The World Today - Monday, 29 September , 2003 12:44:22 Reporter: Mark Simkin ELIZABETH JACKSON: To Japan now, and it is one of the safest places on earth, but it's no secret that the country has an appalling record when it comes to water.



The latest figures, taken from the northern summer just passed, show that more than four Japanese people drown every day. That's despite the fact that the rules and regulations at Japan's public swimming pools are incredibly strict, as our Tokyo Correspondent, Mark Simkin discovered, and recalls now after a trip to his local pool in his Letter from Tokyo.



MARK SIMKIN: Growing up in Australia, I can still remember the rules emblazoned on the wall of the local public pool. They were pretty basic, and absurdly obvious.



“No Skinny Dipping. No Running. No diving in the shallow end” – that sort of thing.



Since then, issues of negligence and liability have made the rules a lot stricter, but they’re still not as tough as they are in Japan.



(sound of water splashing)



MARK SIMKIN: At the pool around the corner from my house, you get thoroughly soaked well before you get into the water.



First, you must take a shower. Then you must walk through a canal to clean your feet. Finally, you wander down a narrow passage that’s wired up to an automatic sprinkler system. As soon as you pass a sensor, warm water sprays all over you.



Children under three are not permitted. Anyone with a cold or fever is not permitted. Everyone must perform warm up exercises, and, most importantly, everyone must wear a bathing cap.



As the rule book helpfully points out, there are no exceptions to this rule, even for bald people.



The bizarre thing is that the bathing caps sold at the pool are mesh – they do nothing to keep the water off your hair and only a little to keep your hair out of the water.



In fact, after a long swim, some people end up looking like they’ve had a disastrous hair transplant, with single strands sticking up through the holes in the cap. Let me assure you, it’s a really bad look.



(sound of person swimming in water)



Jewellery is strictly forbidden, and the rules are strictly enforced. On a recent visit, I was nearly arrested because I’d left my wedding ring on.



Once an hour, every hour, there’s a compulsory ten-minute break, everyone is ordered out of the water and made to sit on the chairs lined up alongside the pool.



The rationale is simple – it allows the lifeguards to check that there are no previously undiscovered bodies on the bottom of the pool, and it allows the swimmers to catch their breath so they don’t drown.



And all the while, there’re several pairs of eyes watching your every move. They belong to the lifeguards who circle the pool, constantly counting and checking their charges. Another lifeguards sits on an elevated stool, taking in the big picture.



Now, I’m all for safety first, but what I can’t work out is that given all the attention, all the rules, why is it that so many Japanese people still manage to drown each year? After all, this is not a country where many people have backyard pools.



Summer has just finished here, and in just three months, June, July and August, 364 people drowned. That’s four a day.



It’s a staggering number, but it was the best result on record, and a big reduction on previous years.



Of course, most people died in the surf or waterways rather a public pool, but it’s a statistic that raises some serious questions. Why aren’t some of the strict rules that apply at the pools applied at the seaside? And how many Japanese people are taught to swim properly?



In fact, according to the Japanese Red Cross, all the public pool regulations actually contribute to the deaths. People are so used to swimming in very calm, safe conditions that they panic if they get caught in rough surf or a rip.



This is Mark Simkin in Tokyo, for The World Today.