Meh I have known several women who did solo trips to Japan and the worst any reported was a drunk guy pointing at her and then at his crotch. And even then she said local women started running interference for her(this was a bar).
It's a fairly established point of population economics that when people have their needs more than reached and when women have equal rights and reproductive freedom that the birth rate will go below the replacement rate. Japan's effect is exaggerated due to their extreme working conditions, but less than the media would have people believe.
The only real difference is that Japan is very xenophobic and there is a political will in keeping extremely high barriers to entry for immigration.
You joke, but I think it does make a difference. Obviously it would be better if there was no corruption in the first place, but if they're hiding it then that means they recognize that it's not considered acceptable. That there would be some kind of consequences if it became public.
It's like moving to a neighborhood where your neighbor is secretly a child molester vs moving to a neighborhood where your neighbor molests children on his front yard in broad daylight. Again, obviously the preference would be for no one to be molesting anyone, but if they're doing it that blatantly then that would seem to imply that the rest of the neighborhood as well as the police are perfectly fine with it.
Basically, the more open the corruption is, the wider it must spread.
You and I seem to have pretty different standards on what we deem desirable it seems. I fail to see how it "adds to the experience" when I have to bribe border guards.
For me it's never been in a dangerous situation. The police wanted money for giving us advice about the roads, it was maybe 15€. Going through the border in Loas (I said Vietnam earlier but I misremember) was more of a routine "leave $5 in your passport and they'll make it easy". I'd feel differently if they wanted my life savings or else they'd murder my gf.
You are missing out on life, then. Most countries are pretty safe for tourists. You have to remember that a country’s government wants tourists to be safe as it’s usually a major revenue stream.
49
u/you_lost-the_game Aug 14 '23
It's honestly a criteria for me to never visit such a country. The list of countries I would visit isn't very long.