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Japanese government issues warning against travel in Dorchester, Mattapan and Roxbury
By adamg on Thu, 01/30/2014 - 9:17am
Pointing to the recent spate of murders, the Japanese consulate in Boston yesterday joined France in urging its citizens to avoid the three neighborhoods:
The number of gang-related murders so far this year in Boston is significantly higher than in past years, according to a Boston Globe report on Jan. 28, 2014. Consequently, we advise Japanese nationals to avoid areas such as Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan, where violence has occurred.
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Comments
Neighborhoods to avoid
They should add East Boston to that list.
Are the planes now landing..
Are the planes now landing in some other part of the city? Most visitors from Japan are going to have to touch down in East Boston. Now agreed that most visitors only see East Boston through the window of a moving vehicle, but our murder rate in Eastie of zero in 2013 would keep us off that list.
WHOOOOSH
Hear that? That's the sound of the joke flying over your head.
Please use common sense and discretion
I studied at MIT during the early 2000s and went to Dorchester, Mattapan, and Roxbury at night sometimes even on a bicycle for the love of reggae music. I never had any problems and I would come again even in these areas it is relatively clean compared to New York. Even the Upper East Side is relatively dirty compared to M/D/R. Dorchester has a huge Irish population around Ashmont even White people are living on Blue Hill Avenue. This is rubbish.
That's the number of gang
That's the number of gang-related murders. The number of innocent tourists or foreign nationals caught up in targeted violence between gangs? It remains at zero.
I'm trying to imagine the Japanese national who was planning on spending an afternoon in Mattapan, but checks the consulate's web page first, finds the advisory, and decides against it. Seriously, would that ever happen? This strikes me as purely bureaucratic ass-covering. Consulates issue these sorts of warnings not because they expect them to produce any change whatsoever in the behavior of their nationals, but because should one of their nationals fall victim to a crime in one of these neighborhoods, they want to be able to tell the Foreign Ministry back home that it's not their fault, they issued a warning.
It's tough to imagine any conceivable benefit of this sort of warning, though, that offsets the loss of good-will. Half the purpose of consular offices is to strengthen relations. This substantially undermines them, instead.
many businesses are set to
many businesses are set to automatically receive alerts from their consulates for the countries and/or cities their employees are traveling in and forward those to their employees. These alerts reach many more people than you might realize.
Malcolm X house
Perhaps tourists would want to see where Malcolm X lived during his time in Boston, 72 Dale Street, Roxbury.
Top of the list
of sites to see by Japanese Tourists....
This "yeah but they're just
This "yeah but they're just gang shootings" narrative is privileged BS. You wouldn't be saying that if you lived there and we shouldn't be trivializing brutal murders.
No one said "just gang shootings"
But it is logical that targeted killings in mostly residential neighborhoods outside of downtown are probably not going to affect foreign tourists. Why you think this is "trivializing" murders is frankly beyond me.
That's right. There are NEVER
That's right. There are NEVER any innocent victims of gang violence, say a teenager riding his bike home from school, or 2 year old sleeping in her crib.
Gawdamighty
Can you just read the post before you go off at the mouth? Not "innocent victims"--"innocent tourists and foreign nationals." No ones making sweeping statements here about the wider ramifications of gang violence, only making a common sense observation that tourists and gangland types rarely cross paths for obvious reasons of geography and so on.
Clearly it's that time of the
Clearly it's that time of the month, for someone.
That said, girlfriend, excuse me, but I'm merely pointing out the FACT that gang violence RANDOMLY takes the lives of INNOCENT people, and doesn't care if you're a tourist, a little neighborhood girl, or an adult with her head up her Holier-than-thou butt.
Cut this sort of rubbish out
> Clearly it's that time of the month, for someone.
Even if you want to be rude and dismissive, you can leave this sort of thing out.
Stop with the personal insults
Enough already. Argue against the argument, not the person making it.
Thank you, gents
I thought that particular line of insult went out with wide ties and eight-tracks.
