Blame it on the foreigner

[escos]

Author dismisses government's fear mongering myth of crime wave by foreigners

For years, people like Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara have been up in arms about rising crime rates among foreigners and juveniles in Japan, but one of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's public safety experts has come out to say the claims are groundless, according to Sunday Mainichi (12/31).

Ishihara and his ilk have long laid the blame on foreigners for a perceived worsening of public safety standards that has allowed the powers that be to strengthen and crack down on non-Japanese and teens.

But Hiroshi Kubo, the former head of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's Emergency Public Safety Task Force, says they've got it all wrong.

"Put simply, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's public safety policy involves telling people that public safety standards have worsened and police groups need strengthening to protect the capital's residents," Kubo tells Sunday Mainichi. "But I've realized there's something unnatural about this 'worsening.'"

In his newly released book, Kubo goes through the statistical data being used to justify taking a hard line on foreigners and kids and argues that maybe it's not quite all there. For instance, the growing crime rate in Tokyo is based on reported crimes, not actual crime cases. This means the count includes cases where people who have been scared into believing their safety is under such a threat they contact the police for any trifling matter only to be sent away with no action taken.

And taking a look back over the past 40 years shows that violent crimes by juveniles has actually declined. Current worries about how youths are becoming more criminally inclined -- and at a younger age -- sound like a recording of similar cries dating back to the '60s.

Crimes by foreigners have long been highlighted, but there's little to suggest that Tokyo or Japan is in the midst of a violent crime spree. In 2002, there were 102 non-Japanese arrested in Tokyo for violent crimes including murder, armed robbery, arson and rape. The following year, that number jumped to 156, fell back to 117 in 2004 and was just 84 in 2005. And the number of violent crimes foreigners are committing in Tokyo is not a patch on the Japanese, who account for about 1,000 cases a year.

Kubo says authorities are merely fear mongering, taking statistics that work in their favor and molding them to suit their purposes. National Police Agency data is used the same way as authorities are doing in Tokyo, spreading fear nationwide.

"There's an underlying current of anxiety throughout society. People have no idea what's going to happen in the future, they're worried about employment and pay and declining living standards and somebody who's going to openly talk about the reason for their anxieties is going to attract their interest," the public safety expert tells Sunday Mainichi. "Say somebody comes out and says 'foreigners' violent crimes are all to blame' then anxious people are going to go along with that. And the national government, prefectural governments, police and the media all jump on the bandwagon and believe what's being said." (By Ryann Connell)

[ondraedan]

To be fair, considering the noticeable lack of foreigners in Tokyo, 84 foreign cases still seems like a high number compared to only 1000 Japanese. Poor show chaps! Let's not let the side down! It's just not cricket, what what! That number would inevitably go up if there were more foreigners (though it might go down if they stopped treating us like aliens). Fairplay to old Kubo though, for actually trying to be rational and a politician.

[travisp]

the question that should be asked is what are those foreigners doing in Japan?


chances are they are probably hired goones for Kabuki-cho or some other nefarious district.


and what about foreigner related crime in other parts of the country? is this a Tokyo phenomenon or a Japan wide thing, because from what I've been able to see, Tokyo is a lot different than the rest of the country

[panda]

as a random aside, i went to the imperial palace earlier today for the emperor's birthday (normally i wouldn't care but it's one of only 2 days in the entire year when the general public is allowed to enter the interior palace grounds) (fyi: it's drab and boring, don't bother) and as i was leaving, there were all these goodfella-looking gangstar types taking a picture next to some rightist propaganda by the gates. it was surreal, it was like a japanese version of The Sopranos. I mean, they had the fat guy, the shady looking Paulie type, the patriach, the ancient guy, etc. and they were rocking every gangster suit stereotype: the white head to toe columbian cartedl suit with the nero collar look, the thick chalkstripe on black look (complete with a fedora!!), the greasy slicked back hair and gangsta sunglasses, they even stood with their legs apart and hands folded in front as if posing for the cover of a magazine or something.

i wanted to take a picture so badly but i was afraid they might shoot me as let's just say the security procedure at the palace was.... lax... to say the least. (police girl: *open's messenger bag* Okay! You're fine! panda: "umm, don't you want to check inside the rather large camera bag i have inside there too? girl: "do you have some weapons inside there?" panda: "well no, but you know..." girl: "oh it's okay then, just go through!" panda: "....")

anyway, just wanted to share this little anecdote since we were on the topic of criminals.

i'm sleepy. sorry this was incoherent.