Japan sees a rise in violent crimes: Women and the Elderly at Higher Risk

• Anoma van der Veere

  Correspondent Japan

An 18-year-old woman is found dead in the waiting room of a busy train station in Japan. Her 29-year-old ex-boyfriend stabbed her to death after days of stalking and jumped in front of the train himself.

The incident has gripped Japan. The woman had said on social media that she was afraid of him, and friends told the media that she had broken up because of domestic violence. Despite the warning signs, she was publicly murdered.

The attention paid to this murder is exemplary for the state of Japan. The number of crimes rose for the first time in twenty years, by almost 6 percent. Japan is still one of the safest countries in the world, but the number of violent crimes on the streets, the number of rapes and the number of assault scams are growing.

Almost a third of the crimes reported to the police are committed on the street. Due to the gradual lifting of corona restrictions, the number of people on the streets has increased and the number of crimes in public has increased. For example, the number of assaults in public space increased by almost 10 percent.

The number of sexual offenses, both indoors and outdoors, also rose sharply. The number of rapes increased by almost 20 percent in national statistics. In 96 percent of the cases, the victims were women.

This also applies to domestic violence, of which a record number of more than 84,000 reports will be made in 2022. According to the United Nations, there is a shadow pandemic, with domestic violence increasing due to strict corona rules.

In Japan, a change in the law also contributes to the higher figure. Previously, victims could only turn to the police for physical domestic violence and they had to be able to prove that they had been abused. Now psychological abuse also belongs to this category.

The rise in crime rates is fueling a sense of insecurity among the population. According to research by the National Police, more than three-quarters of Japanese people feel unsafe. This is partly because a number of high-profile crimes have been widely reported in the media.

Such as the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot dead with a self-made weapon in broad daylight during a campaign speech. Two months later, a man strangled his wife and daughter, and not much later, another man committed a triple murder by gruesomely killing his retired neighbors and their daughter. It created a culture of fear in a short period of time.

Despite the focus on these types of crimes, Japan saw a drop in homicides. The crime rate is rising mainly due to non-fatal violent crimes and scams, especially on the internet.

Many Japanese are afraid of falling victim to online scams. In this strongly aging country, an increasing number of elderly people, especially with dementia, are falling victim to this. Banking matters are more often done on the internet, and the elderly who have little knowledge or experience in banking quickly fall prey to scammers who offer high interest rates and demand money deposits, or pretend to be a family member and need money quickly.

The number of young people falling victim to online scams is also increasing, mainly via social media. Organized gangs offer quick money for “shadow jobs,” luring unwitting teens and twenty-somethings to places where they are mugged. Young people are also sometimes forced to transport drugs or participate in robberies and burglaries.

“It is the government’s responsibility to protect the safety of its citizens,” Japanese Prime Minister Kishida said. Japan spends a large portion of its budget on policing and enforcement, and many local neighborhood organizations patrol neighborhoods to ensure safety.

Despite this, the country is struggling with an increasing crime rate. The government has instructed the police to take tougher action against theft and burglary.

Kishida has also indicated that it will focus more on online crime and wants to fight organized crime on the internet. With this, the government hopes to reduce the number of crimes again.