"Youchi-ka" (infantalisation) of Japan - or.... silly calls to the police

[BagOfCrisps 24]

This was in the times yesterday, caught my eye

 

Quote:

It was every Japanese housewife's worst nightmare: alone in the house, scared, confused and unable to staunch a baffling flow of thick syrupy liquid. Gripped by fear, she lunged for the telephone and alerted the police.

 

“Help me!†the woman pleaded down the emergency service hotline, “my ice-cream is melting.â€

 

A year or two ago, the call might have been dismissed as a schoolboy prank or demented ramblings but for the police in Tochigi prefecture in eastern Japan, the panic-stricken cry for help was part of something much bigger — a national trend known as youchi-ka, or the creeping “infantilisation†of Japan.

 

Japanese adults, say police across the country, are calling hyakutouban — the equivalent of the British 999 — for increasingly trivial and ridiculous domestic reasons. In Kyoto, it is calculated that more than a quarter of emergency calls to the police involve no crime or danger and often represent the mildest everyday inconveniences.

 

The new flood of calls has included numerous complaints by men that their girlfriends have left them and others that vending machines have failed to return the correct change. Some demand immediate police responses to irregularities with train timetables or simply express general qualms: one person dialled 110 to declare a fear of snakes and seek official advice.

 

Now, in exasperation at the deluge of calls, the police have published lists of the daftest emergency appeals in an attempt to shame the public into laying off the hotline and leaving it clear for genuine emergencies. A mass pamphlet campaign is being organised to encourage people to deal with life's little upsets themselves rather than calling in uniformed officers.

 

The daftest calls to the emergency police lines:

 

I can’t seem to cook my rice

 

My back trouble doesn’t seem to be improving

 

I need a good karaoke place

 

My fork seems to be bent

 

I think there may be something on my head

 

I can’t work out how to use my mobile

 

There’s no toilet paper in this public lavatory

 

Is today rubbish day?

 

I think my daughter needs to take a day off

 

I think the people in Utsunomiya are very cold-hearted

 

There’s a nest of sparrows that has broken

 

You have to feed my pets while I’m away on holiday

 

I can’t get a monkey off my car

 

I need you to give me a morning wake-up call tomorrow

[rach 1]

“Help me!†the woman pleaded down the emergency service hotline, “my ice-cream is melting.â€

 

[soubriquet 0]

I suggest, BoC, you take up reading "The Sun". Getting past the headlines will take you about a week of working it out.

[BagOfCrisps 24]

Sorry, I'm not really 'getting' you there, soubs.....

[kkk 7]

SURELY some of them must be made up!

[Tubby Beaver 209]

hahaha!! Thats quality!!!

 

*my fork seems to be bent* haha a police emergency if ever I've heard one!!

[tsondaboy 0]

 

surely most of them are pranks, I remember young tsonda doing the same.

[thursday 1]

excellent. Just like using 999 for directory enquiries

[charlotte 0]

Some of those are just amazing - I can't imagine anyone being so stupid!

[HelperElfMissy 42]

Not quite so stupid as offering your guests a glass of wine while the wife is busy 'taking care of the baby - she's not quite well you know'...upon inspection baby was having seizures and Mum had her in a COLD bath (umm..ok..am I the only person to see this as incredibly stupid behaviour). I take the baby out of the icy bath and firmly tell Mum (and now Dad who has appeared red wine in hand) to call the ambulance. The response "Would you happen to know the number?"

[thursday 1]

that sounds stupid. Is it 999?

[oo 1]

Whats 110 for?

[Oyuki kigan 0]

"I think the people in Utsunomiya are very cold-hearted"

 

That might have been me. But before you judge me, go there first and see for yourself.

[NoFakie 45]

During the World Cup, the British authorities get people dialling 999 and asking for the latest score.

[JellyBelly 1]

Quote:

surely most of them are pranks, I remember young tsonda doing the same

Reminds me of The Simpsons and Bart calling up the bar.