This is a picture of the fence around the Seminar House I live in. What gets me is that there are metal spikes on top of the fence that look like they would completely shred anybody that tried to cross over them. When I first saw them I was curious of what was trying to be kept out. It turns out that some men around the Seminar Houses follow the women to the Dorms and try to attack them. I talked to a few Japanese lady friends and they told me about some encounters they have had with men in the Hirakata shi area. One was grabbed from behind and attacked by a man that held her around the throat with his arm and started to try and touch her sexually, but luckily she was able to make enough noise to get neigbors outside and call the police. She got away unharmed physically but is still hurt emotionally.
Even now (February 26th) there is a man around the neihborhood of the Seminar Houses that a few days ago was flashing some of the foreign students. The man has not been caught and could do it again. A few months ago there was another man that was flashing the students of Kansai Gaidai. One time the gate was left open and a male passerby found it unlocked and tried to get in the dorms and look for women. To me it seems the spikes on the fence probably do prevent some men from entering the premisis. I am glad the spikes are there and I hope they continue to prevent injury to the students.
5 comments:
That's certainly a good reason for having the fences. Most of the time, I feel like it's out of place for that sort of protection to be necessary here in Japan. I've never really had to feel worried about my safety before while I've been here, and so seeing barbed wire is a fairly jarring image.
I still feel that they're a little unnecessary -- with the police wandering around, and just making higher fences that aren't easily scalable, then you can avoid the necessity for barbed wire.
The recent reports of assault actually surprise me. I'm not saying that I thought Japan was free of crime period, but I wouldn't think there would be so much harrasment. I agree with dicmcvengeance, it's a little surprising.
My mother also reads all of the blogs, and now I have to reassure her that I'll be alright, haha.
Everyone will be safe if they take the normal safety precautions that you should do at night anyways. Go with friends, make sure people aren't following you, if they are maybe knock on someone's door or something. Of course it is hard if someone pulls up in a car or walks up to you and flashes them. It really doesn't matter how big of a group you are in int hat case. It is just crazy! I still feel more safe here than any other place I have been to in the world!
Good fences make good neighbors. Too bad the fences are not sound-proof as well...
It seems you want to discuss safety issues in Japan and are using the seminar house fence as an example. Fine, but give me more on the safety stuff. Does the example on campus match what is going on in other parts of Japan?
Oftentimes spikes are used on fences and other flat surfaces so that birds do not sit there and dirty the area.
-scf
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