When you are home alone, always keep the door locked. Ask your host family what to do if someone rings the door bell when you are home alone. Although what you are expected to do may vary from family to family, the following are general tips from AFS Japan.
Most students will be given a house key. BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO LOSE IT. If you lose your key, very likely your host family will replace all the locks and YOU will have to pay for it. Ask your host family how to lock the doors and windows and make sure that you lock them when you go out and also at night. If the home has an alarm system, learn how to use it.
If someone is at the door or gate, always check who it is first. Many Japanese homes have an intercom connected to the gate or the front door, or at least a peephole in the front door. If it is a sales person, or someone soliciting any services, say “Kekkoo Desu” (No thank you) and leave the door closed or hang up the interphone. If it is a newspaper bill collector, or a delivery person (Takuhai bin) and your family has NOT asked you to do anything, the best thing to do is to say, “Moo ichido irashite kudasai” (Please come back later). The water/gas/electricity meter reader may also come to your home to check the meters, which are all on the outside of the house. If they need to come inside the house, they will have given your family advance notice and the family will have made arrangements to handle it. If you cannot understand what the person is saying or are not sure who they are, ask them to come back again (“Moo ichido irashite kudasai”). Never let a stranger into the house. If your family has asked you to receive a delivery, be sure to check who the delivery person is by looking through the peephole or intercom camera. If you have to open the door to check who it is, do so with the door chain on.
For reasons of safety, when people are home alone in Japan, they often make the house look as if there was no one home. You do not need to respond to any unexpected or suspicious visits that your host family has not informed you of beforehand. Ask your host family about this. At first you may not recognize even close neighbors or other people who know you and your host family. Until you are able to recognize people, you should not open the door.
AFS encourages you to ask your host parents about the telephone. If they have a landline, should you answer it? What are you allowed to say? What are you not allowed to say? Strangers may sometimes call and ask for your address. Never give your host family’s address to a stranger. Suspicious calls or calls that you do not understand well should be kept as short as possible. Saying “Shitsurei shimasu” (I must go) is an easy and polite way to hang up the phone.
1) Don’t access “Deai-kei saito” (dating sites) or Dating Apps
Violent crimes such as murder, robbery and rape targeting teenagers met on SNS (social media) are on the increase. As they are not intended for high school students, please do not use dating sites or apps.
2) “SMS no Sagi mail”（Scam Email/Phishing)
You may receive a SMS (Short Message Service: text message) from someone posing as a courier service to notify you of a delivery. By accidentally clicking on the attached URL and entering your personal information, you may be inviting fraud, download suspicious apps or receive fake bills. Ignore and delete messages from strangers.