muikabochi 208 Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 Let's poll. Out of Japan people welcome to vote and comment! In the other thread I was saying that in my local neighbourhood here in Niigata, many people leave their houses - perhaps for hours - without locking up. And no-one that I know of has any kind of alarm system. I lock up out of habit and it just seems common sense and rather silly not to.... Link to post Share on other sites
RobBright 35 Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 Depends - in Japan, if not going that far than no I don't. Out for the day, then yes. In the UK, door has auto-lock so don't have a choice. Link to post Share on other sites
Go Native 70 Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 Can I have an option of 'Never locked up'? We've never locked our house since owning it even when going away for a many days. Just doesn't seem any point in doing so. Never heard of a break-in in the area during the 4 or so years we've had the place. During the warmer months we leave all windows open all day anyway so no point locking doors. We have insurance and if someone is that desperate they'd want to steal something of ours I'd rather they didn't have to break something to get in. Link to post Share on other sites
JellyBelly 1 Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 I lock mine. Seems strange not to when it takes a few seconds. Link to post Share on other sites
Mintyjulep 0 Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 Originally Posted By: Go Native Can I have an option of 'Never locked up'? We've never locked our house since owning it even when going away for a many days. Just doesn't seem any point in doing so. Never heard of a break-in in the area during the 4 or so years we've had the place. During the warmer months we leave all windows open all day anyway so no point locking doors. We have insurance and if someone is that desperate they'd want to steal something of ours I'd rather they didn't have to break something to get in. doesn't leaving your house unlocked invalidate the insurance? It does with ours. We have an alarm with a sensor in only two rooms (but good luck finding anything valuable outside those two rooms) and two locks on our door. That said, if anyone really wanted to get in they could - I've broken into our house through the bathroom by using a stick to unlock the latch. Sometimes we forget to lock it, but not too often. Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 Leaving a house unlocked invalidates common sense as well as insurance. Link to post Share on other sites
Go Native 70 Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 I'm up in inaka island Minty in a little country town surrounded by retirees who are home all the time. Crime here is practically unknown. When we got the insurance I don't recall anything about having to lock up or it is invalidated. When I got the insurance the main points we went over were the important things like cover for snow damage, fire, etc. These are about the only things anyone here would ever need to claim on. This is defeinitely not NZ or Aus. We just don't have to worry about such things like people breaking into our houses. I'm sure it happens very rarely somewhere in Hokkaido but I'd probably have more chance getting struck by lightning that my house getting broken into. Link to post Share on other sites
pie-eater 207 Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 Originally Posted By: Go Native I'm sure it happens very rarely somewhere in Hokkaido but I'd probably have more chance getting struck by lightning that my house getting broken into. Ah, someone I know in rural Tochigi said that. Then they got their house broken into. Link to post Share on other sites
pickled mushhead 0 Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 Might not be necessary but how long does it take to turn a key in a lock? About 5 seconds max? Why would you not do that if you have them? Does not compute. Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted August 7, 2010 Share Posted August 7, 2010 Originally Posted By: pie-eater Originally Posted By: Go Native I'm sure it happens very rarely somewhere in Hokkaido but I'd probably have more chance getting struck by lightning that my house getting broken into. Ah, someone I know in rural Tochigi said that. Then they got their house broken into. Just watch out when the Aussie overflow begins to hit Kutchan big time GN ... you might wanna lock up then. Having said that, with just two keys supplied for a family of 6 who all split up through the day we rarely bothered to lock our ski accommodation. And one time we did we came back to find one of the kids sitting on the steps asleep - locked out. Link to post Share on other sites
Go Native 70 Posted August 7, 2010 Share Posted August 7, 2010 Originally Posted By: pickled mushhead Might not be necessary but how long does it take to turn a key in a lock? About 5 seconds max? Why would you not do that if you have them? Does not compute. Because I don't ever think about it one little bit. Also not having house keys on my keyring might have something to do with it. Why have them if we never lock the place?. I also own very little that is valuable that I couldn't replace easily. And as I said earlier we leave all windows fully open throughout the summer, what's the point of locking doors when all the windows are open? Our house has no fencing around it and opens up to our neighbours on all sides who are mostly home every day. If you feel the need to lock your house then by all means lock it. I am blessed to live in an area where crime virtually doesn't exist and I just never worry about getting robbed. If it happens, well it happens. Not the end of the world... I'm just very happy to live in a place where I don't need to stress about such things. Link to post Share on other sites
