Comments

Posts

Number of crimes committed by foreigners in Japan fell in 2008

The number of crimes committed by foreign visitors in Japan fell in 2008 for the third consecutive year to 31,280, down 12.6 percent from the previous year, the National Police Agency said Thursday.

The number of foreign criminals, excluding permanent residents, also dropped in 2008 for a third straight year to 13,872, down 12.8 percent, it said.

—

Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

20 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - February 27, 2009 at 7:02 am

Categories: Foreigners in Japan Tags:

http://id.jabunta.com roded

what kind of crimes do the foreigners usually commit? any information?
Jake

Last time I checked, roughly half of all offenses committed by foreigners were visa violations. The majority of the rest were thefts (breaking and entering, purse snatchings, petty theft, and so on). All the stats are on the national police agency’s homepage, although the English stats leave out a lot of the information included in the Japanese stats.
Level3

Although we should all remember that it isn’t really the “number of crimes committed by foreigners” it’s either the “number of arrests of foreigners” which is reported in the most-often cited police data, or “number of convictions” which is less-often reported but could be called “crimes committed by foreigners” as we have have SOME definition, but mere arrest does not equal crime. Further, neither data set indicates actual guilt.

How can they [or any police agency anywhere] know which crimes were ACTUALLY committed by foreigners? Except for, obviously, the visa violations, which can only be committed by foreigners by definition.

Another point is, the data don’t account for any anti-gaijin bias in police targetting gaijin, or bias in the courts resulting from racist judges, incompetent translators, forced signing of confessions they can’t read, and all the other things wrong with the Japanese “justice” system.
Yet despite the bias, even according to these stats, gaijin are less criminal than Japanese, probably far less.

LB

“Except for, obviously, the visa violations, which can only be committed by foreigners by definition.”

I agree that those should probably not be included in the statistics, except then we would have to also not count crimes which, by definition, can only be committed by Japanese.

Level3

Such as…?

Only thing I can think of is treason, and nobody has been tried for that in the developed world(despite many being eligible, IMHO) for decades, I think.

Are there crimes that can be committed by Japanese but not by foreigners?

LB

Vote/election fraud
Violations of the Public Servants laws and regulations

Those two I could think of instantly, I am sure if we dug around we could find other laws that could only be violated within Japan by Japanese nationals.

Jack Elliot

Lets not forget the deeper racism in that it’s worse, in the eyes of the Japanese, for a foreigner to commit a crime, than it is for a Japanese person to commit a crime of equal severity.

On the topic of discrimination, I was randomly carded, questioned and frisked last night in Shinjuku station at 9:00 pm.

LB

And it is worse, in the eyes of the Americans (English, Australians, French, Germans, Poles…), for a foreigner to commit a crime than it is for an American (Englishman, Australian, Frenchman, German, Pole…) to commit a crime of equal severity. Your point?

A foreigner in possession of a green card who commits a crime in the US will be immediately deported and permanently barred from re-entry upon completion of their sentence, even if the spouse or parent of a US citizen. Japan does not do that to PRs or spouses.

http://whatjapanthinks.com Ken Y-N

I’m just wondering if I should coin the term “gaikokujinron”, the belief by foreigners that the Japanese are uniquely out to get them.

There’s very little calm analysis of the new gaijin card as said gaikokujinron gets in the way. I wonder if Japan Times would print an article I could write on this subject?

The Overthinker

被害妄想 (higai mousou: delusions of persecution) is a good enough phrase. It is exacerbated by everyone who has had a bad experience chiming in, so we see a litany of oppresssion that is in reality culled from hundreds of different experiences. This doesn’t mean I agree that the cops or whoever can do what they want, but it does mean that things are not that bad. I haven’t been randomly carded on the streets since 1991. I just signed an agreement for a new apartment that was my first choice and there were no issues about being foreign. Yet when I read someone like Debito I wonder if I am supposed to be living in constant fear of discrimination, persecution, and racism.
LB

“I wonder if I am supposed to be living in constant fear of discrimination, persecution, and racism.”

Yeah, me and my friends feel guilty for living happy, relatively trouble-free lives. We keep wondering if we are doing something wrong somewhere….

I do sometimes wonder, though, if people who claim to be getting stopped everytime they see a cop actually are having that happen to them. Perhaps they panic inside whenever they see a cop, and it shows? The cop is scoping people out, sees someone that, to their trained eye, is obviously worried by their presence, and thinks “Hmmm.. that guy looks like he’s trying to hide something. Perhaps I’d better scope him out.”

