eMERGENCY

An interesting article today in the Japanese edition of the Yomiyuri Shinbun (newspaper) about the occasional misuse of the emergency telephone number 110 (U.K 999, USA 911).

The police received 950,000 emergency calls (with a small e) last year. These are some of the examples given:

• My legs hurt too much to move. Could you buy my ticket and bring it to me?
• Could you feed my dog while I'm away on holiday?
• It was raining when I arrived at the station, and I don't have an umbrella. could you give me a lift home?
• Could you tell me the dates for X`s concert?
• I'm in a public toilet, but there's no toilet paper. Could you bring me some?
• My new mobile phone won't charge!

In 2004 there were 9,530,000 emergency calls in Japan. The Yomiyuri article goes on to mention that although the total number of emergency call fell to 8,980,000 last year, the number of calls like those listed above are on the increase.

After the death of a woman in 1999 who was murdered after calling the police to ask for help with a stalker (the police did not intervene because there had been no crime committed up to that point), the police have tried hard to respond to all they can.

This example is given in the article:

• A man calls and says that there is a cockroach in his apartment and it's really horrible, and could the police do something about it. The police told him he should deal with it himself but when he called 110 again about the same cockroach, the police sent an officer over who 'dealt with' the problem forcefully and carried away the offending roach in a plastic bag!

My wife likened this attitude to that of some of the parents that her friend has to deal with as part of her job as a primary school teacher in Japan's state schools:

• My child won't wake up in the morning. Could you do something about it?
• My child won't eat at home. Could you make sure he finishes his school lunch?

The Yomiyuri article and the parental requests are not the norm. Most people do not rely on the police to deal with their infestations or on their school to educate the child in home matters.