In mid-March, 2008, a company called Nihon Uni introduced a new T-shirt which is made of toughened polyethylene fibers to make it knife resistant. The T-shirt is targeted at the moms of young kids, following a rash of fatal stabbings over the last two years, by crazed attackers who seem to pick their victims at random.

A typical case was that of a March attack by a man at a train station in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki, to the northeast of Tokyo. The 24-year old psycho told police that he really wanted to kill his sister, but since he was unable to find her, he decided to attack the first person he came across on his way to the station. Subsequently, he killed an old age pensioner outside the man’s home and once blooded, then went on to attack and seriously wounded another seven people around the station itself. One newspaper reported he said to police, “It didn’t matter who they were.”

In light of the media sensationalization of such cases, and the fact that they have been typically perpetrated by young, strong, and obviously insane men, the resulting mayhem can be significant. And so Nihon Uni is tapping into a growing feeling of unease about personal safety in Japan. Accordingly, the company has set the pricing of its Salvar T-shirts at 20,200 yen or more for a child’s half sleeve version, and 31,500 yen for the adult version. The company had the T-shirts tested by the Japan Synthetic Textile Inspection Institute, which pronounced that the specially processed fibers were three times stronger in resisting knife penetration than regular cotton. I believe the product will do well, especially if actively marketed in locations where an attack has just occurred—which at the current frequency could well be monthly.

Just how justified are Japanese in feeling less secure? According to the Statistics Bureau 2007 handbook, the crime rate per 100,000 of population has risen by almost 50% in the last 26 years, from 1,159.6 to 1,604.7. At the same time, the number of police arrests has dropped by almost half, from 59.8% to 31.2%. Add to this the fact that an increasing proportion of the population is unable to properly defend itself if attacked—seniors and singles for example, it is no wonder that the public is starting to become paranoid about security. Ten years ago, you would see all kids of 6 and up walk to school alone or with other young friends, but since a series of ride-by and school yard stabbings in the last five years, parents now ferry their kids by car or walk them in groups. No doubt a number of these kids will be wearing Nihon Uni’s new T-shirts next year.

Apart from Nihon Uni, the main beneficiaries of the increasing fear of crime are the security services companies, such as Secom, Sohgo and CSP. Of these, Secom is by far the largest player, with an estimated 80% market share in the highly lucrative home security market. The Secom home security business breaks down into two core areas: the monitoring of electronic security in households and businesses, and the sales of hardware to do that monitoring.

Approximately 69.8% of Secom’s 682.619 billion yen in consolidated group revenues through to March came from its monitoring services, accounting for most of its profits as well. This is because once the initial cost of installing the sensors, controller, and other hardware is made, the monitoring of customer premises can be done automatically. Happily, there are very few guard call-outs occurring over the breadth of the roughly 1.5 million commercial and private customers the company has in Japan. So basically, Secom is in the insurance business—but provides a piece of hardware instead of employing actuaries. The home security hardware sales accounted for another 24.4 billion yen of revenue.

Secom is often considered by investors as a turmoil-proof company, thanks to its steady cash flow, reasonable profits despite some undercutting from its competitors, and the fact that it is barely tapping the overall potential market. For example, last year it had just 406,000 residential customers in Japan—out of a possible 47 million households. One reason for this apparently low number of existing customers is that most apartments and houses built before the long 1990s recession were not designed for remote security, and thus householders in such premises (most of Japan’s current base of householders) haven’t really considered the security issue yet.

But with the recent stabbing attacks playing in the media, along with Chinese gangs allegedly behind big increases in break-ins in Kanagawa and Chiba, young families and singles in high-rise apartments are starting to consider the reasonably priced monitoring services offered by Secom and others. The rates start at around 4,000 yen. For this price, Secom throws in a panic button and provides a quick response from one of its approximately 1,000 response points around the country.