You
You obviously don't travel overseas much. I always read the warnings and stay clear of any known areas. Finally, perhaps you never noticed, but other cultures actually walk quite regularly and at great distances; It would be easy to see someone unknowingly wander into Roxbury , Mattapan, Dorchester, or any number of other less desirable and potentially dangerous neighborhoods. Broaden your view...
And people complain about
And people complain about "ugly Americans"
If i
Traveled halfway across the Earth to visit NE, id try and avoid visiting R/M/D anyways. Seriously who would list one of these neighborhoods as a "Travel Destination?"
Just because you're ignorant of what those neighborhoods offer
You have heard of the JFK Library, no?
OK, I admit it - if somebody only had a day to spend in Boston, or were coming here for the first time, I'd probably recommend they just stick to the Freedom Trail, but somebody who's been here before or has more time, well, there are things to see. You can even take walking tours.
Im ignorant? Adam youre from NY
I went to the Dever, The McCorrmick (Both Shit Holes) and later UMB. My father had a office in Dot, i own a house in Mattapan (Rental) and probably travel through all three far more than you.
Just because your bleeding heart cant take the fact that all three are crime ridden neighborhoods covered in fast food trash, doesn't make me ignorant. It make you blind.
Typical: Somebody who lives in a place ignores things
I'm not blind to the problems in those neighborhoods, but saying there's absolutely nothing of value to a visitor in them is the sort of blind-eye provincialism I probably would have displayed when I lived in Brooklyn (back in the days before hipsters, back when Ford was telling us to drop dead) and somebody asked me what to do there.
Heck I admit it: The only reason I ever visited the Statue of Liberty or the New York Aquarium (in Brooklyn, no less) was because that's what you did when your parents were divorced and your father came for his weekly visit.
Please tell us you at least
Please tell us you at least visited Ebbets Field , and ventured to the Bronx to see the house of Mantle.................
Ebbetts Field was before my time
It had already been turned into a housing complex by the time I arrived on the scene, so no, never any reason to visit it.
As for the original Yankee Stadium, yep, went there a few times, but I was always a Mets fan.
Let's Go Mets!
Let's Go Mets!
F-A-N da-da-dah.
F-A-N da-da-dah.
Sorry...couldn't resist.
Yawn
Yet another "local" who probably couldn't find their way through any part of Boston that isn't where they have already been, yet play the "local" card when all they've ever been told of those scary other places in the city they live in is challenged.
Other cities and towns have such people too, like the teacher who never had any idea that two places she knew from childhood were quite close together until one of her third graders stuck a map in front of her. But you probably haven't met them, since they exist off of the known world and there be dragons.
Thats funny Swirley
I don't remember meeting you and discussing my travels and life story! But go ahead and make unwarranted assumptions about me and other "locals." It doesn't bother me because frankly it makes you look like a fool.
PS I'v have lived out of the city, state and country. So please, go fly a kite! Also seeing how hateful you are towards people from Boston, you may start thinking about moving It would be good for your blood pressure.
Which idiot anon are you again?
Sorry - I can't seem to keep you all straight for some reason.
Name-calling swirly, really?
Adam's gone to bat for you numerous times insisting that people don't name call to you but rather agrue the facts. and here you are calling people idiots.
Not to mention townines and Mass-holes.
Pretty hypocritical.
She must've been brandishing her u-lock again
So people who LIVE in the neighborhood say don't go there or you're dead. Suburban Swirley peddles thru there and gets offers of sex. This is gotta be one of her kookiest BS comments in a long time (keeping in mind a long time with SG is roughly 1.5 days).
They told you that
Because they wanted you to stay the hell away.
It ain't dangerous on the Ave if you are passing through. If you get off the Ave looking for trouble, well, then you might find it.
Are you really shocked
by what freaky stuff people say to women on bikes and just walking around? Maybe you're the naive suburbanite here.
Some people don't hate Bostonians
Some people just hate stupid bigots, wherever they hail from.
Keep up the stupid, even people who were born here will hate you.
So swirly
You'd have no problem with your kid casually biking down Blue Hill Ave on a warm summer evening?
