Japan is well known as one of the safest countries in the world, but this reputation is beginning to unravel. Although Japan's crime rate is still low compared to other advanced countries, the present figure is about double the rate in 1980 and the highest number since World War II. New crimes are being reported one after another on TV and people are forgetting crimes that happened only a few days before.

Recent crimes have been characterized by their brutality, the young age of the victims and attackers, lack of any motives and the involvement of family members. It was shocking that a 6th grade elementary school pupil killed her female classmate with a box cutter in June of this year. Several years ago, a junior high school pupil brutally killed an elementary school pupil and later confessed the crime to the public. This incident created a huge fuss all over Japan.

Until a few years ago, murderers had motives such as hatred, money or women, but recently, people have been killing and justifying their actions with statements such as "I killed him because I was irritated. Anyone could become a victim." or "I just wanted to kill somebody." Now, people may be killed just by being near a criminal. The number of spontaneous 'hit and run' crimes have been increasing, and now all kinds of crimes are taking place. On the other hand, crimes where parents kill their own children or children kill their own parents are on the increase. It is almost impossible to guess who will commit a brutal crime next.

Whenever a brutal crime takes place, non-Japanese are often among the first to be suspected. This is because many brutal crimes, including the Fukuoka family murder case, have been committed by non-Japanese. It must be very annoying for ordinary non-Japanese.

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