Japan as a Low-Crime Nation

Japan as a Low-Crime Nation Dag Leonardsen Lillehammer University College, Norway

* © Dag Leonardsen 2004 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2004

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PALGRA VE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St Martin's Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries.

ISBN 978-1-349-52044-2 DOI 10.1057/9780230511538

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Leonardsen, Dag.

japan as a low-crime nation I by Dag Leonardsen. p. em.

Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4039-4111-4 1. Crime-japan. 2. Crime-Sociological aspects-japan. 3. Social values-japan. 4. japan-Social conditions-1945- I. Title.

HV7113.5.l46 2004 364.952-dc22 2004042840

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04

To Maja

Contents

List of Figures and Tables

Preface

Part I Theoretical and Methodological Clarifications

1. The Western Welfare Paradox. Or: Why is Japan an Interesting Case?

The negative case of Japan The Western welfare paradox The failure of sociology? The end of the state? Right and left reactions Value conflicts between economy and society Have socio-economic values gained the upper hand

in Japanese society? Organization of this book

2. Is Japan Really a Low-Crime Nation?

A theoretical comment on comparative analysis: On ernie and etic concepts and the social construction of crime

The social construction of crime statistics Crime in the private sphere - how

big is the iceberg? White collar crime - extensive but impossible

to validate and compare What do statistics tell us? What do criminological scholars tell us? What does popular information on Japan tell us? Defining the field: narrowing the concept of crime Organized crime as a methodological challenge Economic equality and low unemployment

rates- alternative explanations to little crime?

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3

3 4 7 8

10 12

15 20

22

23 29

33

35 38 42 45 46 47

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3. Why Has Modernization in the West Been Synonymous with Increased Crime? Is Rapid Social Change Synonymous with Loss of Moral Sentiments and Loss of Community? S 7

Social disruption as the consequence of structural changes 60 Social disruption as the consequence of cultural

and moral decay 7 5

Part II Japan as a Low-Crime Nation

4. A Cultural, Sociological and Criminological Description of Japanese Society 87

Introduction 87 On the definition of culture 88 Japan: a country that needs 'thick description' 90

S. Look to Japan? 159 Introduction 159 Crime as the result of social exclusion 163 Crime as the result of cultural values and individual choice 170 Is there a lesson to be learnt from Japan? 174

Notes 189

References 212

Index 222

List of Figures and Tables

Figures

1.1 The connection between the economic and the socio-cultural system in Western capitalistic countries and in Japan 15

2.1 Trends in number of reported cases, number of persons cleared, and crime rate for penal code offences in Japan (1946-2000) 39

2.2 Trends in the total number of major crimes reported to the police 1979-88, for different countries 40

3.1 A schematic model of negative social impacts of modernization

Tables

1.1 Basic values in the (liberalistic) economic and (solidaristic) socio-cultural system

2.1 Number of homicide cases reported, crime rate and clearance rate 1986-88, for different countries

5.1 The Western, the Japanese and the Utopian society in a criminological perspective

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61

12

41

175

Preface

In February, 1998 I visited the Japanese town of Nagano (360,000 inhabitants), to watch the XV Olympic Winter Games. Towards the end of the Games I interviewed the police about the impact on crime of such a big event. I was surprised to hear that two days before the closing ceremony only two people had been arrested (one Norwegian and one Swedish: both were journalists). With the exception of these minor episodes due to the consumption of too much sake (Japanese wine) by the Nordic journalists, the police had not disclosed any serious infringements. Despite the huge int1ux of people, and 14 days of heavy partying, this extraordinary situation had apparently not been exploited for criminal purposes (according to the police). My own impression confirmed the police report. At least from a tourist's point of view, the streets felt very safe.

I had the same impression from the other Japanese towns I visited. What I had read in my tourist guidebook, 1 and what I continually was told by people, matched closely my own observations. Walking the streets of Tokyo at midnight I was never worried about crime. And, being a very absent-minded person, I experienced that my camera, my bag, and a jacket that I had at different times left behind me, were shortly afterwards brought back to me.

