JAPAN: Crime Rise Shatters Public’s Sense of Security

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Nov 13 1995 (IPS) - Japan once prided itself on being one of the safest countries in the world, but an alarming increase in crimes in the past two years has badly shaken the public’s sense of security.

Osamu Tomita longingly recalls the time when he could leave his small jewellery and watch store without fear of being attacked and without worrying about anyone breaking in during the night.

“The keys I carried were more than enough to safeguard my shop. I could trust my customers completely,” says the 56-year- old Tokyo businessman.

But with the high crime rate these days, Tomita is no longer so sure. And he is not taking any chances — he now closes shop early and goes to the bank to deposit his daily earnings, which in the past he would just keep in the store’s safe.

Tomita does not carry a gun for protection. Under Japan’s firearms control laws — the most stringent in the world — the possession of a gun or bullets is punishable by hefty fines and anyone caught using the weapon against another human being faces life imprisonment.

Indeed even the Japanese police, except for special squads, are not permitted to use their pistols, which are so small that they are often no match to the sophisticated weapons used by criminal syndicates.

As a result, the Japanese people’s confidence in the ability of the security forces to protect them has greatly eroded. Bar hostesses now carry weapons for self-protection, and Japan’s subways are being policed by civilians.

The National Police Agency reports that 1,131 guns were seized last year. Murders committed using handguns have been most conspicuous in recent months. Forty-nine gun-related deaths and more than a hundred shooting incidents have been reported this year, up 80 per cent from 1990.

Gun violence used to be restricted to the Yakuza, the Japanese version of the mafia. These days, however, more and more ordinary Japanese are becoming victims — and perpetrators — of shootings.

Gun fights among rival gangsters continue to make up the majority of gun incidents in the country, but there has also been an increase in robberies and revenge killings by ordinary Japanese lately.

A crime that shook the very foundations of Japanese society occurred earlier this year when the nation’s police chief, Takaji Kunisaki, was attacked in broad daylight by gunmen believed to be members of Aum Shinrikyo, a doomsday cult linked to a deadly nerve gas attack on Tokyo’s subway system in March.

Kunisaki, in charge of investigations into the apocalyptic sect, was shot several times as he came out of his apartment building. The lack of security for Kunisaki made it very easy for his attackers, who fled on board a bicycle, to execute the crime.

“The incident shows how completely unprepared Japan is for serious crime,” says crime expert Hiroaki Iwai. “Cushioned for years by what we thought was our specially safe homogeneous society we are only now being rudely awakened to the bitter reality.”

In a bid to prepare for what the police and crime experts acknowledge is a rising trend, the government has further tightened its gun ban laws.

In September, at the urging of the police, legislators passed new laws making it illegal to fire a gun or receive mail-order weapons. Offenders faces prison terms of three to five years.

Japanese police have also begun to link up with their counterparts in other countries which they say is crucial to protecting Japan from handgun crime.

A meeting here last week between police authorities from 12 countries including China, the United States, Malaysia and South Africa ended with a statement calling on all police organisations to work harder to curb the proliferation of guns in their countries.

Japanese police say 90 per cent of guns in Japan are smuggled from abroad. The United States, China, the Philippines, South Korea, Russia and Thailand are the main gun sources for Japanese gangsters.

Iwai says gun smuggling is a highly lucrative business in Japan. A U.S.-made colt revolver, for example, fetches about 3,000 dollars on the underground market — almost 10 times the price in the United States.

Japan’s economic recession has only encouraged the trade. Sailors are bringing back weapons for a fee, some from as far away as South Africa.

Gangsters are also selling their weapons to support their organisations which have been battered by new anti-gang laws and falling membership in recent years.

Crime experts say gangsters have thousands of firearms in their possession. “Trying to control them is going to be very tough,” says Iwai, who warns that current trends indicate Japan may see an even greater increase in crimes in the coming years.