molest anything in a skirt that comes their way.

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