The warnings paint a broad brush - perhaps too broad if excluding the JFK library. But I can assure you, I wouldn't go wandering the streets of Boston west of Mass Ave, north of 93 and south of Huntington after dark. There are some nice neighborhoods and some bad neighborhoods - but if you don't live there, it's hard to know the difference. As a tourist - best to steer clear.
He is right, I have a
He is right, I have a tombstone mind and a grave yard disposition and look like a pitbull, and have had cargo lifted on the Ave and its surrounds. You need all your radar and ninja skills in that neck of the woods , or you are dead meat !
Actually, no
I've done it a number of times myself. Nobody bothered me.
Actually, one of my sons cut through there last summer on his way to his grandmother's house. Nobody bothered him.
Cycling is weird like that, though - people generally don't come off the sidewalks into the street. I've biked through much of the city and never had much more happen than a guy my age on a bike make me a nice offer of a good time in a nonthreatening way. I've had worse problems with either daft or aggro motorists in the "better" parts of town.
I've also gone on bike tours that went through all the supposedly "bad" areas of the city - and my sons were with me.
Read Past the Headline
For Chrissake. The guy says he went to school in Dorchester and owns a house in Mattapan, two of the three neighborhoods we're talking about. I went to one of the same elementary schools as him and can vouch for his assessment of it. Anyway, don't you live in Oregon?
So … it sounds like you know
So … it sounds like you know Dorchester circa, what, 1985? 1990? And given the fact that you think these neighborhoods are made up entirely of "trash strewn" streets (have you been to Savin Hill or Lower Mills lately? Yeah, I didn't think so), I'm going to make an educated guess that you're probably a slum lord who benefits from keeping Mattapan a land of rental properties and does next to nothing to benefit the community you're making money off of.
Typical.
Wrong
Im in my 20's and just recently graduated. Also wrong again, when i purchased the property i did a complete gut rehab of the building, everything is less than 2 years old. Slum lord, i am not. Also wrong again, i just ate dinner at The Blarney. Yes Savin Hill and Lowe Mill are unlike most of the area, because unlike most of Dot you have hard WORKING families that take pride in the neighborhood. Uphams Corner, full of trash.
If you want to be able to
If you want to be able to accept Section 8 vouchers (i.e. guaranteed monthly payment), you basically *HAVE* to do a gut rehab. It doesn't mean that you're adding anything to the neighborhood (or the tenants). Just means that you know how to work the system.
And after everything you've written about Dorchester, you're going to say that you just ate dinner in Field's Corner? Nice try. Thanks for playing.
point of clarification...
I live in DOT...in that same area someone said they wouldnt walk after dark...and im not going to chime in on all these dangerousness asssesments because its mostly grotesque oversimplification either way...but for the love of god there IS trash everywhere. I've been requesting more public trash bins from the city for months. The ones I see are literally overflowing, and I watch it blow into the neighborhoods. If we can't even control litter how can we hope to control literally anything else?
I'm really disturbed that you
I'm really disturbed that you consider your rental property in Mattapan to be surrounded by 'fast food trash' but whatever I am a bleeding heart. I do think attitudes like that are a part of the problem. I wish more landlords took pride in their properties in the Boston area.
So, you would warn a Japanese tourist against the JFK Library?
(and, unfortunately, 'fast food trash' is everywhere, including tourist-heavy places like Boylston Street and Harvard Square. We need more covered trash cans that don't lose half their contents in the wind.)
I suspect
that any tourist hep enough to want to visit Malcolm X's house will take any warning with a grain of salt. These warnings are no different from the ones American tourists get about roaming around Pigalle or Montmartre. Not a big deal and no reason for offense. And I can't really see anyone being put off visiting the JFK library because of warnings about Dorchester. Am I nuts to think that most travelers have a little more common sense?
I agree
These warnings are not a big deal. Every country, including the US, has similar warnings about pretty much every city out there. And many are overly cautious, sometimes to the point that it's laughable to those who know the area. Smart travelers know enough to look beyond the general warnings and do more research into an area.
PS--or bike tours.
Much more fun than walking and you cover a lot more ground.
When you go on a bike tour of
When you go on a bike tour of Blue Hill Ave., get back to us please.
