/townhall/ - Townhall

Lower poverty index, as well as a smaller and more sparse population. Also not that many young people to make such terrible choices.

>>12103
>a smaller ... population.
Japan isn't tiny, its population (125.7 million) is equal to 38% of the US population (331.9 million).

>more sparse population
Tokyo's population density is 16,480 people/mile^2, between that of New York (29,091 people/mile^2) and Chicago (12,060 people/mile^2).

>Also not that many young people
True; young males commit the most violent crime.  But this alone isn't enough to explain Japan's low crime rates.  

>Lower poverty index,
Japan's poverty rate is 15.7%, which is only a little below the US poverty rate (17.3%).

>>12102
The Japanese state convicts fewer people of crime, I gather.  The number of convictions is determined by the state and is not to be criticized.

>>12102
A number of items, from legal to cultural, as well as a particularly homogeneous culture at that.
Harshness of their enforcement also plays a role.

I'm going to guess two things.

One, low drug use. A lot of crime in the west is tied to drug use, either directly or indirectly. As for the second, there is a culture of not reporting and the police not investigating. Japanese law enforcement is very "all-or-nothing". If at all possible they'll say that a crime didn't happen or let the community punish it, but if they don't have a choice they come down hard. Not reporting crime does wonders to keep crime low.

>>12123
Look at murder rates; the police don't just ignore a dead body.

>>12102

I'm guessing that a lot of people are hikkikomori somehow has something to do with it (https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14642030).

>>12125
Nani?  Japan definitely has social problems like hikkikomori, but how is that related to the violent crime rate?

>>12126

Someone could probably link it back to the culture more scientifically somehow, but I speculate that their presence reduces violent crime perhaps by acting as a psychological buffer of sorts.

>>12124
In a Japanese jurisdiction I absolutely expect murders to be unreported, at least on an "official" capacity, and they may only count a murder statistically if it has been proven and successfully prosecuted. Otherwise no reason to sully the country's "honor" with something so speculative as a mere dead body or a missing person who could have just as easily run away from home. Their car abandoned in the canal with blood all over the passenger seat means nothing, they probably eloped. You know how kids are these days.



It doesn't take much digging to see that trust in the Japanese police is among the lowest in the industrialized world.

>>12126
The mentally ill and chronically unemployed isolate from society more in Japan. There's been occasional serial killers and mass stabbings in Japan's history but lack of access to firearms likely makes it harder for spree killers to become a phenomenon.

For Japan's low violent crime rate, I don't trust Japan's stats on almost anything but lack of urban getthos compared to other industrialized countries, strict gun control, and low drug use all contribute to lower crime.particularly that Japan's corporatist system contributes to a pack of the kind of gettbos you see in say america or France. Crime in these areas is more caused by chronic extreme unemployment rather than poverty per se. A poor person with a job will rather work than take the risk of being in a gang but if there are zero available jobs... Japan used to have an issue with street gangs in the 70s and 80s but reducing urban getthoisation seems to have solved the issue.

It isn't the "politically correct" answer but there are no minorities or immigrants committing crimes and sucking up taxpayer money. Everybody in Japanese society is Japanese so they all know the rules and where they belong.

>>12240
Yes, I think at least in America, black people are more criminal.  It may be so in other countries as well.  Note, this is not a moral judgement.  States determine who is criminal and will be respected, but states are amoral and crime is not itself a reason to have negative opinions about racial groups.  But people are free to have negative opinions about racial groups if they prefer.  I believe it's important to allow various opinions about things.

I don't have links to studies at the moment, but it seems pretty clear-cut that the primary reason is human capital investment. The Japanese government as well as the general culture and society puts an emphasis on universal health care that actually works, prestigious educational systems that actually work, employment training organizational programs that actually work, and so on. Japan is not a 'sink or swim' culture akin to the United States where everybody is basically out for themselves. Such as whether or not you have employable type skills is viewed as 100% on you rather than something that can be influenced by broader culture... those American principles are an anathema in that nation. Japan is an extremely capitalist place in the technical sense, particularly given the business practices financially, but the psychological ethos is almost completely socialist.

I need to highlight and then underline that this observation is not inherently an ethically benevolent thing (nor is it inherently an abominable thing). Objectively? It's complex. One can certainly have the opinion that relying on such a socialist mindset with an emphasis on human capital investment will in the long-run result in social stagnation and particularly economic problems. Cultural chaos can mean cultural growth. Japan has by now had several 'lost decades'. Many people who live there or have lived there find the ethos too 'conformist' and talk about the ability to express themselves more freely. It's all a matter with a lot of 'shades of grey'.