My story does not end here. My first meeting with Japan should not only be told with words of absence. The absence of street crimes should be supplemented with a positive story of the presence of friendliness and hospitality.2 From the very minute I landed at Narita Airport in Tokyo I was taken care of in a most friendly way. Not only my hosts, but also people in general were much more obliging and helpful than I have experienced in any Western country. Whenever I found myself hesitating at a street corner, unsure where to go, I was immediately supported and guided by friendly members of the public. Travelling back to Norway, I experienced a minor cultural shock on changing (in Amsterdam) from Japan Airlines to a Western company. When I had checked in with Japan Airlines for my return t1ight I had been lucky to avoid any queuing. Nevertheless, I was met with a friendly smile and a comment about 'sorry to keep you waiting'! In other words: absence of street crime seemed to go in tandem with the presence of a general friendliness.

For a sociologist, experiences like this are a bit surprising. They do not match with our textbook view of the world! Big cities (like Tokyo) and

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social turbulence (like the Olympics in Nagano) should be synonymous with high crime rates. If there are any nomothetic relationships documented in the social sciences, the link between urbanization, rapid social change, and crime is one of them. Also, an urban lifestyle should be synonymous with a blase, reserved, aloof, sophisticated, unconcerned, cold and rational way of behaving. Naturally, my curiosity was triggered by my Japanese experience. If my observations were valid, how could it be that a modernized and urbanized country like Japan had managed to avoid some of the devils of modernization?

Back in Norway I noticed with surprise that I started scrutinizing my own behaviour in Japan. This was also a new experience. Staying in Japan for only a relatively short time (altogether four visits, each lasting some two weeks) had made me wonder about the qualities of Japanese culture. Even more important, my visits had given me a mirror to place against my own culture and in which to study my own way of behaving. As I started reading my first books about Japan, I became more and more embarrassed about my own behaviour during my stay. As a matter of fact, I had a feeling of shame. During my stay I had obviously lacked sensitivity, lacked alertness, been too talkative, too direct and inquisitive in my behaviour. I had used my mouth much more than my eyes and ears, I had been too much in search of rational and logical answers instead of being perceptive of ambiguous observations and formulations. Back in Norway my superego turned on me and invited a new interest in the sociological tradition called symbolic interactionism. How had my own 'presentation of the self in everyday life' been during my stay in Japan? Had I mis-managed my identity? Had I been able to reach behind the front stage of Japan? Had I been able to interpret the meaning of the many performative aspects of Japanese culture? Had I played my own role on the Japanese stage as a humble stranger, or had I (unconsciously) given myself a prominent role? The answer was obvious. On my first night, I had not paid much attention to the personal cards I received. I had put them carelessly into my pocket instead of having a special case for cards. In Japan one does not put the signifier of a human being into a dirty pocket! I had also helped myself to the drinks that were served instead of waiting until somebody cared for me. At the official tea cere­mony to which I was invited, I was unable to read the subtle meaning of this performance and, consequently, made some mistakes. And during my two-hour ride with my colleague, I probably talked much more than SO per cent of the time. Fortunately, I brought my hosts some presents from Norway. But too late I discovered that the wrapping of my presents was more important than the content. Just handing over an unwrapped

Preface xiii

bottle of Norwegian Aqua Vita represented another breach of Japanese etiquette.

Let me end this masochistic scrutiny of my own performance in Japan (which could have been extended considerably) and return to a more analytical perspective. If my observations concerning little crime in Japan are valid- how should this phenomenon be interpreted? And if my description of Japanese society as a kind of 'belly communicating culture' could be defended - are there any links between this observation and the apparently low crime rates in this country? To the extent that Japan might be described as a 'defensive shame culture' - are there any links between such a cultural characteristic and little crime? These ques­tions are the main challenges I try to address in this book. It is a book about crime and (Japanese) culture. Nonetheless, this topic should be of interest in a broader perspective.

