Tokyo

Public Safety

The huge metropolis of Tokyo enjoys a low incidence of crime that would be the envy of a city a fraction of Tokyo's size. While crime does occur, the streets are generally quite safe at all hours of the day and night. Police are stationed at booths called koban at many street corners throughout the city, though they spend most of their time providing information to people looking for homes and businesses, a necessary service in Tokyo, which does not have a systematic layout or street address system.

One of the primary concerns for public safety in Tokyo is the expectation of the next big earthquake, which is overdue considering large quakes occur every 70 years on average and the last was in 1923. Earthquake drills are held on the anniversary of the 1923 earthquake, when people are reminded to turn off open flames and take proper shelter. Open spaces in the form of parks are maintained throughout the city to accommodate expected populations rendered homeless by a quake.