I think you forgot to read my post in your rush to be a smartass
Try again. I'm not suggesting that any tourist head off blindly or bike, foot or bus to Blue Hill Ave. or Humboldt, but actually there are some good tours of Roxbury on bike and foot that I think most sensible tourists could handle.
Shows how much you know about Blue Hill Ave.
I've biked Blue Hill Ave several times when I worked in the medical area and needed to get to the south to my MIL's house or meet my family somewhere in the Blue Hills.
INCLUDING in the dark in the summer.
I was never bothered by anybody - I just had to be alert to the traffic because I wasn't familiar with the local traffic patterns, just like anywhere else, and not be afraid to take the lane where necessary (because it does vary in width).
I don't get what you are concerned about - it isn't in Syria or anything.
Ditto.
It's not my favorite place to ride or anything--too trafficky, too many drifting pedestrians and kids on bikes riding against traffic, etc. I can't think of any particular reason I'd send a tourist there, any more than I'd tell them to go hang out in Brighton Square or Tyngsborough but no--it's not Beirut either.
Things to see?
A few monuments, a large pear, a large rock and an ugly overpass - whoopty effin doo. I'm sure the tourists coming to Boston will forego all the downtown attractions just so they can see those.
So stick to Faneuil Hall
Sounds more your speed.
Nobody here (that I can tell) is saying the giant pear should be on everybody's Must-See list for their five-hour stopover in Boston, but for somebody who does want to get beyond the stereotypical Revolutionary War/Giant Art Museum experience, there are things worth seeing and doing on the other side of Mass. Ave.
Hell, with the right guide (i.e., somebody who really knows the place), you could do an interesting little tour of Hyde Park. Maybe once the Fairmount Line gets true subway-like service ...
Haha, Fairmount line
The Japanese tourists can come and marvel at our dinky trains ("only runs once an hour!"): おもちゃの電車!
In my experience, Japanese tourists are much more interested in our beer. That's one thing we have up on Japan. Good beer. America, fuck yeah!
Oh, beer
You mean like at Sam Adams, which is, what, a couple blocks away from where some pretty violent stuff has happened?
Do you want to absorb the
Do you want to absorb the local culture or not?
Dont forget to stop in to
Dont forget to stop in to Simco''s !
"Roxbury? Why would anyone
"Roxbury? Why would anyone want to go to Roxbury?"
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/recaps/#cat=18&mea=768&ima=94547
There was a time when all roads led to Dudley Square in Roxbury
There was a time my friend. My first cartage job was picking up meat on the hook from the railcars in Newmarket, the Bury.
ROXBURY’S HIBERNIAN HALL – MECCA FOR THE IRISH
There was a time when all roads led to Dudley Square in Roxbury for the Boston Irish. They began settling in Roxbury in the 1850s, and by the 20th century a bustling community was anchored around St. Patrick’s Church and the Mission Church, as well as Catholic convents, orphanages and schools.
In 1906 Irish groups like Ancient Order of Hibernians recognized the need for a building of their own to hold cultural and social activities. They formed the Hibernian Building Association of Boston Highlands, and sold $10 shares to over 500 shareholders to support the building fund. They purchased the lot at 184-186 Dudley Street, hired architect Edward T.P. Graham to design a building, and in January 1913 contractors broke ground for construction.
http://www.irishmassachusetts.com/Hibernian_Hall.php
Awwww...
I know that my grandfather and his pals spent a lot of time going to dances and such at the Hibernian Hall.
Hibernian Hall is still in use
and does host events from time to time that could appeal to savvy tourists:
http://www.hibernianhall.org/
Of fer Chrissakes
Tell them not to go to JP, Roslindale, Hyde Park, Charlestown, Downtown, South Boston, the list goes on and on. Tell them to stay away from any MBTA stations lest they get robbed/mugged/masturbated to, don't go to any convenience stores or banks anywhere because it will prolly get held up at gunpoint...etc, etc. Hell they might as well tell them not to come to MA at all. Shit happens everywhere, no place is immune.
