ホームレスになりかけた自分から見たサンフランシスコの治安悪化報道。ニュースが言わない裏の真相。観光客が行く場所の実際の街の様子 Is San Francisco that dangerous?

ホームレスになりかけた自分から見たサンフランシスコの治安悪化報道。ニュースが言わない裏の真相。観光客が行く場所の実際の街の様子 Is San Francisco that dangerous?

Hi everyone! Today, I’m exploring the truth behind the news about San Francisco. It’s just my opinion. Hear me out. Thank you! Right in front of me is the Tenderloin district, a notorious area in San Francisco. Many lower-income people thrive here.

Recently, many YouTubers and TV crews have come here to document homelessness and drug addiction. When I came to San Francisco 28 years ago, this area was already considered a dangerous area. It still has a bad reputation, and it’s gotten worse recently.

The terrible conditions shown in the news and online videos mostly depict this area. If you are a tourist and you avoid this area, you don’t have to worry as much about what you see online about the Tenderloin.

There is plenty of bad news about San Francisco, but is it so important if you are a tourist? I’ll show you current conditions of the places where most tourists go. Tourists are cautioned not to enter the Tenderloin, but where’s the Tenderloin?

It’s the area surrounded roughly by O’Farrell St., Powell St., Market St. and Van Ness Ave. What is the most important thing that tourists should know? “Avoid driving a car in the city!” Without a car, there’s no car break-in. That alone makes this city a safer place for you.

Also, once you click a video that shows San Francisco in a bad light, YouTube automatically recommends to you similar videos. Please don’t freak out about the videos. San Francisco is generally a peaceful place. If it’s bad, I would be somewhere else.

I’m at the Cable Car turnaround. Does this look dangerous to you? It’s Thursday, January 4th, 2024. Excuse me! That guy is a great singer! I’ll speak a bit about myself while walking to Union Square.

When I had tour guests from Japan, they said San Francisco is a scary place because we have so many homeless people. To tell you the truth, I once almost became homeless here, so that comment made me sad.

I understand their feeling, because Japan is considered one of the safest countries in the world. When I first came to San Francisco, I was poor. I was sharing a room with an American. My rent was just $200.

But one day, my roommate found a lover and wanted to live with him. I was asked to leave. I had only 3 days to find a place to live, after which my belongings would be tossed on the street.

I was at a loss, but I had to start moving fast. I walked around the city with tears in my eyes looking for a place to live. I couldn’t find any place on the first two days.

On the 3rd day, I found a room at a residential hotel in the Tenderloin. The rent was $600. Tenderloin has many residential hotels, which are old hotels used as apartments. Sometimes, bathrooms are shared. There’s no kitchen in the rooms. So, basically, I was living in an old hotel room.

The condition of the room wasn’t ideal. Almost every morning, I found cockroaches crawling near my pillow. Fortunately, American roaches aren’t as big as Japanese ones! But they are still roaches. I had $800 in savings at that time, so I was able to rent the $600 room.

But if I hadn’t had enough money, I would have been homeless. And if I had been homeless, Japanese tourists might have viewed me as a dangerous person. In San Francisco, people can become homeless easily. If just one thing goes wrong, homelessness can be the result. Everything is expensive here.

So, please don’t be afraid of homeless people, and don’t just assume they are lazy. They are just having hard times. I believe most of the homeless people are harmless. Next, please take a look around on Powell St. So many stores are shuttered.

Some people say they are closed because of increased shoplifting caused by California Democrats’ proposition 47. But is that true? I think there are many reasons causing the closures. Let’s see what else caused stores to close! My guess is that only 20% of stores closing was actually due to shoplifting.

The reason I think that way is because restaurants on this street also closed. There’s no shoplifting at restaurants, but still some closed. Then, why? Last year, a major department store decided to close 9 of its stores in America, citing rampant shoplifting.

But if you check the details, they didn’t close some stores that had even more shoplifting incidents. Did the company use the “shoplifting” excuse to simply close stores that were not profitable? Perhaps, it’s more convenient to say, “We closed the stores due to shoplifting,”

Than to say, “We closed the stores due to their unprofitability.” As for the reasons why stores closed on Powell Street, No.1 Lack of tourist foot traffic. There were a lot of stores that catered to tourists. No.2 the COVID pandemic, less foot traffic and less merchandise from China

No.3 Many people moved out of the city during the pandemic. No.4 Online shopping. No.5 Babyboomers, who used to shop more, reached retirement age and they don’t need as much stuff. So I don’t think it’s fair to say all those stores closed due to shoplifting or the failed Prop 47.

