＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
A few years ago, there were reports of numerous incidents of items being stolen from “delivery lockers.”
“Delivery lockers” were invented as a way to alleviate the burden on drivers, as recipients were often not at home when the delivery company driver made the delivery.
If you install a delivery box at your front door, the driver will leave a “delivery notice” with a PIN number written on it in your mailbox, and you can “open” it by entering the PIN number.
1. The criminal’s “method”
The criminal apparently committed multiple crimes by using a stick made of rolled-up newspaper wrapped in tape to insert into the mailbox, taking out the “absentee notice” and then checking the PIN code to unlock it.
Even in apartment buildings, if the mailbox is unlocked, it’s even easier to open it and check inside.
Important mail arrives as “registered mail” or “mail that can only be received by the recipient,” so people tend to let their guard down when they see regular mail that is not so important in their mailbox. This technology exploits this blind spot.
Until a long time ago, Japan had good public safety compared to developing countries and European countries, and even if you took your eyes off your luggage for a moment, it would not be stolen. Foreigners were also surprised that “lost items would be returned to you.”
However, security seems to be deteriorating at present. Nevertheless, this “delivery box” theft is a very classic theft, unlike recent computer virus crimes.
As Ishikawa Goemon said in his “Jisei”(a farewell poem composed on the eve of his death), “Even though the sand on the beach may run out, there will never be a shortage of thieves in the world.
Even if you invent something convenient, there will always be crimes that target blind spots and blind spots. It is like a “game of cat-and-mouse,” but we have to think of countermeasures against such crimes one after another.
2. Who is responsible and what measures are being taken?
Of course, the perpetrator is guilty of “theft” and should be liable for damages, but wouldn’t it be difficult to hold the delivery company or apartment management company responsible?
As a future measure, we would like delivery companies to consider some kind of ingenuity, such as putting a “delivery notice” in a small envelope.
We would like management companies of apartment buildings that have a resident manager to consider measures such as regularly checking whether any suspicious people are captured on surveillance cameras near the “delivery lockers.”
Even if there is no resident manager, apartment buildings that have a contract with a security company would be urged to consider measures such as a system that would immediately sound an alarm if any suspicious people are captured on surveillance cameras near the “delivery lockers.”