(English version is after this phonetic Japanese)
Nihongo ga utenai node, ro-ma ji de kantanni...
buji Johannesburg ni tsukimashita. Switzerland kara ha hisashiburini kaitekina hikoukino tabiwo tannou.
"Johannesburg ha majide yabai" toiu ninshiki ha genchi demo onaji youde, ima iru backpacker no staff mo, "downtown wo arukunoha abunasugiru, kokoha kiken dakara ikanai houga ii" toiu tokoro bakaride, hotondo jibun tachi deha koudou dekizu desu. hobo subeteno ie ya tatemono ga denki no tootteru sen nadode kakomare, hontoni jyoudan deha sumanasouna yousudesu.
kinou ha sononakademo yuumeina Soweto toiu kokujin no kyojyuuku wo kengaku. bokuramo bibitteru node guide tsukino tour de. kyojyuuku wo tour de kengakuni iku toiunoha, hijyouni fukuzatuna kibun datta keredo, yappari miteoite yokattadesu. Nelson Mandela no ie tokamo atte, saikin kareno jiden wo yonda bakari datta node, sono genba ni ikete kangeki hitoshio deshita.
toitta kanji de, yominikui node konohende. USB mo tsunagezu shashin mo up dekinai node, shashin ha mata jikaini. Johannesburg ni ato 2haku shite idou no yoteidesu.
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We safely arrived at Johannesburg, South Africa. Though it's winter here now, it's warm enough just with T shirt in the daytime.
Seems that security situation in Johannesburg is really No-Joke at all. All the houses are surrounded by electric wire or thick wall with sharp edge, and besides, of course, locked very heavily. On the newspaper we bought yesterday, front page said about the seriousness of crimes here, and also it had a page which talked about how you should protect yourself from carjacking, and so on...
We thought that all bad rumors we had heard about Johannesburg could be just rumors which didn't reflect its real situation, but as far as we heard from locals here in these few days, they sound true and the situation can be quite serious. It seems the "dangerous zone" is limited to certain areas, so as long as you stay inside so-called "safe areas" and have common sense, you won't be involved with serious crime that often, hopefully...
We visited Soweto, a big black residential area just next to Johannesburg, with a tour guide. This is where all the recent history of South Africa took place, and where Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu(both are Nobel prize laureates) had lived. It was not easy to visit local's house as tourists and being asked to give them some money, but anyway it was really important for us to see and feel some difficulties they have, even if it's just skimming its surface...
We'll upload photos next time, when possible.