Don’t you just love Japan ? Where else in the world are people so honest and trustworthy ? I recently moved from my weekly rental in Futakotamagawa to another rental in Kozukue. My first apartment locked with a key but the new place uses a numerical passcode entry system. Although they gave me instructions on how to use it I didn’t really read past the secret code.
Therefore, after I left the apartment each day, I simply let the door close and didn’t bother to check it, thinking that it was locked, much as a hotel room would be. Imagine my surprise when I left one morning forgetting my phone and without thinking, turned the handle only to realize that I had been leaving my apartment unlocked for nearly a week.
Years ago, while living in Canada, I once went on a 6 week holiday to Thailand and when I returned to my well-locked house it had been cleaned out. Not only did they take everything I owned, they broke through 2 wooden doors at the front of the house to get in.
When I got back, I had to replace the shattered doors as well as the items that had been stolen and put bars up on every window in order to re-insure. The police suggested that I simply move as the thieves would most likely return within a few months to steal all my replacement items. And the bars wouldn’t stop them because hadn’t they broken down the front door the last time ?
So, you can imagine my surprise to find that here in Japan an unlocked weekly rental apartment is safer than a house in Canada !
Lan, Smith’s School of English Azamino
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