The annual per capita incidence of violent incidents
                 has rocketed by 50 per cent in the past decade

                 TOKYO -- Violent crime in Japan is at a 23-year high
                 -- and rising, a chilling trend attributed by police to the
                 country's failure to fix its decade-long economic
                 stagnation, as well as the unravelling of strong social
                 controls which made it a safe and orderly place.

                 Once known as one of the world's safest countries,
                 Japan is now experiencing a murder rate higher than that
                 of Britain, though still only one-sixth that of the US.

                 "My daughter died in Tokyo, which is supposed to be
                 the safest city in the world, at the busiest place in the
                 city, in broad daylight," said the father of 29-year-old
                 Mami Takahashi, who was stabbed to death by a
                 stranger who rampaged through a crowded shopping
                 district last September. Only recently, a 26-year-old
                 motorist in a rural town in eastern Japan flew into a road
                 rage after a minor accident, beat another driver with a
                 crowbar and ran over her body as he drove away.

                 In urban Kyoto, a stranger approached a group of
                 children on an elementary school playground and slit the
                 throat of a seven-year-old with a knife.

                 These chilling crimes from the past 10 months are part of
                 a surge in murders, assaults, robberies and rapes
                 throughout Japan, a trend that is arousing deep concern
                 and eroding the country's long-standing reputation for
                 extraordinary safety.

                 The annual per-capita incidence of murder, rape, arson
                 and assault in Japan increased by 11 per cent last year,
                 and has rocketed by 50 per cent in the past decade,
                 according to National Police Agency statistics.

                 More ominously, the increase came even though Japan's
                 population on average has passed the youthful
                 crime-prone years, a maturation which should be
                 producing a drop in crime.

                 Instead, said analysts, the advent of two working
                 parents, fewer and "spoiled" children, increased mobility,
                 materialism and the loss of family and community
                 authority had led to greater lawlessness. The economy
                 plays a leading role in the rise in crime. Police say armed
                 robbery is the fastest-rising violent crime.

                 Japan's stagnation has led to a rise in joblessness,
                 creating more desperate unemployed and leaving new
                 entrants to the job market with no work and few hopes
                 for the future.

                 "The nature of offences committed by juveniles becomes
                 more serious. Only a decade ago, we wouldn't find
                 assaults committed by gangs of juveniles," said
                 criminologist Toyo Attsumi at Chuo University. "Now
                 it's common."

                 Other, more long-lasting changes in the society are also
                 at work. In less than 40 years, Japan has changed from
                 a mostly rural to a mostly urban society.

                 Family sizes have shrunk and more mothers are
                 working. The result is that many social controls have
                 crumbled. -- Washington Post

                       Adapted from The Straits Times, 12 Feb 2000.