December 2004

Julian Richards

There was a sense of optimism at the Forum on World Heritage Registration held in Shirahama in early November. The World Heritage Registration of the Kumano and Koya areas will likely lead to increased tourism, particularly over the next 2 years. This influx of visitors, from both within Japan and abroad, should in turn help revitalize the region’s crippled economy.
At the national level as well the push for more foreign tourism has been in high gear for some time. The government hopes to boost the economy by doubling the number of foreign tourists to 10 million a year. But the government’s plans may be thwarted by an unlikely saboteur: The Japanese media.
For years the media has been fueling the public’s fear of foreign crime. Headlines blare: “Crimes by foreigners at record.” Violent crimes committed by foreigners are reported with alarming frequency. One American sociologist studying the issue points to eight claims that are repeatedly cited in media stories about crime in Japan. These claims include assertions like: “A lot of crime is committed by foreigners” and “Crimes by foreigners are increasing rapidly.”
To some extent the media is reporting the truth. Foreign crime is indeed increasing. What gets less media coverage, however, are mitigating factors like the increase of foreigners in Japan, and the rise in the overall crime rate. Also left largely unreported is the idea that as increased law enforcement resources are focused on a group, more law enforcement violations are found in that group. As police began to increase their crackdowns on specific groups, particularly the Chinese, arrest rates naturally went up.

Even with foreign crime on the rise, however, foreigners are still statistically less likely to commit crimes than Japanese. If we take out visa violations, crimes that by definition Japanese cannot commit, the difference becomes even starker. Yet rarely do the media compare foreign crime figures with Japanese crime figures. This, some say, paints a misleading picture of foreign crime to the Japanese public.
Why this happens is a matter of some controversy, however. Some say it is simple journalistic sensationalism. Scary stories about foreign crime sell more newspapers than criminological analysis. Others see more Machiavellian hands at work. Politicians who are vocal about the danger of foreign crime often enjoy widespread popularity. Several cabinet ministers have made the reduction of foreign crime a policy priority. And the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, hoping to generate political capital from the fear of foreign crime, has pledged to halve the number of illegal aliens living in the country.
In this economic crunch, public fear of foreign crime can help justify budgets as well. The National Research Institute of Police Science is developing a DNA test capable of identifying the race of suspects who leave DNA at crime scenes. The goal of this four year study is to combat “the increasing number of brutal crimes committed by foreigners.” Fears of hooliganism and rioting in the lead up to the 2002 World Cup match between Argentina and England prompted the government to send 3,000 police to Hokkaido and hire 3 ferries for prisoner transport. The operation netted two foreigners and nine Japanese. At one primary school in Wakayama students are being fitted with radio frequency identification tags. These tracking devices notify parents and teachers when children pass by sensors at the school entrance or when they approach “danger areas”. Expenditure like this is easier to justify when the public is terrified of foreign crime.
Intentional or not, the media’s portrayal of foreign crime has clear political and economic benefits. But Japan’s fear of foreign crime, and the government policies born of it, may be on a collision course with its efforts to increase foreign tourism.
The campaign to crackdown on visa overstayers, for example, began to draw fire from human rights groups as more and more exchange students, college professors and tourists got caught in the dragnet. Otherwise harmless foreigners who overstay their visa by just one day faced jail, fines of up to 300,000 yen and a 5-year banishment from Japan. Seemingly impervious to bad publicity, last May the Diet went ahead and raised the maximum fine to 3 million yen and the banishment to 10 years. A controversial Immigration Bureau website launched in February, which allowed people to anonymously report “suspicious” foreigners, was a huge hit with the Japanese public, leery and fearful of foreign crime. But the Justice Ministry was forced to revise the website after it drew the ire of 230 NGOs and union groups. Japan, which already has a somewhat xenophobic reputation abroad, cannot afford PR like this if it hopes to revive its economy through foreign tourism.
Even more worrisome is the long-term effect the foreign crime media blitz will have on the Japanese mind-set. By and large Japanese are incredibly kind and gracious to foreign visitors. But there is evidence that this is beginning to change. A survey last year found that roughly one third of Japanese do not want to see an increase in foreign tourists. Most cited fear of a rise in crime as a reason. A more recent poll found that almost half of Japanese thought that immigrants were a bad influence on their society. Again, crime was the main concern.
The panelists and participants at the Forum on World Heritage Registration in Shirahama were probably justified in their optimism. It is unlikely that tourists, foreign or otherwise, will stay away from Wakayama’s impressive cultural and natural attractions in the short term. But as the media continues to stoke the fears of the public regarding foreign crime, Japan may find it harder and harder to throw its doors open to foreign tourism with one hand while slamming them shut on foreign crime with the other.

Posted on December 2004 in the following categories: Opinions, Stories and Information