Towards Sustainable Crime-Prevention Activities in Japan: The Possibilities and Limits of Volunteer Groups

129 . Introduction The crime rate in Japan has fallen for the thirteenth consecutive year as of 2016 and remains lower than in most developed countries. The clearance rate has also kept steady at approximately 30% for the past 10 years. While one might thus regard Japan as a comparatively safe and peaceful country as observers have also done -35.4% of the Japanese public feel uneasy about public safety and are concerned about outstanding issues such as kidnapping, identity theft and billing fraud, cybercrimes, crimes committed by the elderly and recidivism. This public concern and fear of crime began to surface in the latter half of the 1990s following a series of high profile crimes covered in the media. In response, the police began to Towards Sustainable Crime-Prevention Activities in Japan: The Possibilities and Limits of Volunteer Groups