"Masturbated to"
ROTFL! Yuck.
Don't ROTF
In the T.
Ha!
I don't even like to hold the hand railings these days...
That is what
hand sanitizer is for....that and bleaching your hands in hot water after you get home (and your doorknobs and anything else you touched on your way in). The T is gross. I recently caught a bus after not having done so in a while...I like how the announcer says something to the effect that if you have a complaint/concern about the cleanliness of this vehicle please call/email the T. Like yeah right they're really going to send someone out pronto to clean it. If they do they will prolly come with a dirty bucket full of germy water from the last buses they cleaned, and wipe the extra germs all over it. The T needs to cut it out. The only thing they do efficiently is hound passengers to pay that damn fare (FYI I'm no fare evader but I've witnessed many)....but I digress...sigh.
You are a piece of work
And you are crawling - absolutely crawling - with mites and stuffed with all manner of microbes.
Or maybe you aren't, which is why you are so nuts. You need this stuff to be healthy and stay healthy. Google "microbiome".
Cleaning buses
I think you're interpreting the message wrong. Nobody is going to run out and clean the bus... it will just get special attention when it's pulled into a yard for the night. I doubt every bus is cleaned every time it enters the yard for a night time layover, but they may be able to target specific buses based on cleanliness reports from riders.
I'm not too sure why you'd be opposed to that.
Not opposed at all
Just being realistic here. I'd love if special attention were paid to those (and ALL) buses, but based on past history and experience, I highly doubt it. Having the buses, T stations, trains etc, PROPERLY cleaned would cost the T too much money, and since they're always boo-hooing about how broke they are, costing taxpayers more and more $$, for the same shitty service, I don't think cleaning the right way is in any shape or fashion a priority of theirs.
I once found myself stuck on
I once found myself stuck on the Orange Line with a small mob of drunken (during the day) fellows who were of the 'rough' sort, if you know what I mean, and two of them were not at all shy about discussing their foot fetishes and discussing their preferences and pointing out other female passengers manicures. I was very glad that I had worn Doc Martens that day.
Why would they avoid those
Why would they avoid those other places? They are afraid of shootings and murders, not public drunkenness or sex offenders. Shootings dont happen in Japan and I know youd love to say that only gangbangers get shot but if that's what you think then Im not sure if you understand how guns work. These neighborhoods may not be the first on someone's list to visit but there are plebty reasons they might end up in dot pan or roxbury if not for these warnings. Its not a big deal at all anf I really dont get why you all get so bent up out of shape about it. Props to Sally for bring bikes into the discussion out of nowhere, by the way
So you're basically
So you're basically suggesting that tourists, fearing shootings and murder, should only avoid Dot/Rox/Matt? No one gets shot in the other areas? No one has been mugged/raped at knife or gunpoint in any of those other areas? Ahhh, I see. As long as they are only robbed, raped or THREATENED with a weapon, all is well. It's just actually being shot or murdered that counts? And FWIW, as a quick example off the top of my head, didn't someone just get shot in JP the other day? Didn't a Madison student get gunned down in Roslindale? Didn't two guys get in a fight in Hyde Park, with both stabbed and one ending up dead? I don't know how Charlestown is doing for murder these days, but I know the robberies are commonplace...and my best friend was shot to death in Charlestown several years back...all of the neighbors said the place is a drug/robbery den. Again, no place is immune. Let me not get into all of the suburbs where the lovely, nice, sweet, normal neighbor kills the wife/husband, kids, pets, neighbors, everyone. Or the pedophiles who were "just the nicest guy, I couldn't believe it happened in our neighborhood." Please.
I live in the hood. I grew up in Cambridge, Dorchester and Mattapan but as an adult have lived in so called "better" neighborhoods, but there's shit everywhere.
Okay, but that all
Okay, but that all conveniently ignores the fact that more (dangerous) crime happens in R/D/M, period. Anyone who argues that walking Newbury Street is more dangerous than walking Blue Hill Ave. needs a large dose of reality. And I mean, looking especially at the recent spate of crime in these neighborhoods, doesn't it seem all the more logical why the consulate, especially now, would want to warn tourists? If anything it's a reaction to the recent crime spike. No need to take it personally, it's pretty self-evidence.
