Crime statistics: Foreigners conspicuous

Almost half of those arrested last year, 45 percent, were Chinese, followed by 9 percent Koreans, 6.7 percent Filipinos and 6.1 percent Brazilians. Of the crimes included in the survey, theft tops the list with around 23,000, followed by intellectual crimes like fraud and forgery and violent crimes. Heinous crimes, such as murders and robberies, were recorded as about 330. Sixty-eight foreigners were charged with murder and another 369 were charged with robbery. But the majority of charges against foreigners, a total of 13,357, were for offences like prostitution, illegal possession of weapons, or overstaying The National Police Agency report also mentions that in last year police in Japan handled an overall 2.79 million criminal cases. The figure, according to the police, is a slight decrease from that of 2002 and represents the first decline in eight years. The crimes for which foreigners were arrested or charged thus represent a mere 1.49 percent of the total crimes reported last year and the share is about the same as the non-Japanese proportion of the population. Moreover, looking at the nature of charges against foreigners, it becomes clear that a large number of those were charged for crimes the nature of which are not outrightly clear, as they were involved in activities that are being run and supervised totally by Japanese nationals. Prostitution and overstaying visas easily fall into that category.

The police figures, highlighted in Japanese media with the emphasis on foreigners' involvement in criminal activities, do not also say clearly how many of such crimes were committed in association with Japanese contacts. But some hints are there, and going through the report in detail, one can easily get an idea of this increasing joint ventures where foreign hands are vulnerable to become scapegoats as the real crime is being committed by them with the planners and main beneficiaries remaining out of the scene. As a result, critics of the police report have already termed the findings as a classic case of scapegoat technique.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

The police report merely says that foreign gangs working in some cases with their Japanese counterparts have much to do with the rise of foreign crimes in Japan. But the report gives few details of such collaborations and doesn't mention the involvement of well-known organised criminal gangs of Japan in such activities, despite widespread suspicion of their hands in drug and weapon related crimes and prostitution.

The report mentions about an illegal withdrawal of deposit scam exposed by the police last year where the suspects consisted of eight Chinese and 14 Japanese. Five Brazilians and one Japanese were implicated in a robbery case in Shiga prefecture.

Some observers say there are number of other cases where Japanese charge fees to help foreign nationals commit crimes. One example often sighted is that of marriages between foreign and Japanese nationals. According to National Police Agency, the figure topped 100 for the first time in 2002. Such marriages involve falsifying immigration documents for allowing foreign nationals to obtain spouse status. Underhand dealings in such cases usually involve high amount of fees from foreigners and at the end it is they who are most likely to be apprehended for committing forgery.

A group of Japanese politicians have always shown keen enthusiasm in using the police data for verbal attack on foreign nationals of specific origin. The leading among them is the Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, who has gone furthest of all by describing illegal immigrants as the most dangerous threat to the safety of the nation's streets, bypassing the important point that those illegal immigrants are being employed not by foreigners, but by small scale Japanese entrepreneurs who find in them a lifeline for their own survival amid extremely high cost of labour. No doubt the latest police report would supply ample food to satisfy further Ishihara's extreme nationalistic hunger.

At a time when a group of researchers and academics in Japan are focusing on accepting a large number of immigrants in coming years to cope up with the shortage of human resources, the yearly police report stressing on crimes committed by foreign nationals will not help improve the image that many Japanese have of foreigners. The negative trend has already been reflected in a recent survey conducted by the government in connection with a campaign to double the number of people visiting Japan. One in three respondents were against the idea of easing visa requirements for tourists, as they were afraid the process would bring more criminals to Japan.

According to some estimates, at the current level of population, it would be necessary for Japan to accept around 30 million immigrants in the first half of the twenty-first century. A number of researchers even suggest that the number will not be sufficient to perform the crucial functions that the country requires. As a result, they also stress the need for Japan to start building a multi-ethnic society that would easily attract outsiders. Politicians like Ishihara had so far ignored such calls as they run contrary to their narrow view of an untainted nation state. As a result, a number of services essential for foreigners are also painfully lacking in a country trying hard to show its international face.

The number of long-term resident foreigners in Japan climbed from 980,000 in 1989 to 1,850,000 in 2002. But there is no single government organ responsible for consulting with them and dealing with many problems related to their presence. Amid such a situation, the report of the National Police Agency focusing more on crimes committed by foreigners in Japan can only lead to further anti-foreign backlash among the Japanese.