For example, look at this store. Louis Vuitton. This store is also a victim of retail theft. But it is still open. If you hear news about San Francisco, sometimes criticism against Democrats is hidden. As you may know, San Francisco is a major Democratic city.

America has only two major political parties, Republicans and Democrats. The country is divided into two. I was surprised to find that some family members don’t talk to each other, just because they support different political parties! It’s unbelievable!

So, if something bad happens in San Francisco, some Republicans are happy to report it. Also, American news media are divided in two! When I was researching crimes in America, I also found that many documents online are also biased. Political influences, everywhere!

So when you hear news about San Francisco, you really need to be careful not to believe everything that’s said. It may be exaggerated to make the city seem worse than it really is. Next, Post Street! Union Square is pretty safe now, thanks to a police presence.

Some Japanese people think it’s dangerous here because of that police presence. But it’s safe because they are there. If you go to Mont Saint Michel, France, you’ll see French guards carrying rifles. It’s safe there, thanks to the guards. This is Post Street. I see some empty stores.

This street has many brand-name shops. Ferragamo is also a victim of retail theft, but they didn’t close the store. Retail thieves are annoying! Many come to the city from the suburbs. I’m glad to see Ferragamo open for business! I’m turning the corner at Grant Avenue.

The Chinese Gate, an entrance to Chinatown, is ahead. What do you think? Seems pretty clean, doesn’t it? In San Francisco, we sometimes see people with mental illness. I remember an incident where the state of Nevada once dumped two bus loads of people with mental illness in San Francisco.

The city had to sue Nevada, and it won a court settlement. It’s so sad to see people treated like garbage. We’re almost at the Chinese Gate. After the Chinese Gate, street conditions improve as you walk through Chinatown, North Beach and Fisherman’s Wharf. You’ll be pretty safe.

I’m walking on Stockton Street. By the way, the Tenderloin also suffers with drug problems. Recently, a very strong drug, Fentanyl, is rampant. Originally, it was a painkiller, but being very cheap, strong and addictive, it got popular.

I heard in the news that with only $5, people can buy Fentanyl, so… please be careful who you give money to. If people ask for money because they are hungry, you can tell them that they can get food at St. Anthony’s.

They serve free meals to anyone in need. It’s a wonderful Tenderloin organization that I highly respect. Please give that information to anyone who is hungry. Some news media show footage of people on the street injecting drugs.

That happens, but mostly in the Tenderloin, so tourists will not often see it. Public drug use is very visible on a city street. In rural areas, drug use may be just as bad but less visible. Drug problems exist everywhere in this country. It’s just more visible in the city.

I changed my location since I have to see my eye doctor at noon. But seriously, don’t be deceived by the sensational titles of news clips and YouTube videos. More views and clicks mean more advertising money.

For example, one YouTube video had the title, “San Francisco is the most dangerous city in America!” That video got thousands of views, but it’s not true at all. The truth is that San Francisco didn’t even appear in “The 100 Most Dangerous Cities in America” list.

In San Francisco, there’s a slight chance you may have something stolen, but you are unlikely to be killed. Republicans say that Democratic cities are dangerous. Big cities tend to have dangerous elements, and big cities lean Democratic.

And if you research, you’ll learn that Kern County has the highest murder rate in California, and it’s a Republican stronghold. So it’s silly to argue whether Republicans or Democrats are good. I don’t want you to get caught up in that silly argument.

American has bigger problems. We’ve created a society where too many kids don’t feel guilty when they shoplift. As a Japanese person, I’m appalled! No common sense, no discipline, no courtesy! Also, the ever-expanding class difference, i.e., the wealth inequality, causing some people to resort to crime to survive.

Parties should work together on these major problems, but instead they ignore them by creating distraction arguments. One more thing, let’s stop calling people with drug addiction, “zombies.” They are suffering. They are not characters in video games. Their addiction may have started from a legitimate prescription.

So, let’s stop calling less fortunate human beings bad names. I’m back to the Cable Car Turnaround after 3 hours. Please take a look at the environment. Does it look dangerous?

The reason why I think homeless people aren’t so dangerous is that I’ve had only one incident in my 28 years here. It happened while I was walking to a restaurant one evening. A homeless man rammed his shopping cart into me. I was so mad.