Obviously crime occurs in all
Obviously crime occurs in all neighborhoods. I don't know why you bring it up as if it's not common knowledge... My point is that the most crime occurs in the aforementioned neighborhoods and these neighborhoods have the most murder victims BY FAR and you can't deny it. These are the most dangerous neighborhoods without a doubt and the other places you mentioned are really nothing to be afraid of. JP is absolutely fine and the only area s that are dangerous might as well be Roxbury since they are right on the border. Charlestown is not dangerous and robberies are not commonplace.. there is still some crime but one murder three years ago does not make it dangerous. You're exaggerating to try and prove a stupid point and I really don't get it. Anyone who wants to visit something in Dorchester will look further into the neighborhood and ask around to determine whether it's safe or not. This warning is in place to prevent a tourist from accidentally ending up in a bad part of town.
I really don't understand why you are so emotional over this. Do you want Japanese tourists to get mugged? Do you love Mattapan and think it's a really nice, clean neighborhood filled with upstanding, hard-working citizens? Do you think a huge rise in the murder rate should be ignored? Do you want Roslindale put on this list because of one troubled housing project? You think the fact that pedophiles live in the suburbs or the rare psycho kills his family is cause for Weston to be put on the same list as Dorchester? You should re-read what you wrote and think before you post next time
Roxbury, Dorchester and
Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan ...
Still less hazardous to your health than Fukushima Prefecture.
And did you know about the
And did you know about the black paint too....
Pigment Panic! A Lack of Tuxedo Black! Or, Any Color BUT Black!
'' Pigment and paint factories in the northern prefectures of Japan have shut down, causing a global pigment panic and shortage of some key pigments.
Many car factories have told their buyers their orders will be delayed, or shipment of parts will be delayed, because of the northern Japan disaster.''
http://timnovate.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/pigment-panic-a-lack-of-tuxedo...
Breathe everyone. As an ofd
Breathe everyone. As an ofd'er and still here totally can understand the advisory. I would do the same for my own friends and family. Visibly it also doesn't help that neighbors aren't always great about picking up their trash and the city / state tends to ignore poorer neighborhoods. However dot has some great safe neighborhoods that are getting better because it is one of the only affordable neighborhoods with direct train access (not just bus and commuter rail). If you were smart you would buy now instead of waiting til after the whole foods move in.
Dorchester is larger than Boston Proper
It's difficult to say to avoid a section of the city larger than Boston Proper! there are certainly some parts not everyone is comfortable in but avoiding Dorchester as a whole is unrealistic.
For a tourist?
Not really. It's like telling a tourist in London to stay out of Clapham or Ealing--there's not much of a likelihood they'd go there anyway. It's far from the city centre, mostly residential, no major landmarks or sites, etc. if they really want to "drill down" into neighborhood life or have a specific interest in some local feature than yes, but really--why would they go?
Obey the subliminal criminal!
Funny how the millions If not billions of dollars spent by foreign visitors is channeled between the perimeter of Chinatown, Downtown, and The North End. Same perimeter where native born minorities have the least amount of jobs and businesses! Just For the récord feel free to point out a native born minority business in the wealth mecca of Boston, excluding a barber, shoeshine, or sneaker spot.
Logical advisory by the Japanese and French. Chiara Levin?
Of course tourists should avoid these areas. Who could forget poor Chiara Levin, the innocent young valedictorian visiting from Kentucky who, while at a Boston nightclub, accepted an invitation to a Geneva Avenue after-hours party not knowing she was entering a hornet's nest. She died after a gunshot to the head. Good for the Japanese and French governments. The U.S. government should also issue an advisory.
Then they'd better avoid
Then they'd better avoid Allston too: http://www.universalhub.com/crime/20140130/man-robbed-knifepoint-allston...
And South Boston: http://www.universalhub.com/2014/police-marlboro-men-arrested-after-heis...
And the South End: http://www.universalhub.com/crime/20140127/stabbing-victim-didnt-have-fa...