For comparison, America’s (and the world’s) largest home security company, ADT Worldwide, which is part of the Tyco Corporation, appears to have to work a lot harder. It had 2007 sales of $7.6 billion from its more than 6 million customers across 50-plus countries. So clearly, Secom’s profit margins and size of business are not to be sneezed at. Indeed, we expect it and ADT to start butting horns in their respective quests for more market share internationally, especially now that Secom is actively making acquisitions and enjoying growth in its foreign markets.

Actually, we get a feeling of deja vu looking at Secom versus ADT. Are we looking at a FujiFilm-versus-Kodak battle all over again, but this time in the home security market?

15 Comments

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  rjd_jr at 08:58 AM JST - 3rd June

  *Add to this the fact that an increasing proportion of the population is unable to properly defend itself if attacked—seniors and singles for example, it is no wonder that the public is starting to become paranoid about security. *

  Alright, where are all the rabid pro gun supporters out there.

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  timorborder at 11:42 AM JST - 3rd June

  Instead of buying "rug rat" dogs such as dachshunds and poodles, might I suggest that Japan consider overbreeding large canine varieties such as as dobermanns and rottweilers. I think this would contribute greatly to public safety.

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  cleo at 12:08 PM JST - 3rd June

  What do you mean by 'overbreeding'? Surely you're not suggesting it would somehow help public safety to have hordes of large dogs with congenital health problems running around the place?

  It would be even worse if the Dobies and Rotties got as much and as effective training as most of the rug rats seem to get....Imagine all those ladies with big neurotic dogs, instead of the little neurotic dogs they have now!

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  netrek at 01:33 PM JST - 3rd June

  So crime rose 50% and police arrests dropped 50%? Ummmmmmmmmm!

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  netrek at 01:33 PM JST - 3rd June

  timorborder I'd rather have a good German Sheperd. That is what military and police use most often.

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  omarbabilon at 02:06 PM JST - 3rd June

  More than guns or dogs, goverment should do something like a mental illness prevention campaign, begginig in schools, colleges, offices and work centers, in an effort to find disturbed people and at the same time, to prevent, finding in young people signs of mental disorders and deal with people with psychic problems, because the problem beggins since this psychos are children. This is the only way to do it, no with guns (america is a good example about how safe is a country where you have freedom to own a gun), by the other hand... it could be recommendable to have some control about violent contents (manga, anime, movies) and finally... the goverment or police should show the importance of life in any publicy campaing, in U.S. if a kid is murdered the society shows their opinion, and parents (at schools) are more organisated, neighbors help to the vigilance... in Japan?... in Japan everybody stays inside their own shell and nobody do or say anything, including the police (the most uncompetent and useless in my opinion). Anyway go to buy a pepper gas spray as soon as possible.

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  SuperLib at 02:27 PM JST - 3rd June

  http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/25/nihon-uni-shirts-resist-stabbing-make-you-feel-like-a-superhero/

  Wow, the shirts start a 19,000 yen...lol.

  There are much greater dangers when you walk down the street than being stabbed. It seems a bit absurd to plan for this one thing. Besides, it would kind of suck to get stabbed on a day when you aren't wearing your "stab-free" t-shirt.

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  westurn at 03:14 PM JST - 3rd June

  I can't imagine a more heavily "fortified" Nippon ! There are already security guards manning every business entry, police on every corner, combination locks on every enclosed apartment structure, the skys are full of self defense heli's, and cameras photograph my every move between stations and city wide department stores ! How one single incident of crime could go "unnoticed" is an absolute miracle. Japan is nothing more than a police state... yet look at all the rising crime there is here. Makes you wonder what the incompetent J police do all day... maybe I should take a gander at the other thread discussing the topic, but then again, why bother... I don't need some misguided Brit to tell me how it is in Japan. This article speaks volumes. Knife resistant shirts... indeed !

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  nutsagain at 03:40 PM JST - 3rd June

  Ah... where have the old days gone? I remember well the days when a trip to any bank one would often see a girl heading out the door with a satchel full of money to make auxiliary deposits somewhere. The boss would call out; 'kiotsukete Mari chan' and that was about it.

