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There is, however, a cost. Japans’s criminal justice system has a conviction rate in excess of 99%. Over 95% of those arrested sign confessions. The system has

There is, however, a cost. Japans’s criminal justice system has a conviction rate in excess of 99%. Over 95% of those arrested sign confessions. The system has been attacked by organisations like Amnesty International. There is, as I understand it, a pervasive view that all crime is committed by foreigners, which contributes to pervasive xenophobia. This compounds the issues of an aging and eventually shrinking population. The high work ethic also comes with its problems, like the number of deaths from overwork, and high rates of suicide and alcoholism. Crime in Japan is obviously low, and I’ve never felt safer anywhere in the world. But it’s too easy to just look at the surface like that; in reality, it’s complicated.

FabHK 9y ago
Japan also famously has a very low incidence of rape, though I wonder to what extent that is due to very low levels of reporting it. No doubt different ways of organising society come with trade-offs; and path dependent optimisation means it's not always possible to "switch" to a different local optimum. Nevertheless, I think * looking at how other countries do things and * realising how contingent some domestic norms are is rather educational and edifying.
- eesmith 9y ago
  I've learned over the last few years that rape reporting is not something which can be reliably compared between countries. If a woman reports to the police that her husband has raped her ever other day for a year, then is that 0 counts of rape (because marriage means permanent consent for sex), 1 count of rape (because it was reported once), or 180 counts of rape (because of each reported occurrence). (I say it was 180 counts of rape.) Different countries have different standards. According to https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2014/12/08/voices/foreign-students-account-treatment-rape-case-points-gaps-japans-safety-myth/ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2014/12/08/voices/for... , the definition of rape in Japan excludes things rape requires violence or threats. That article goes into more about some of the differences, including low levels of reporting it. As CityLab pointed out in the article, "The persistent problem of women and girls being groped, for example, led to the introduction of women-only cars on select lines starting in 2000."

FabHK 9y ago

Japan also famously has a very low incidence of rape, though I wonder to what extent that is due to very low levels of reporting it. No doubt different ways of organising society come with trade-offs; and path dependent optimisation means it's not always possible to "switch" to a different local optimum. Nevertheless, I think * looking at how other countries do things and * realising how contingent some domestic norms are is rather educational and edifying.

eesmith 9y ago
I've learned over the last few years that rape reporting is not something which can be reliably compared between countries. If a woman reports to the police that her husband has raped her ever other day for a year, then is that 0 counts of rape (because marriage means permanent consent for sex), 1 count of rape (because it was reported once), or 180 counts of rape (because of each reported occurrence). (I say it was 180 counts of rape.) Different countries have different standards. According to https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2014/12/08/voices/foreign-students-account-treatment-rape-case-points-gaps-japans-safety-myth/ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2014/12/08/voices/for... , the definition of rape in Japan excludes things rape requires violence or threats. That article goes into more about some of the differences, including low levels of reporting it. As CityLab pointed out in the article, "The persistent problem of women and girls being groped, for example, led to the introduction of women-only cars on select lines starting in 2000."