And don't forget JP: http://www.universalhub.com/2014/teens-charged-bromley-heath-shooting-no...
All of these things happened in the past 5 days. The case you're referring to happened almost a decade ago. Very, very sad nonetheless...
Yeah ...
Because I'm sure that it is really safe in Kentucky to go to a club and then head to a house party with people you don't freaking know.
Or anywhere other than Boston for that matter.
Squeeeeel like a pig!
Also, not to mention Darlene Tiffany Moore,
An 11 or 12 year old girl from North Carolina who was visiting relatives up in Roxbury, and was sitting outside on a fence in her relatives' front yard one night, and was gunned down in cold blood, during a drive-by shooting. This happened sometime back in the 1990's, but it happened, nonetheless, and it was in the paper. So, giving people just a casual warning to be a little bit careful when they go through certain areas, and not to go through such areas late at night, isn't so terrible, imho.
Interesting
It is interesting to me to see the reaction here on news of this warning versus the time when France issued the warning. When the French made the advisory, people took it as some sort of patriotic duty to defend the motherland and you'd think that that apple pie and Chevrolet were being challenged. This time people aren't taking it with such patriotic zeal (so far).
Admittedly, the French warning came before this one so maybe the second one is less of a surprise. Or maybe people just feel less emotional about the Japanese view of Boston versus the French view and feel less of a need to challenge it as their dignity is less under threat for whatever reason.
Not sure
Almost 100 comments, people are still taking it over the top.
Too funny
A Japanese tourist who hasn't seen an armed criminal in his worst nightmare, let alone real life, walking down Blue Hill Ave with his $5000 camera, $4000 laptop and $1000 phone...
I'm going to laugh...
When someone named Rene Takashima gets shanked in Davis Square.
Beware of Sections of Bostn
Harvard, MIT and most other colleges and universities also warn students to avoid Dorchester. Mattapan and Roxbury.
The Boston Globe, UMass and the JFK Library refuse to acknowledge they are located in Dorchester. The Kennedy's were very proud of their roots in in Dorchester.
I feel safer walking down Dorchester Ave than the Boston Common or Hancock in Quincy any day.
In Sept 9, 2009 Emerson College was name the most dangerous campus in the US, because it was downtown next to the Boston Common and near Stuart St.
Dot has great offerings...
Yes, I know there are dangerous places in the city. But really. Why tell the French and Japanese NOT to visit the Kennedy Library, UMB, the beautiful waterfront, Franklin Park Zoo, or a quick round of golf at Franklin Park. I lived in Dot for 35 years (South End now) and loved it. Some great restaurants in Dot too. Do they make sure they don't go to South Bay and not stay at the Holiday Inn and Marriott?
Jerks.
Franklin Park Zoo
While it's not at all dangerous to visit the Franklin Park Zoo, I don't think I'd send foreign tourists there. If they're expecting something like the Bronx, San Diego, or even Columbus (Ohio) zoo they'll be disappointed.
Better to stick with our regional strength and go to the Aquarium.
Zoos
Sometimes I wish they'd just shutdown the Stoneham Zoo and move all the animals to a renovated Franklin Park Zoo. Although, access to Franklin Park Zoo kind of sucks. I think there's a bus route that runs Dudley - Franklin Park Bus Loop; this should be re-branded and become a lower-frequency Silver Line route, connecting to downtown. Grove Hall could sure use it, anyway.
Really, in 2009? That's when
Really, in 2009? That's when I graduated from school in Boston and the downtown area was pretty much completely safe by then. My brother went to Emerson in 2003-2007 and he said it was definitely sketchy in the beginning with lots of drug dealers and such hanging around Tremont but it was far from dangerous in 2009. I find it hard to believe it was more dangerous than Rutgers in Newark, Columbia in Harlem, Temple in North Philly, Johns Hopkins in Baltimore (even though it is in the nice section I'm sure the crime rate is higher than downtown Boston) etc. Can you cite where Emerson was rated as the most dangerous campus?
Make that "North" Dorchester.
Make that "North" Dorchester...section made up years ago to add another council seat.