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The National Police Agency (NPA) says that in 2013, there were 94 cases in which children under 13 were the victims of kidnapping or attempted kidnapping.
The release of the figures comes following the discovery of body parts belonging to a 6-year-old girl who was abducted and murdered in Kobe.
The grisly murder has thrown the spotlight onto child predators in Japan. According to the NPA, of the 94 cases in 2013, 61 of the 94 victims were girls, NHK reported Friday. Sixty-two of the victims were aged 6 to 12. Twenty-eight of the incidents occurred on the street.
Police said that about 30% of the kidnappings occurred during the time period from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. when children are usually on their way home from school or are out playing with friends.
Moreover, in 75 of the cases, the culprits were not acquainted with the victims, the NPA said.
© Japan Today
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combinibento
There had to have been exponentially more than that... Last year I received emails, on two separate occasions, from my kid's elementary school warning all the parents of attempted kidnappings. (Someone drives up to a kid walking home and asks them to get into the car.) And this is in a fairly good neighborhood. Of course I can't count how many times the school has emailed notices of molestations and other sexual assaults...
B.B.Q.Demon
Perverts trying to get kids in their cars has happened at least twice here, just at our little elementary school alone, in the last five years, and we live in the sticks.
LFRAgain
It's terrifying to know that there are at this many child predators loose on the streets of Japan. If there ever was an impetus for communities to smash down those artificially imposed barriers of social decorum that prevent neighbors from even acknowleging one another in the mornings, this is it. The police are not up to the task of addressing this issue. It takes close-knit communities to protect our young.
OldHawk
Gee Japan, do ya think you should maybe be looking into a solution for this? Before more people lose their children?
Disillusioned
More statistics with no action! When will they start believing that Japan is not as safe as the tourist brochures state! Yeah, it's safe if you are a middle aged male, but for women and children it is not very safe at all! These sicko predators are everywhere! These kidnapping statistics should be combined with the up skirt photographers, panty thieves and train gropers, the you will see the true dark side of japanese society. There is an unhealthy obsession with young women and sex in Japan and the frequency of these kinds of incidents are proof of it. Ban AKB!