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Comment by kwellington | Hacker News Reader

Here in Japan I regularly hear about women or families saying Japan isn't as safe as it appears. I never understood it, because the data doesn't back it up, and I've never experienced any trouble in nearly 5 years here.

I don't have a TV. When I catch TV though, the news programs can harp on a minor crime here in Tokyo like a convenience store robbery for a good thiry minutes. These friends watch a lot of TV. I think media narratives drive these paranoias.

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I live in Phnom Penh and I'd say the crime here is about as bad as an average larger American city, but in a different way. There is more petty crime, especially theft. I've lived here 4 years and never had any problem really, but I see visitors and expats alike getting robbed frequently. I've avoided it because I don't carry anything worth stealing and I am not the type of person that thieves target.

How do you avoid being the type of person a thief targets? Is it a brawny/threatening look, or just not using an iPhone in public?

Not the OP but when I'm overseas I try to blend in in terms of attire and so on (dress down and don't be flashy). I mean, dress like normal locals dress.

Basically don't stick out as a shining target.

Doesn't work when you're 6'5" white guy traveling in most countries outside of North America and Europe.

The 6'5" could be problematic, but as a very white guy I've had very positive experiences by just acting like I belong (acting slightly bored by everything around me while secretly enjoying the new sights, avoiding stops at subway maps and the like, dressing the part, etc.).

Most places I've visited have at least enough white people for me to appear 'local poor expat', but I can see how being the only white or only really tall person throws a wrench into that approach.

While people do notice faces and thus skin tone, one more obvious identifier, besides height, is gait and walk cadence.

Most foreigners will walk a different way from locals and it's really noticeable.

But dress is really important. Locals will wear some locally available brands, foreigners typically will keep on wearing the same brands they wore back home.

All that said, being 6'5" where just about everyone else is at least 6" shorter is a pretty unavoidable distinguishable difference.

Both if possible. Don't look wealthy, do look like you can defend yourself, being male helps, being young helps. It's unfortunate, but there are reasons that I don't get messed with ever and yet other people set foot off the plane and are robbed mere hours later (my uncle for example, who visited me in Phnom Penh).

I don't mean to blame anyone for being robbed, but being a little clueless and careless is definitely one of the main causes too. People forget that the cost of a new iPhone is almost the same as the average yearly wage in Cambodia. It's like seeing someone walking in a big US city with 20,000$ in hand, from the thief's perspective.

Cambodia is a very nice place in general though.

> People forget that the cost of a new iPhone is almost the same as the average yearly wage in Cambodia.

Good point!

From a thieves perspective it is probably not just the value of the visible goods - it's also about the arrogance such behavior exhibits - people who show off kind of deserve to get a reality check.

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