Japan is famous for its low crime, but it depends on what kind of crime and how you measure things. And it doesn't mean that crime is not on the rise in certain areas.
According to recent media reports, child abuse cases continue to climb, with police recording 2,181 in 2022 (up from 2,174 the previous year) -- a new record.
Stalking cases are also at a record high, the National Police Agency said on March 2, as were domestic violence consultations, though there was a slight fall in the number of DV cases in which the police took action or made an arrest. (It should be noted that the ...
We've said it before and we'll say it again: the idol world is dodgy.
Let's be loud and clear: we hope the young women (well, girls -- they are usually young teenagers) know about these potential risks before they get into the industry.
Sure, there are respectable managers out there, but bad apples and the bunch and all that. The industry is highly competitive and exploitative, known for making its young members work long hours for little pay, and for sexual abuse (no doubt partly accepted by people in the industry as the equivalent of the casting couch).
The media has reported another ...
The national age of consent in Japan is 13 -- an age that many find surprisingly low.
Japan is mulling raising the age of consent, according to media reports. A justice ministry panel last Friday proposed a major overhaul of sex crime legislation that would include raising the age to 16, along with clarifying rape prosecution requirements and criminalizing voyeurism (strangely, it's currently not illegal to secretly film someone for sexual purposes).
This is not a new discussion. There are regular calls to raise the age of consent in Japan, which has not changed since 1907. In 2019, a ...
There have been various scandals about YouTubers, proving that these new kinds of celebrities are as fallible as the rest of us. But this one is quite a bit more serious than the others.
A former member of the YouTuber group Kindan Boys (禁断ボーイズ) has been arrested on suspicion of prostitution.
According to various media reports on February 14, Mohrii (Kohei Mori) is accused of recruiting clients via a dating app by posing as a woman. Another four members of an alleged prostitution ring were also arrested. Mori's role was to send messages and reel patrons in.
Police believe the ...
A 54-year-old Japanese man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering an ex-music idol.
Police in Fuchu arrested Akira Ishikawa on February 3 for killing a 24-year-old former idol called Sana Hirabayashi at a hotel in the city in the west of Tokyo by stabbing her neck.
Security camera footage captured the two entering the hotel at 2 a.m. on the morning of February 2. Ishikawa then left alone about four hours later. The hotel became concerned when Hirabayashi had still not emerged from the room by 1:30 a.m. on February 3 and couldn't be contacted. They called police, who found her in the ...
There are peeping Toms and then there are peeping Toms. And these guys didn't do things by half measures.
Shizuoka police have arrested a gang of peeping Toms who have been active for 30 years -- yes, three whole decades! The 13 voyeurs, including the 50-year-old leader, were apprehended in recent months, while a further three others connecting to the filming (including a doctor) have now been referred to the prosecutors.
Active since he was 20, the leader alone claims to have filmed over 10,000 people without consent at locations all around Japan (with the exception, for some reason, of ...
In mid-January, Japan is gripped by a short, sharp season: it's the time of the college entrance exam.
Up and down the country, high school students sat down last weekend for the exam that will determine which university they will go to from the spring.
But there's another factor involved in the exam: chikan. This, as regular readers will know, is the Japanese word for groping or molesting, especially if done on public transport like trains.
What's the connection between the exam season and train groping? Apparently, in the darker corners of social media and the internet where chikan folk ...
The head of the city assembly of Maizuru, a city in the north of Kyoto Prefecture, was fined for possession of child pornography. The fine was issued in 2019 but has only just come to light.
On January 6, Keiichi Tai announced his intention to resign as council speaker and assemblymember at a press conference held at Maizuru City Hall.
The 53-year-old, a member of Liberal Democratic Party and speaker for the municipal assembly in Maizuru, was fined ¥300,000 for violating the child pornography law. He had possessed four DVDs with content designated as child porn.
They were found at his ...
'Tis the season for giving, they say, but perhaps this 31-year-old Japanese man took that custom a little far -- and very much in the wrong direction.
Kyosuke Katsu, a company employee in Gamagori, Aichi, was arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage after he poured urine on the clothing of a fellow passenger on a train.
According to police and media reports, Katsu used a straw to squirt or pour urine onto the clothing of a 32-year-old woman who was sitting in front of him while the train was traveling from Okazaki Station to Gamagori Station at around 11 o'clock at night on December ...
The controversial new porn law has been used for the first time in Japan to arrest someone.
A 50-year-old executive at a video production firm, Takashi Sumiya, was arrested on suspicion of not giving contract documents to three performers (aged twenties to fifties) between August and October, according to multiple media reports on December 6.
The Shinagawa resident had been initially arrested and charged with filming "indecent acts" and uploading them uncensored to a video sharing website, the US-based FC2 Content Market. Sumiya has apparently earned around ¥82 million doing this in six ...
