There is something weighing on my conscience. Today I saw a woman being pickpocketed and I didn’t do anything. I was biking behind this woman opposite the hospital, and traffic was heavy so we were going slow. I was waiting for a break in the traffic to cross the road and go to the market. All of a sudden a guy ran past me, with little clearance between him and my bike so it caught me by surprise. And he turned to look at me, then continued running in front of my bike, slowing me down. Then he ran ahead and caught up with the bike in front of me and ran behind it, at the same time reaching his hand into the woman’s slingbag dangling slightly behind her. So he ran with her bike and dug into her bag and all the while I was waiting for her to notice and turn round but it didn’t happen. I looked to my side and there were like 3 tuktuks, and they should have seen what was going on but nobody did or said anything. Same for the passers-by. Then the pickpocket ran to the pavement and bent over slightly, looking like he was panting and I was nearing and he was looking so I quickly crossed the road and went into the market. The sun was so blinding and I had to heed the traffic too so I wasn’t sure whether he succeeded in picking her purse. It occurred to me that I could very well have been his victim because I didn’t hear him approaching from behind until he ran past me. I was traumatized because despite my classmates and juniors having been targets before and me bearing witness to an attempt on my friends walking ahead of me before, this is the first time I’ve seen someone run after a bike. Sock told me she’d seen pickpockets running after bikes near her place before and she was so scared she backtracked but this is the first time I’ve seen such audacity myself. When I reached the market I told my veggie auntie that recently there’re many pickpockets around and she seemed surprised. While biking out of the market I had to check both the traffic and my shadow. My shadow’s now my best friend because I can see myself and my backpack while cycling. But that’s only if I’m cycling with the Sun in the right direction. I suspect the pickpocket chose the opposite direction because the shadows were all behind. Scary stuff. I miss the days when FZ was safe and secure. I miss Japan for its safe streets. And I felt so sorry for not helping that woman though I’ve seen syndicates around and many of my friends would have done the same for fear of becoming the next target or being caught by his accomplices. Anyway after that I went to the police station to renew my cert of temp residence and I alerted the policewoman of the recent pickpocketings in the estate and told her of today’s bike chase. She too seemed surprised. Is the whole FZ asleep? So many of us students have been targets or seen it happening, and I’ve heard stories from some nurses at our hospital of their own encounters too. I hope the police take action and step up patrol or something, then at least I wouldn’t feel so guilty for not helping that woman today.