I had a wine bottle in my hand, and I felt like hitting him with it. But the wine cost me $50, so I let the incident go. I’m gonna walk toward Union Square again. Please see how safe it seems here.

I remember, before COVID, when San Francisco’s economy was flourishing. At that time, many property owners increased rents too much, forcing some businesses to close. Some media say hotels are leaving the city, but I recently read that investors are planning to build 4 more hotels here.

We have good news like that, too. I think it’s just a process of SF growing into the future. Car break-ins exist. Especially, around major tourist attractions, such as Alamo Square and Fisherman’s Wharf.

We ask tourists to not drive cars into the city, but they still do and sometimes become victims. Because the criminals succeed with the break-ins, they engage more. It’s a bad cycle. Please use public transportation.

Nowadays, criminals use cell phones to detect Bluetooth from your car, allowing them to find what you hide in the car. They can easily detect laptops and tablets in a trunk, just by using their mobiles. Please use public transportation.

By the way, why are many homeless people in the Tenderloin, not a more affluent area? Because they are harassed in more affluent areas. The Tenderloin accepts them as they are. So, many of them live here. People in San Francisco agree that we need more shelters.

But generally, people don’t want shelters near their homes. We call this attitude, “NIMBY.” Not in my backyard. It’s a big problem here. Are we too selfish? I’m walking at the edge of the Tenderloin.

In many videos, the Tenderloin is shown as an evil area, but many wonderful people do live here. As I mentioned earlier, St. Anthony’s is wonderful. They serve meals every day to people in need. They also provide clothing to people in need.

I put the link to their website in the description. Please donate money to their cause if you can. The Tenderloin saved me from becoming homeless. It’s a warm place to me. People don’t mention this much, but I see homeless people helping each other there.

It may be the most humane place in the city. Whether or not you visit this area, I wanted you to know hear that perspective. Soon I will make a video with more tips for San Francisco tourists. Please stay tuned! Thank you very much for watching to the end!

See you next time!

#サンフランシスコ #アメリカ生活 #サンフランシスコ生活
いろんなニュースや動画で騒がれているサンフランシスコを危うくホームレスになりかけた自分のサンフランシスコでの２８年間の経験を交えて動画にしました。主な内容は以下のタイムラインに表示しております。

皆さんに知っていただきたい真相が沢山あり過ぎて約３０分間話しっぱなしですがラジオのように『人参の皮を剥きながら』とか『爪を切りながら』でもお楽しみいただけるように聞くだけでわかる動画を作らせていただきました。

一般に報道されていない真相をできるだけ多くの人々に知ってもらいたいと思っていますので『いいねマーク』の高評価やご友人とのシェアーもよろしくお願いいたします。

【タイムライン】

0:00 　ご挨拶
0:26 　ニュースに出てくる地区！
1:34　観光に影響はあるのか？
1:53　テンダーロインはどこ？
2:28　観光で一番大切なこと
2:51　おすすめ動画のシステムを理解する
3:25　ケーブルカー乗り場の治安（１回目）
4:25　ホームレスになりかけた時
7:21　だれでもホームレスになりえる街
7:59　万引きが原因で閉店の真相
10:11 閉店の理由は沢山！
11:53 報道を鵜呑みにしてはだめ！
13:44 ポスト・ストリートの治安
15:07 グラント・アヴェニューの治安
16:34 ドラッグの問題
18:47 過激なタイトルに惑わされない！
20:18 社会問題を言い争いでごまかす
21:22 ゾンビと呼ぶのはやめよう！
21:57 ケーブルカー乗り場の治安（２回目）
23:15 パウエル・ストリートの治安
24:41 車上あらしについて
25:50 ニンビーって何？
27:14 テンダーロインの良いところ
29:11 最後のご挨拶

テンダーロインのホームレスの方々の世話をしているセント・アンソニーズのウェブサイトです。募金や地元の方はいらない服の寄付もできますので是非よろしくお願いします！

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On YouTube, there are many videos that shows homeless people and people with addictions. Most of them are filmed in Tenderloin so tourists don’t have to worry but those videos are scaring people away. Some say, stores are closing due to pickpocketing. Is that all true? Here’s what I think. Thank you for checking my channel! Please subscribe to my channel.

If you would like to help homeless or low-income people in Tenderloin, Please click below to donate. Thank you very much!

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