It's a bit rough...

I bumped into a former student at Shichijo Station yesterday. Making small talk we naturally asked each other where we were headed. "Neyagawashi" she said and pointed it out on the train line map. It was a small town I had never heard of, somewhere between Kyoto and Osaka City proper. "What's that like?" I asked her.

"ちあんがわるい." she said. "There are too many yankees".

"Yankees" in Japan are basically bad boys, young toughs and trouble-makers, so I guessed that "chian ga warui" meant that the place was a little dangerous. Having guessed that, I tried to guess the kanji for ちあん. Could it be that CHI was 地 meaning place and AN was 安 meaning safety? Almost, but not quite. I was right about the second kanji, but the first is actually...

治 - JI / CHI - osa・meru / osa・maru /nao・ru /nao・su - to govern or to cure

Combined with 安 it means public peace and order. So 治安がいい means safe and 治安が悪い means dangerous. It's rough out in the sticks.