My Asian Games Diary: Where are the cops?

AICHI, Japan (TIP): The Aichi Asian Games 2026 stands out for a different reason. I did not see or notice the presence of gun-toting policemen or security personnel anywhere near any of the venues of the mega sporting event.

The contrast between the security environment at the last Summer Olympic Games in Paris, the FIFA World Cup in Canada, the USA, and Mexico, and the Winter Olympic Games in Milano is mind-boggling.

Checking bags or frisking media personnel getting into media centers or stadiums is limited to volunteers. Policemen, in uniform or plain clothes, are seen nowhere.

The other day while we were travelling from an unmanned railway station in a suburb of Nagoya, an item on the notice board surprised me.

It read:

“Under terror alert enforcement

To all passengers

If you find any suspicious articles or behavior, please notify station staff or train crew. Carrying of dangerous items into the station or onto trains is prohibited. Thank you for your cooperation.

Meitetsu.”

Meitetsu is one of the important rail lines operating in Nagoya. It is only after reading this public notice that one gets the impression that even Japan is not free from the pangs of terrorism.

But for this notice, no action to tackle any such problem related to terrorism was noticed in the public domain. We have been moving almost all hours everywhere.

While moving around various towns and cities, mostly within the Aichi Prefecture, one does not feel threatened by any minor to serious crime-like situations. Since we arrived in Japan on August 24, at no stage have we felt insecure. Incidents of snatching, bugging, petty or minor thefts, or even assaults are an unheard-of phenomenon here. The civil society overall is law-abiding and peaceful.

Using public transport, everyone is required to follow decorum so as not to disturb fellow co-passengers. Even eating inside the trains is prohibited.

In such an environment where people move freely even at midnight, the overbearing presence of gun-toting cops or canine squads, as was witnessed both in France and the three co-hosts of the FIFA World Cup 2026, has been so reassuring.

To our great surprise, we noticed a police vehicle near the Main Media Centre (MMC), though it was not visible from the building from which hundreds of media personnel are operating.

On the lighter side, another night while we were trying to book a taxi from a rural unmanned station shortly before midnight, a gentleman volunteered to help us to get a taxi. He realized that communicating with a person on the other side who did not know English was the barrier. After helping us and getting us the taxi, he revealed his identity. He was a cop off duty but on social duty like an average Japanese—sincere and dedicated to his nation.