Table Of ContentJapan as a Low-Crime Nation
Japan as a Low-Crime Nation
Dag Leonardsen
Lillehammer University College, Norway
* © Dag Leonardsen 2004
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2004
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Leonardsen, Dag.
japan as a low-crime nation I by Dag Leonardsen.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4039-4111-4
1. Crime-japan. 2. Crime-Sociological aspects-japan. 3. Social
values-japan. 4. japan-Social conditions-1945- I. Title.
HV7113.5.l46 2004
364.952-dc22 2004042840
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04
To Maja
Contents
List of Figures and Tables ix
Preface xi
Part I Theoretical and Methodological Clarifications
1. The Western Welfare Paradox. Or: Why is Japan
an Interesting Case? 3
The negative case of Japan 3
The Western welfare paradox 4
The failure of sociology? 7
The end of the state? 8
Right and left reactions 10
Value conflicts between economy and society 12
Have socio-economic values gained the upper hand
in Japanese society? 15
Organization of this book 20
2. Is Japan Really a Low-Crime Nation? 22
A theoretical comment on comparative analysis:
On ernie and etic concepts and the social
construction of crime 23
The social construction of crime statistics 29
Crime in the private sphere - how
big is the iceberg? 33
White collar crime - extensive but impossible
to validate and compare 35
What do statistics tell us? 38
What do criminological scholars tell us? 42
What does popular information on Japan tell us? 45
Defining the field: narrowing the concept of crime 46
Organized crime as a methodological challenge 47
Economic equality and low unemployment
rates-alternative explanations to little crime? 49
vii
viii Contents
3. Why Has Modernization in the West Been
Synonymous with Increased Crime?
Is Rapid Social Change Synonymous with
Loss of Moral Sentiments and Loss of Community? S 7
Social disruption as the consequence of structural changes 60
Social disruption as the consequence of cultural
and moral decay 7 5
Part II Japan as a Low-Crime Nation
4. A Cultural, Sociological and Criminological Description
of Japanese Society 87
Introduction 87
On the definition of culture 88
Japan: a country that needs 'thick description' 90
S. Look to Japan? 159
Introduction 159
Crime as the result of social exclusion 163
Crime as the result of cultural values and individual choice 170
Is there a lesson to be learnt from Japan? 174
Notes 189
References 212
Index 222
List of Figures and Tables
Figures
1.1 The connection between the economic and the
socio-cultural system in Western capitalistic
countries and in Japan 15
2.1 Trends in number of reported cases, number of persons
cleared, and crime rate for penal code offences
in Japan (1946-2000) 39
2.2 Trends in the total number of major crimes reported
to the police 1979-88, for different countries 40
3.1 A schematic model of negative social impacts
of modernization 61
Tables
1.1 Basic values in the (liberalistic) economic and (solidaristic)
socio-cultural system 12
2.1 Number of homicide cases reported, crime rate
and clearance rate 1986-88, for different countries 41
5.1 The Western, the Japanese and the Utopian society
in a criminological perspective 175
ix
Preface
In February, 1998 I visited the Japanese town of Nagano (360,000
inhabitants), to watch the XV Olympic Winter Games. Towards the end
of the Games I interviewed the police about the impact on crime of such
a big event. I was surprised to hear that two days before the closing
ceremony only two people had been arrested (one Norwegian and one
Swedish: both were journalists). With the exception of these minor episodes
due to the consumption of too much sake (Japanese wine) by the Nordic
journalists, the police had not disclosed any serious infringements.
Despite the huge int1ux of people, and 14 days of heavy partying, this
extraordinary situation had apparently not been exploited for criminal
purposes (according to the police). My own impression confirmed the police
report. At least from a tourist's point of view, the streets felt very safe.
I had the same impression from the other Japanese towns I visited.
What I had read in my tourist guidebook, 1 and what I continually was
told by people, matched closely my own observations. Walking the streets
of Tokyo at midnight I was never worried about crime. And, being a very
absent-minded person, I experienced that my camera, my bag, and a jacket
that I had at different times left behind me, were shortly afterwards brought
back to me.
My story does not end here. My first meeting with Japan should not
only be told with words of absence. The absence of street crimes should
be supplemented with a positive story of the presence of friendliness and
hospitality.2 From the very minute I landed at Narita Airport in Tokyo
I was taken care of in a most friendly way. Not only my hosts, but also
people in general were much more obliging and helpful than I have
experienced in any Western country. Whenever I found myself hesitating
at a street corner, unsure where to go, I was immediately supported and
guided by friendly members of the public. Travelling back to Norway,
I experienced a minor cultural shock on changing (in Amsterdam) from
Japan Airlines to a Western company. When I had checked in with
Japan Airlines for my return t1ight I had been lucky to avoid any queuing.
Nevertheless, I was met with a friendly smile and a comment about 'sorry
to keep you waiting'! In other words: absence of street crime seemed to go
in tandem with the presence of a general friendliness.
For a sociologist, experiences like this are a bit surprising. They do not
match with our textbook view of the world! Big cities (like Tokyo) and
xi
xii Preface
social turbulence (like the Olympics in Nagano) should be synonymous
with high crime rates. If there are any nomothetic relationships documented
in the social sciences, the link between urbanization, rapid social
change, and crime is one of them. Also, an urban lifestyle should be
synonymous with a blase, reserved, aloof, sophisticated, unconcerned,
cold and rational way of behaving. Naturally, my curiosity was triggered
by my Japanese experience. If my observations were valid, how could it
be that a modernized and urbanized country like Japan had managed to
avoid some of the devils of modernization?
Back in Norway I noticed with surprise that I started scrutinizing my
own behaviour in Japan. This was also a new experience. Staying in Japan
for only a relatively short time (altogether four visits, each lasting some
two weeks) had made me wonder about the qualities of Japanese culture.
Even more important, my visits had given me a mirror to place against
my own culture and in which to study my own way of behaving.
As I started reading my first books about Japan, I became more and more
embarrassed about my own behaviour during my stay. As a matter of
fact, I had a feeling of shame. During my stay I had obviously lacked
sensitivity, lacked alertness, been too talkative, too direct and inquisitive in
my behaviour. I had used my mouth much more than my eyes and ears,
I had been too much in search of rational and logical answers instead of
being perceptive of ambiguous observations and formulations. Back in
Norway my superego turned on me and invited a new interest in the
sociological tradition called symbolic interactionism. How had my own
'presentation of the self in everyday life' been during my stay in Japan?
Had I mis-managed my identity? Had I been able to reach behind the front
stage of Japan? Had I been able to interpret the meaning of the many
performative aspects of Japanese culture? Had I played my own role on
the Japanese stage as a humble stranger, or had I (unconsciously) given
myself a prominent role? The answer was obvious. On my first night,
I had not paid much attention to the personal cards I received. I had
put them carelessly into my pocket instead of having a special case for
cards. In Japan one does not put the signifier of a human being into
a dirty pocket! I had also helped myself to the drinks that were served
instead of waiting until somebody cared for me. At the official tea cere
mony to which I was invited, I was unable to read the subtle meaning
of this performance and, consequently, made some mistakes. And during
my two-hour ride with my colleague, I probably talked much more than
SO per cent of the time. Fortunately, I brought my hosts some presents
from Norway. But too late I discovered that the wrapping of my presents
was more important than the content. Just handing over an unwrapped
