By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-03-10 01:46:24 | Updated at 2025-03-10 07:07:09
5 hours ago
A majority of people in Japan feel their personal safety has worsened in the last decade despite the country’s reputation around the world as being safe, a trend one analyst blamed on television shows glorifying crime.
According to a National Police Agency survey of 5,000 residents, 74.4 per cent respondents said they were more concerned for their safety.
The annual poll, released in late February, also found that only 56.4 per cent believed public safety in Japan was “good”, the first time the figure had fallen under 60 per cent.
“I feel that I am less safe when I go out today,” Emi Izawa, a 22-year-old student, told This Week in Asia.
“The thing that frightens me is the increase in random attacks on people in the street or on a train,” the part-time cafe worker in Yokohama said.
“There is nothing anyone can really do to protect themselves from that sort of attack and it is exhausting always being careful about what is going on around me.”
