[aapoalas]

I have very fond memories of Kansai airport. First time I went to Japan I ... Uhh, I didn't have a visa despite going there for exchange.

The Kansai airport immigration office uttered a lot of "oohs" and "eehs", but they came through and in less than 45 minutes my appeal for deportation was accepted and I was granted a 1 year student visa. Always makes me happy when I pass through there :)

[kylecazar]

You showed up in Japan intending to stay for a year without a visa? Bold strategy :)

[dathinab]

Bold strategy :)

I don't think this was their "strategy", but more like a "young people are sometimes clueless and fail to take care of necessary things with enough buffer ahead of time" situations.

And that (student + exchange program + in general eligible for a visa) is why it turned out well. Not sure if it still would do so today. The "cheap yen" tourism boom might have brought in money, but also a lot of annoyance with unpleasant tourists amplified by how modern recommendation algorithms work (you see all the rage bait "a tourist behaved mean" and non "normal tourist is polite and does nothing strange") and various propaganda amplifying this. In general there seem to be a ton of "make cities look way worse wrt. safety and cleanliness and blame it on tourists/immigrants/minorities" videos across most western countries in recent times (not just JP, e.g. London has a lot of such nonsense, it's quite safe, but if you ask ticktock it's a lawless crime zone. ).

[protonbob]

> Theft From the Person offences have a crime rate of 8.21 reports per 1,000 people in London, which is 4.69 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 87,224 crime reports logged by Metropolitan Police during the 12-month period ending November 2025.

https://crimerate.co.uk/london

That is more than Chicago.

> In June 2025, there were 631 reported incidents (23.2 per 100,000) – a 49% reduction from the August 2023 peak.

https://counciloncj.org/crime-in-chicago-what-you-need-to-kn...

[dathinab]

the problem with your source is, that it treats all crime as equal. Like 1x pick pocketing == 1x homicide.

It also ignores tourist, which attacks crime but also mostly very "minor" crime stuff(in places with dynamics like London).

Then it ignores that in areas with larger amount of major crimes (like homicide) minors crimes with limited damages tend to be notoriously under-reported. Like if you police can't even resolve many homicide cases why bother reporting some pick pocketing?

Londons homicide rate 2025 is ~1.1 per 100,000 (97 homicides, with a population around ~9.0M)

Chicago is at 14.6~15 per 100.000 (411~417 homicides depending on source and if you count e.g. homicide in self defense, and ~2.7M population but also estimates differ in the 100_000s)

Chicago has a homicide rate of 2025 is at 14.6 homicides per 100,000.

So no Chicago isn't saver then London at all.

Like think about it it has over 4x the total number of homicides while having less then a third the population.

And sure homicides aren't all what matters, but given previous mentioned issues like minor crime often going unreported in very dangerous areas its a good point to get started with as it puts out a good "worst case bottom line".

What you post is a good example is how by over simplifying statistics you can trivially abuse "facts" to convey a completely wrong meaning.

EDIT: But yes, I'm also over-focusing on homicides here. Mainly due to lack of handling the rate of "unreported" crimes without any deeper research. If you aren't in a failed state or similar most homicides get reported. In addition crime isn't evenly spread over the city and the level of unevenness and placement of hot spots can also make a big difference to how safe it is in practice (as you can often avoid such hot spots).

[aapoalas]

I may have not properly read the paper that said "This is not a visa, you should apply for a visa using this paper"...

[unscaled]

You probably had a CoE (Certificate of Eligibility to Reside in Japan, 在留資格認定証明書). This piece of paper needs to be taken to your local embassy or consulate and be converted to a visa there, which then gets stamped on your passport.

But Japan is working quite differently from other countries here, so you're probably not the first person to be confused, although I don't think any country issues a long-term visa that is not stamped on your passport.