Did Japan really say this?
 

Someone said that about 10 years ago Japan released a statement saying that it has less crime due to the lack of diversity in the country, is that true?

I'm unsure about that but I remember there was this paper of thing saying who commited most crime in Japan and Chinese and Koreans topped the list.

If "Japan" had said that it would have been international news. It does sound like something one of Japan's bone-headed politicians might have said though. They are good at putting their foots in their mouths.

That was probably what "foreigners" committed the most crimes. Certainly most crime in Japan is committed by Japanese people.

Let's try and keep generalizations to a minimum and have facts when we are going to talk about sensitive issues like race, or else the thread will just get closed.

Yes, it's true. And there have been other statements. Politicians here often get emotional (surprising, as most people think of Asians as less than emotional), and say many things. Some of these things are sensitive, whether they be true or not.

The last such statement came from a diet member when he stated (probably correctly) that the dropping of the atom bombs actually saved lives in the long run. Needless to say, his political career ended 5 minutes after those words were uttered.

Such statements rarely (if ever) make the international news, though they often remain in the headlines here for weeks at a time.

These are just ill-informed statements...but if "Japan" had said it, as if in a official proclamation, then it surely would have made at least a little stir around the world.

I find it a bit interesting that everyone seems quite willing to laugh at and forgive (or at the least, quickly forget) the gaffes the politicians in their own country make... But will drag out those made in other countries and treat them as if they are the feelings of the entire nation, and proclamations from the top.

Politicians are people. People make mistakes, have problems and biases, and are individuals. Obviously, the best case scenario is for a politician to only reflect the country they are serving... But we all know that reality is never that simple. Especially when you`re watched by media every time you leave the house.

USA said that the czech republic doesn't exist ;)

How does "USA say" something?

That's my point..

.. check the ";)"

I missed the ;) .

try not to shoot the messenger, and that is not the messenger of truth but the messenger of what wiki says
Yasuhiro Nakasone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

only in japanese though but more on what nakasone presumingly said
知的水準発言 - Wikipedia

Nakasone was more than a mere politician. Even if his comments were his personal opinion, as prime minister, his voice, by and large, was that of his country.

If George Bush said something similarly unwise (a good probability), people outside America would be of the opinion that he spoke for America.

That may very well be true... But you don`t see everyone digging out remarks made by, say, Reagan as an example of how the people of the US feel today.

The comment was a poorly made comment, caused outrage in (and out of) Japan - that was made over 20 years ago. If people want to hunt for fodder, I`m sure you could dig up some pretty unpleasant comments made by some leader of every country in the past 20 to 30 years. Does that reflect the feelings of the current population? Likely not - particularly if it was something that caused outrage in the country the comment was made in.

How about something less than a month ago?

Tourism minister apologizes for gaffes | The Japan Times Online

Nice foot mouth Nakayama!

But just cos some conservative politician spouts something I wouldn't take it as a consensus on the issue...

It was juast a few years ago when there was the controversy about posters put up around Tokyo warning people to watch for foreigners committing crime. A student once said to me, when discussing crime rates, that Japan now has "american" crime. Typical attitude. I educated her that those are Japanese committing crime, so it is "Japanese" crime. Much of the crime gerts swept under the rug.

Crime happens in Japan, just as it happens everywhere else. But no one can deny that Japan has less crime than most other developed countries. One also can't deny that Japan has very little diversity racially or culturally. Only 1% of the population is foreign. It's not hard to put 2 and 2 together and either blame foreigners for crime, or the lack of diversity as one of the reasons for how little crime there is.

One of the reasons Japan has a low crime rate is it's criminal justice system. There are no juries here. If you are charged with a crime, it will be heard in front of a judge who will decide the case on the evidence and the law. Your lawyer will not bring up your troubled childhood or how society failed you during your teenage years. More than likely he'll tell you to plead guilty and take whatever punishment is handed out. Is it any wonder that the vast majority of defendants in Japan plead guilty?

In America, people routinely get away with murder or other crimes. That is not so in Japan. There are no Barry Schecks, Alan Dershowitzs, or Melvin Bellis here who can plant doubt in the heads of jurors in the most airtight of criminal cases.

There is no "American" style crime here. Crimes of passion are fairly common, as are corruption cases, and garden variety theft. There is extremely little random violence (though it still happens on occasion).

Many of you probably think that one of the reasons that the crime rate in Japan is so low is because there are no guns in Japan. But this isn't true either. About 250,000 private citizens in Japan are licensed to own firearms. These licenses have to be renewed annually, but they are not all that difficult to get. And those are the legally owned guns. In Japan, like anywhere else in the world, if you want a gun, and you have the money, you'll be able to find one.

cant blame them if they did say it
... not all foreigner cause crime tho