It's because there are police everywhere, which keeps petty crime under control. There is a bounty for turning in lost money (and if it is not claimed after a certain period the person who turned it in can keep the whole amount).
Police are also mostly respected here because they (mostly) are helpful and don't harass citizens. Someone being beaten or shot by police like overseas just doesn't happen here.
> lack of diversity
I once worked at a place that was known for being a safe place for ethnic Koreans to "come out" about their real ethnicity. I was considered to be safe to work there because some were public figures and I would not recognize them, or at least not blab on social media about x TV presenter having Korean heritage.
I guess my point is that a lot of things in Japan are completely different to how they appear to a casual observer. Even asking Japanese people is not going to get you far, because most people will not tell you their real feelings or opinions unless you are a very close friend.
> close friend
I terrorised one Japanese work colleague by crying in front of him on a train (can't remember whether in London or Tokyo), but another long-standing Japanese colleague/friend would be entirely cool about it I suspect!
Both are East Asian. It's really hard to understand for my European mind.
European as in west-European? That part is relatively culturally and ethnically diverse; northern and eastern Europe are a lot less so, and tolerance towards foreigners is lower there. The English and French still really dislike one another for example, and they're much closer together than Japan and Korea.
[0]https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/05/07/national/media-...
[1]https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/gq8y87/japan-racism-zaito...
Also all foreigners in Japan seem to hate each other for ruining the "purity".
You might revise your opinion about that somewhere around the hundredth time somebody tells you that you have to communicate with them by fax.
Advanced tech doesn't have to be high tech.
When just arrived in Tokyo for the first or second time and still feeling a bit nervous I went into an empty noodle place and was completely lost until the cook put down what he was doing and in utterly perfect English walked me through the whole process...
You can get hot drinks from bending machines in the middle of nowhere and just have to input a phone number in the GPS to be guided to a ryokan deep in the mountains of Akita, but kerosene heaters are almost universal (central heating is not a thing outside of large/business hotels) and many businesses require fax or physical stamps.
Why is that a problem though? Does it make their life worse in some way?
If you're there, and you're actively paying attention, you'll see an awful lot of nails.
I'll clarify that image by tell you they roughly get 9000 asylum requests a year according to the Japanese Government themselves [1]. They are however extremely reluctant in accepting any of the requests, which is what I assume you were speaking about.
To some I can imagine that's quite a shock and horror, for some, it's a dream.
"Japan accepted just three refugees in the first half of 2017 despite receiving a record 8,561 fresh asylum applications, the government said on Tuesday"
"Only four refugees were accepted in the first half of 2016, when fresh asylum applications totaled 5,011, the Justice Ministry said."
[1] https://japantoday.com/category/national/japan-accepts-3-ref...
Also known as xenophobia.
>For example, I read somewhere it gets less than 100 asylum seekers a year.
And this is by definition a good thing?
Don't forget the awesome working hours and working culture! It's so good that they even have a word for the awesome overworking: Karoshi [1].
I wouldn't romanticize Japan this hard as you are doing right now, it has it's own sleuth of problems just like any other country.
[1] Karoshi (Overwork Death) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kar%C5%8Dshi