In 2023, more than 700,000 crimes were committed in Japan,
which represents an increase of 17% compared to the previous year.
The worsening situation is reflected above all in robberies, which increased by more than 20%, murders and sexual assaults, which increased by 30%, and kidnappings and human trafficking, by 40%.
However, between 2000 and 2022, the rate of crime and criminality had dropped.
The contrast is such that now only 64% of respondents describe Japan as a safe country.
This contrasts with 80 or even 90% 10 or 20 years ago.
Since the beginning of 2024, the Japanese have a very visible sign of this insecurity, which has shocked Japanese society.
Among the victims of this crime there are thousands of victims of the catastrophe.
Anyone living in Noto Hantô - the peninsula devastated by more than 1,500 earthquakes last month - has witnessed
a succession of looting of damaged houses
, from which their occupants have had to flee because they were in danger of collapsing.
Likewise, embezzlements increase.
The insecurity is such that
a thousand video surveillance cameras have had to be installed
.
And the neighbors have come to form "citizen militias" that patrol the area at night.
How to explain this sudden increase in crime?
Rising prices are one of the answers, while wages do not increase.
Difficult economic context
The impoverishment resulting from this mismatch between prices and wages
contributes to the increase in robberies and robberies.
This difficult economic climate is also straining relationships within couples and families.
Proof of this is the increase in cases of domestic violence and child abuse.
This deterioration in security is also believed to be
a delayed consequence of the Covid-19 epidemic
.
The sectors that were paralyzed at the time of the confinements have laid off a large number of people.
In the restaurant, hospitality, events and tourism sectors, for example, many workers have lost their jobs.
The impoverishment resulting from this mismatch between prices and wages contributes to the increase in robberies and robberies.
Photo EFE
In Japan, sub-statutory or irregular employment contracts do not entitle workers to unemployment benefits after being laid off.
According to the police, several of these precarious employees who had lost their jobs had resorted to what is known here as "yami baito",
or "shadow jobs."
Finally, according to experts, all these years of social distancing have taken a toll on mental health.
There are countless Japanese people who are so depressed that they have decided to die, but are unable to commit suicide.
So they choose to commit "indiscriminate" or "undifferentiated" murders.
That is to say, they attack people they do not know:
they set buildings on fire, stab passers-by
in the street or on trains, make homemade bombs and carry out attacks... In this way, they are sure of dying, since the perpetrators of mass murders They are automatically sentenced to death in Japan.
Source: RFI
P.B.