For more than 40 years Western scholars as well as politicians have discussed policies to prevent crime. Apparently, crime rates have increased in proportion to the accumulating criminological knowledge and in proportion to the policies of deterrence. The more the social sciences can teach us about causes of social and individual malfunctioning, the worse the figures of misery depicting human existence seem to have become. It has even been argued that the study of crime has contributed to a debilitating social response to crime, rather than the opposite. From this, it is tempting to conclude that, until now, the criminological stock of knowledge has either not been applied/applicable, or- worse- it has been quite simply wrong and- consequently- dysfunctional! The con­fidence that the social sciences will one day come up with some kind of remedial social engineering knowledge seems to be vanishing. However, the case of Japan might hide the missing link in the criminological stock of knowledge. It might be that crime prevention is not so much a question of policies of social engineering, but more a question of a holistic cultural analysis. For some years 'Asian values' have been the focus of economic and organizational studies. The Japanese economic wonder (until 1990!) has been explained with reference to specific cultural characteristics in this society. Should the same perspective be applied to the question of crime prevention? This is the main underlying question behind my interest in Japan, Japanese crime and Japanese culture. Could Japan teach Western societies a lesson on curbing crime?

The work presented in this book was prepared while I took my sabbatical in 2000-2001. During that year I had the chance to do my research and to teach at the Institute of Criminology, Victoria University, New Zealand. I would like to express my gratitude to my own institution, Lillehammer

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University College, for giving me this chance to do my research and for economic support. Next, I appreciate the chance I was given by Allison Morris and john Pratt to stay at the Institute of Criminology, Victoria University. Most of the chapters in this book were presented to my students at the 'honours course'. Discussion with students and teachers at the Institute of Criminology provided important feedback and further stimu­lation in my work. I express special gratitude to Willem deLint, not only for being a very patient and stimulating commentator, but also for helping me translating my 'Englichian' (a strange combination of English and Norwegian) into a readable manuscript. His contribution to this book is invaluable. I am very grateful to Reece Walters and Trevor Bradley at the Institute of Criminology for challenging me both professionally and as a soccer player.

Japan has appeared to me to be a very friendly country and this is not least due to the hospitality shown by two Japanese colleagues: Hirsohi Komuku and Kazunori Matsumura. During my four stays in Japan they have on each occasion assisted me in the most obliging way, and my daughter, Maja, is proud of knowing that 'she has a home in Japan'. Without the assistance of these two gentlemen and their gentle wives I would probably have been lost. Monica Nakamura deserves the same thanksgiving. She has been invaluable to me, both as a host and as a source of information. When De Mente writes about japanese people that 'they routinely go beyond expectations in their efforts to help visitors enjoy their country', these people I have mentioned can stand as typical representatives of this friendliness. Fujimoto Tetsuya has been very kind in permitting the re-print of two of his graphs from his book Crime Problems in Japan (Chuo University Press, Tokyo, 1994). Also, I would like to express my gratitude to Takeshi Koyanagi, Deputy Director at the Research and Training Institute, the Ministry of justice, for permission to reproduce figures from the White Paper on Crime. Kunihiko Sakai, Toru Miura, Kei Someda and Tomoko Akane, all employed by the United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders were very helpful during my stay at the Institute. Together with Hirsohi Tsutomi and Yoko Hosoi they have been very supportive of my search for data and knowledge of japanese society.

During my work on this project I have received travel and project grants from the Norwegian Non-Fiction Writers and Translators Associ­ation (NFF) and a travel grant from the Scandinavia-Japan Sasakawa Foundation. This made it possible to travel both to New Zealand and to Japan, and I am very grateful for this support. I have also received travel grants and economic support from my own college.

Preface xv

To me, Japan has represented an extraordinary experience. I have never had the opportunity not only of learning so much about a specific culture, but also of learning even more about my own culture. People need mirrors to see themselves. I do hope this book will function as such a mirror for all my readers.

Dag Leonardsen January 2004