Perhaps it really has nothing to do with “walking while white” (copyright 2007, Tepido Naruhodo) and everything to do with being a shifty-eyed person who looks like they are hoping no-one asks them where they hid the bodies, or what that condom full of heroin is doing up their butt.
http://www.squidoo.com/Best-Books-on-Japan Eric

I’m sure that Debito constantly gets stopped by the police, so he claims, because of body language.

I think there are a couple of things going on with Debito. One is that he has invested so much of himself, in every way, in the idea that Japan is a racist country in need of a reformer such as himself that it’s impossible for him to back down from the stance that he’s taken.

The other is that he keeps nursing the slights that he’s suffered in the past instead of just letting them go as water under the bridge. A case in point was exhibited in that “interview” posted here on Japan Probe, when he upbraided the waitress, who afterall was waiting on two Americans speaking English, for speaking to him in English. I can remember waitresses and cashiers stubbornly speaking broken English to me even though they in fact had no way of knowing that I could speak that language myself. That’s rude. But it seemed to me that the waitress serving Debito could speak English perfectly well, and she saw him sitting there speaking English quite happily. So who was being rude in this situation? Well, obviously Debito.
The reason that it’s rude for Japanese to automatically speak Enlglish to a foreign-looking person is that they are making assumptions about their background and language abilities they are not in a position to know until they first ask, for example, “Do you speak English?” But who was the one making assumptions here? Well, obviously Debito.
So what is the point of this little Debito rant? Well, I guess just that one does not furthur ones cause by being obnoxious.

The Overthinker

“A foreigner in possession of a green card who commits a crime in the US will be immediately deported and permanently barred from re-entry upon completion of their sentence”

Not quite:

…even though you have a “Green Card”, you can be deported from the United States if you:
* are convicted of even a minor drug related offense;
* are convicted of certain crimes which are considered felonies;
* are convicted of any two crimes not arising out of a single scheme;
* knowingly encourage or aid anyone to enter the United States illegally or fraudulently;
* fail to notify the USCIS of a change of address;
* engage in espionage, sabotage, or terrorist activities.

http://www.unh.edu/oiss/immigration/perm_res.html

It’s not all crimes, and is not “will be” but “can.” Still pretty strict of course. The permanent bar is really nasty.
And I did find this:
“In the State of Texas for example, three convictions of Driving Under the Influence for a non-US Citizen, will lead to deportation from the US”
http://www.fsmgov.org/us_info.pdf

LB

True, the law says “can be”, but I think that’s a “lawyer’s out” just in case some “special case” comes up. From everything I have heard and read about the actual practice, USCIS plays hardball. In practice that “can be” should probably be read “will”.

Eddie

Jack, if you’re looking for “deeper racism”, you should try America.

jb

my money says this won’t make big headlines

AIB

It’ll make headlines if the Police department decides that it proves their point that they were right all along to “crack down on foreign crime” – see it’s working!!

I’ve seen the recent stats elsewhere and it’s interesting to note that foreign nationals involved in crime (committing crime?) are much more likely to be gang/syndicate related (than Japanese nationals committing crime)

Bob

The number of *detected* crimes fell…

The Overthinker

Yes, they have not found me yet….

http://suigeneris-me.blogspot.com/ Enrique

well thats just bloody good news!

Number of crimes committed by foreigners in Japan fell in 2008

Recent Comments

Further Reading

South Korean Government Demands That International Hydrographic Organization Use “East Sea”

Japanese Documentary About Sea Shepherd’s Protest Activities in Taiji (English Subtitles)

Babies Born on March 11th Receive Special Present

Washington Times Freelancer Slams Former Employer, Fails to Ethically Disclose Relationship?

Christopher Johnson Attempts to Silence Criticism of His “Gaijin Gulag” Article (Legal Threats!!!)

Tabloid Reports About Yu Darvish’s Love Life: Kirara Asuka & Miho Koga?

Does K-Pop Group KARA Have Ties to North Korea?

Tokyo Gate Bridge

Sara Errani Admits She Avoided Tennis Tournament in Tokyo: Feared Radiation

Chinese Workers Who Survived March 11th Tsunami Return to Tohoku

Categories

Archives

Subscribe

Japan Blogs

Korea Blogs

Linkroll

Other Asia Blogs