Why don’t Japanese people commit crime?

Japan is a vibrant modern country with a population of 127 million people and compared to other industrialised nations it has an unusually low crime rate.

In fact Japan's violent crime rate has steadily been declining since the 1950s and question is why?

It appears to be a combination of four main factors:
Their unique culture
The low rates of gun ownership
Their efficient legal system and
Their wealth

Unique culture

The Japanese culture is renowned for the value it places on honour and discipline. 

Commiting a crime carries a huge social stigma.

This nonviolent attitude and philosophy seems to have been strengthened after World War II when the Americans detonated two atomic bombs over the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 

The devastation caused by the bombings led the country to reject violence. 

Low rates of gun ownership

Gun ownership is heavily legislated in Japan

In order to buy a gun, an applicant must go through rigorous background checks, their mental health must be screened, they must go through sobriety tests and they have to take an all day class and pass an exam.

Even after buying a gun there are strict regulations to adhere to; the gun owner must tell the police the exact location of their gun and ammunition, both of these must be stored securely and separately, the gun owner must submit their firearm for annual police checks and finally the gun owner will need to retake the class every three years.

As a result of the restrictions, only 1 in 175 households own a gun in Japan as opposed to 1 in 3 in the US. 

Efficient legal system

Japan has an eyebrow-raising efficient legal system with:
95% of suspects confessing to a crime,
98% of homicides reported to having been solved and
over 99% of court cases resulting in a conviction.

But questions are raised when each of these figures are looked into more closely.

95% of suspects confessing to a crime

Japan’s harsh interrogation process is weighted heavily in favour of the police and that coupled with the extreme sense of shame a person can feel of having been suspected of a crime in Japan may lead to false confessions

98% of homicides reported to have been solved

Former Japanese detectives have claimed that police are reluctant to investigate homicides that are not clear cut.

The police want to keep their crime stats low so more problematic homicide cases may be categorised as suicides and this could be a contributing factor as to why Japan has such a high suicide rate. 

Another violent crime, sexual assaults are also said to be widespread and are severely underreported in Japan. 

Police have been criticised for not taking reports of sexual assaults seriously enough owing to innate male bias and / or the inability to sufficiently investigate this type of crime.

Over 99% of  court cases result in a conviction

There are no juries in Japan, instead, a panel of judges decide the individual’s fate.

The court system incentivises Judges to process cases quickly which results in speedier and more frequent convictions but that leads to concern that justice is not always served.

And finally, we look at the last factor that contributes to Japan’s low crime rate - their wealth.

Wealth

Japan has a thriving economy, with low rates of poverty and unemployment.

The country as a whole is prosperous and pockets of underprivilege leading to discontent, drug use and crime is unusual.