Japanese urged to take pride in their safe society

TOKYO —

When the media report on violent crime, juvenile delinquency and other social problems, it’s common to see such terms as “kyuzo” (rapidly increasing), “kyoaku-ka” (becoming more vicious) and “teinenrei-ka” (occurring from an earlier age) appearing in headlines.

But such assertions don’t coincide with the statistical data, writes Koichi Hamai, a professor of law at Kyoto’s Ryukoku University in the biweekly magazine Sapio (July 8). Hamai’s essay is one of several that take up the theme “Nihonjin de Yokatta” (it’s good to be Japanese).

Hamai is convinced the print and broadcast media are responsible for advancing a growing perception that Japan’s public order is on the decline. As an example he cites a “Yoron Chosa” survey by the Prime Minister’s office taken in 2006, in which 84.3% of the respondents voiced belief that law and order had declined from 10 years earlier.

That high figure, Hamai believes, was inflated by two major incidents in the mid-1990s: the toxic nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system by members of the Aum religious cult in March 1995, and the arrest of 14-year-old serial killer “Sakakibara Seito,” who terrorized Kobe in the spring of 1997. The former raised the awareness that anyone might be vulnerable to crimes against the person; the latter persuaded the public that crimes by juveniles were becoming increasingly vicious and occurring from an earlier age.

Nevertheless, Hamai points out using eight graphs and tables, statistical data provide no evidence that Japan’s law and order situation is deteriorating. Take homicides, which in Japan in 2006 had declined to 1.1 per 100,000 people, from 1.2 two years previously. The corresponding rates are 3.2 in France, 3.0 in Germany, 2.6 in the UK and 5.7 in the U.S.

Rates for crimes by juveniles are not increasing as a percentage of overall crimes; nor do they show any tendency to occur from an earlier age.

Hamai also points out that rates for crimes by non-Japanese—most of which involve violations of the immigration laws or misdemeanors—are “extremely low” relative to the total number of crimes, and there’s nothing to suggest they are increasing.

How then, can the public’s view be so out of whack with the official figures? Hamai lays the blame squarely on overdramatization by the mass media. In Hamai’s own research conducted in 2006, 50% of his subjects agreed that “crime has increased nationwide over the previous two years”; but when asked if they felt crime had increased in their own neighborhood, only 4% replied yes.

Rather than confine reporting to the particulars of specific incidents, the media provoke a sense of crisis through shrill remarks about “the decline of morals (among youth)” or how “Japan is being targeted (by foreigners)”—-treating specific incidents as symbolic of the overall malaise pervading Japan.

Hamai concludes with a plea for society to devote efforts that better reflect social changes, such as through proactive measures to discourage crimes by the elderly due to poverty and alienation.

› Login to comment

Latest 15 of 97 Total Comments Show All

Stanley50 at 05:13 PM JST - 29th June

A few years back, when my mates and I were drinking in Osaka way past our bedtime, I got the notion to heave a bicycle at a garbage truck. I was shocked at the garbage truck driver`s reaction as he got out of the truck and shouted at me and then slapped the taste out of my mouth. Good thing my mates held me back or he woulda been sorry.

So, in closing. Japan - a safe country? I don`t think so.
griff at 07:25 PM JST - 29th June

A few years back, when my mates and I were drinking in Osaka way past our bedtime, I got the notion to heave a bicycle at a garbage truck. I was shocked at the garbage truck driver`s reaction as he got out of the truck and shouted at me and then slapped the taste out of my mouth. Good thing my mates held me back or he woulda been sorry.

wait a minute... you got drunk and tried to throw a bicycle at a truck and are surprised that you angered the driver? reality check: if you want to go around acting like a drunken a-hole, expect to the less-than-meek side of the japanese.

if you wouldn't do it back home, don't do it here
UnagiDon at 08:39 PM JST - 29th June

Well-said Griffin. Japan is a safe country relative to others, but drunken idiocy will not result in Zen-like tolerance. Plus personal anecdotes count for squat, as does the paranoia and xenophobia a few posters have displayed.
flatearther at 03:34 AM JST - 30th June

@Stanley50- Try throwing anything at a truck in America or Britain, you'll get more than a pottymouth and a hangover, my friend.
Japan-a safe country? For respectful people who know better than to throw things like children, drunk or sober? Yes.
fightfan2008 at 08:57 AM JST - 30th June

A few years back, when my mates and I were drinking in Osaka way past our bedtime, I got the notion to heave a bicycle at a garbage truck. I was shocked at the garbage truck driver`s reaction as he got out of the truck and shouted at me and then slapped the taste out of my mouth. Good thing my mates held me back or he woulda been sorry.

Is this you in by any chance?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfTMfqvl0iQ
Stanley50 at 11:12 AM JST - 30th June

Is this you in by any chance? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfTMfqvl0iQ

That`s not me.

The garbageman who slapped me was much bigger.
Altria at 11:17 AM JST - 30th June

A few years back, when my mates and I were drinking in Osaka way past our bedtime, I got the notion to heave a bicycle at a garbage truck. I was shocked at the garbage truck driver`s reaction as he got out of the truck and shouted at me and then slapped the taste out of my mouth. Good thing my mates held me back or he woulda been sorry.

Anata no shatsu, kowareru!
griff at 11:27 AM JST - 30th June

Japan-a safe country? For respectful people who know better than to throw things like children, drunk or sober? Yes.

well... not throwing bicycles is a good way to lessen your chances of running into trouble, but is not a guarantee. our lad who got bludgeoned to death by one of his chums the other week wasn't a bicycle thrower
Stanley50 at 12:35 PM JST - 30th June

Look, I learned my lesson. I`m not gonna chuck bicycles at garbage trucks ever again.

yes, indeed, Altria, watashi no shaatsu kowareru.
MagnusGarstin at 01:08 PM JST - 30th June

Lindsay Ann Hawker didn't throw any bicycles as far as I'm aware - but she still ended up tortured, murdered and buried in a bath full of sand. Japan's safer than the US or UK I agree, but it's certainly no Shangri-La.
Stanley50 at 02:43 PM JST - 30th June

It`s not safer than Hawaii apparently. Peeing in the park will net you 2 nights in lockup.
griff at 03:43 PM JST - 30th June

Peeing in the park will net you 2 nights in lockup.

don't pee in the park. it's too risky you might catch a glimpse of one of the members of SMAP

boom boom!
aj2o1 at 01:27 PM JST - 3rd July

A few years back, when my mates and I were drinking in Osaka way past our bedtime, I got the notion to heave a bicycle at a garbage truck. I was shocked at the garbage truck driver`s reaction as he got out of the truck and shouted at me and then slapped the taste out of my mouth. Good thing my mates held me back or he woulda been sorry.

So, in closing. Japan - a safe country? I don`t think so. >

The driver had every right to react the way he did. YOU were behaving like the hooligan in HIS country. In closing, the driver's trying to keep Japan safe.
ca1ic0cat at 01:20 AM JST - 7th July

I've never had any trouble in Japan so I would say it is pretty safe. The Japanese are certainly tolerant of polite drunks. But people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw bicycles.

Women need to be careful anywhere as there are always freaks in any society. But that is still the exception to the rule.
rogerbentham at 08:16 PM JST - 10th July

hell this country's filled w/ geisers, and in another ten, nearly everybody's going to be an old fart.