From what I’ve read, the three main reasons for the low incidence of violent crime in Japan is 1) no guns, 2) Japanese culture discourages misbehavior, and 3) community police.
In addition to central police stations, there are small community police stations called kouban. The officers in these buildings can keep watch, respond to emergencies, give directions, and otherwise interact with citizens on a more intimate basis than they could from a more distant station.
Around where I live there are big board maps every couple of blocks, (although some have been covered with snow most of the winter and not able to be read).
Most of the map is in Japanese, but there are also pictures to help you find what you need.
One crime that seems to get a lot of attention here is lingerie theft. These criminals are called shitagi-fechi (underwear fetishists). Clothing is hung outside to dry, but women are warned not to leave their underwear out. Japanvisitor.com has an article about a woman who didn’t follow the laundry rules and had her undergarments stolen. She was surprised that the police came out to investigate and took the incident very seriously. Would the police in the US even think about coming out to a laundry mat or someone’s backyard if a woman called and said her underpants had been stolen? There are countless articles in the news about men who are arrested with thousands of pieces of lingerie. These men must only be stealing the underwear of petite Japanese women. Even four thousand little underpants would take up a lot of room. Where do these criminals store their loot? Japanese homes are small.
This would be the perfect place for a photo of underwear hanging to dry, but I’m not posting a picture of mine!
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