Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!


Japan is no longer the safest place in the world for children. Several nasty incidents (ex. Osaka School Massacre) have generated serious concern over children's safety, and parents fear kidnapping and sexsual abuse of their children. Yes, we're catching up with the U.S. situation.
My children have these "security buzzers" attached to their satchels. Our local government were generous enough to provide each elementary schoolchildren with a buzzer (with our taxes). I'm skeptical on the effectiveness of these buzzers...every day, there's someone accidently setting them off so we're getting used to all the crying wolf. I feel that all this "fear" - that there's countless crazy pedophiles or indiscriminate killers all over the place - is rather exaggerated, similar to "Bowling for Columbine." Now, they do "suspicious intruder" drill as well as fire drill and earthquake drill at school. Teachers learn how to use sasumata, a U shaped fork tool (dates back from the edo period !) for pinning down thugs. All this obsessive fear is sure to make children stressed and distrust people.