Jynxx 4 Posted August 7, 2010 Share Posted August 7, 2010 Australia used to be like that. I went to Sydney in '76 and no one locked their houses. They believed locking the house invited thieves. Strange thing was, there was a professional that scaled and broke into flats (apartments) called "spyder" in the Eastern suburbs. Can't really say when people started locking up. I moved to the northern beaches and didn't lock my car till '89. That year I went back to Uni in the city and my house mates had to remind me to lock up. Since then, I noticed things started to change ... Link to post Share on other sites
indosnm 0 Posted August 7, 2010 Share Posted August 7, 2010 Where we live I think we don't need to lock up but I don't want to risk it so we do.. Link to post Share on other sites
snowdude 44 Posted August 7, 2010 Share Posted August 7, 2010 I do lock the house when ever I go out for more than a few mins, more out of habit then anything. Coming from the UK I think it is automatially programmed into my head to lock up. Having said that where I live is full of local anyway, so the chance of someone breaking is would be very slim. I usually dont bother to lock the car/s during the day outside my house. Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted August 7, 2010 Share Posted August 7, 2010 I think you are really naive if you do not lock up, even in rural Japan. When I was in Nagano I knew of many people who had been burgled in their rural area. Just because you do not know/hear about it does not mean it does not happen. Posting openly on the internet that you do not lock up is also very naive, it is not so hard to identify people if you wanted to. Link to post Share on other sites
Go Native 70 Posted August 7, 2010 Share Posted August 7, 2010 Originally Posted By: bobby12 I think you are really naive if you do not lock up, even in rural Japan. When I was in Nagano I knew of many people who had been burgled in their rural area. Just because you do not know/hear about it does not mean it does not happen. Posting openly on the internet that you do not lock up is also very naive, it is not so hard to identify people if you wanted to. bobby you lock a house for one reason and one reason only, because you have some fear of intruders entering it. You lock up the house as a small measure to allay this fear. I do not have this fear so I do not have a reason to lock up, simple as that. I'm not saying it could never happen, I just don't have any fear whatsoever about it happening. If it happens well it happens, I just don't really care. And frankly rural Nagano is not rural Hokkaido. If it makes you feel better to lock your place then do so but I can assure you that I am anything but naive. I understand that not locking up may slightly increase my risk of being robbed but I consider the increase in the area I live to be almost negligible and not worth my being fearful or concerned about. Link to post Share on other sites
fukdane 2 Posted August 7, 2010 Share Posted August 7, 2010 I'm more bothered about the local obasan walking in - as they do - at any time than being burgled. Good to lock up just to prevent that. But as it takes 1 second (not 5) to lock the door, seems silly not to. Link to post Share on other sites
Go Native 70 Posted August 7, 2010 Share Posted August 7, 2010 On what basis though is it silly? Isn't it silly to hold onto old fears from the countries that we come from that don't really apply in the place we now find ourselves living? As Jynxx pointed out there was a time even in Australia when few people locked their houses. Few now don't because of fear. If you don't have that fear why would you worry about it? Just because you're a creature of habit that won't adjust to a new situation? To me that's silly. Link to post Share on other sites
Thundercat 60 Posted August 7, 2010 Share Posted August 7, 2010 I never used to lock the doors... but then again I never used to have anything worth stealing (or that I would miss not having). I think that anyone who is determined to break into your home will do so whether you lock the doors or not... (especially homes like mine with 6 different doors and loads of windows) Link to post Share on other sites
fukdane 2 Posted August 7, 2010 Share Posted August 7, 2010 "Fears"?! We're talking about simply locking a front door. It takes literally seconds. Hardly a big deal. Doing so rather than not would surely seem to be the more common sense wherever you live. Link to post Share on other sites
fukdane 2 Posted August 7, 2010 Share Posted August 7, 2010 Originally Posted By: Black Mountain I never used to lock the doors... but then again I never used to have anything worth stealing (or that I would miss not having). I think that anyone who is determined to break into your home will do so whether you lock the doors or not... (especially homes like mine with 6 different doors and loads of windows) Unlocked open house. Locked house. Given the choice, which would you try first? Link to post Share on other sites
Go Native 70 Posted August 7, 2010 Share Posted August 7, 2010 But fear of unwanted intruders into your home is surely the only reason to lock the house. If you don't have that fear what is the sense in locking it? Your argument makes no sense to me... Link to post Share on other sites
fukdane 2 Posted August 7, 2010 Share Posted August 7, 2010 And yours makes no sense to me. Link to post Share on other sites
Go Native 70 Posted August 7, 2010 Share Posted August 7, 2010 You obviously can't imagine living without fear then Link to post Share on other sites
fukdane 2 Posted August 7, 2010 Share Posted August 7, 2010 Middle of nowhere in rural Fukushima, certainly more rural than where you live.... right. Obviously living in complete fear, finding it hard to sleep at night. Etc. Feel free for a final comeback, I'm out of this thread Link to post Share on other sites
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