  A couple of years later, the guys took over, then eventually two guys for added safety. Now we have the full-blown paranoia from the security business reminding us through commercials that we are no longer safe. This is an enormous business anywhere now and the Japanese, never ones to objectively think or observe anything much, have swallowed it hook line and sinker.

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  timorborder at 06:29 PM JST - 3rd June

  Cleo - my comment regarding overbreeding was just a stab at the shocking dog breeding practices here in Japan. Fortunately (or not) up until now these have concentrated on dachs and chihauhas, etc. Of course there would be lots of congential issues vis-a-vis overbreeding large breeds. At the same time, however, looking at things in a slighlty light-hearted manner, can you imagine the carnage that would occur if the country was full of mal-adjusted dobermanns rather than mal-adjusted dachshunds.
  Netrek - German shepards are a really good dog, however, I prefer something a little larger (perhaps you should see some of my other posts regarding our "big" dog) :)

  Moderator: Back on topic please.

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  GrouchyGaijin at 09:22 PM JST - 3rd June

  Japan is THE least security-conscious country I've ever seen. Simple things like: Cancel post/newspaper delivery when you're away. Ask a neighbor to clear out any admail from your box. Lock your door! Put the chain on! Use light timers. Arrange to check in with friends/family on a regular basis, and have a plan if that doesn't happen. Put a 'club' on your steering wheel if you drive. Pre-pay or post-pay your bills online or at the bank. And then, be careful going to and from work/school etc. etc. Common sense, which, regrettably, is not all that common here.

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  westurn at 11:22 PM JST - 3rd June

  "Japan is THE least security-conscious country I've ever seen."

  Really ? Seems to me with the high population density, it's virtually impossible to get away with any kind of crime that you have mentioned. Throw in the cameras on every street, the kobans on every corner, the security guys patrolling the shopping centers and office complexes... the place is a virtual concentration camp ! Why bother with a light timer ? Hell the street lights illuminating the front of my apt is bad enough !

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  sf2k at 02:48 PM JST - 4th June

  Weird article, I find the statistics used here inflamatory.

  final minus initial divided by initial is a crime rate of 38% over 26 years. 38 is not that close to 50. Also the population demographics have changed over 26 years, hence you can probably guess the age group causing the most crimes are over...26 years old. There would be a top cutoff age too, but the article doesn't say. Also statistics on mental health are not available nor are they unlikely to be compared in crime stats in Japan due to cultural bias. I don't get the impression of clinical depression being diagnosed anywhere. If no one can seek mental health help, why would anyone recover? Obviously those susceptible to acting out do so.

  Also the number of police officers in uniform per 100,000 over the last 26 years is not mentioned. That's an odd omission here since we're comparing crime from 26 years ago. It would be good to know if it's up or down. If down by half, then that would explain the arrest statistic also down by half.

  Some flaky reporting, reading like a sales brochure for T-shirts (maybe it is)

  A T-shirt isn't going to make you feel safe. This society for all it's wonder and beauty is killing itself by either not giving people the mental health that they need, nor by preventing karoshi. Those two stats would be unique to Japan and of no comparable value to the international news, as it would never be better.

  It's also not clear as well how Japan rates in the world over the same time period with other countries in similar areas, again leaving you with a feeling of thinking this is important. It might not be.

  At any rate these stats are scary. Include the recent surge in suicides and it would seem that these stats are saying that Japanese have literally nothing to live for or life is meaningless. shakes head

  Depression is a disease. You can put yourself into it, or without the right coping mechanisms find yourself thinking that you're useless or life would be better if you or someone else weren't around.

  How we answer and deal with these things is learned and a matter of training. Succuming to paranoia doesn't help anyone except the companies in this article.

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  capone at 04:52 PM JST - 4th June

  just because it's advertised as knife-proof, doesn't mean it actually is...after all, this is a japanese company making these claims...not exactly the paragons of honesty

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  conqueror_of_Uranus at 06:27 PM JST - 6th June

  Fear, Sex, and Violence sell.

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