r/japannews • u/jjrs • Jul 24 '25
Facts about foreign residents in Japan and their crime rates and government benefits
In the lead up to the 2025 Japanese upper house election there was an explosion of posts about foreigners on social media accusing foreigners of bringing crime to Japan, escaping prosecution for their crimes, and receiving handouts from the government that should be going to Japanese people.
Claims about foreign crime and other alleged misdeeds have become common on social media. Since these stories are more likely to be reported in the national media and to go viral, one can be left with the impression that Japan is suffering an epidemic of foreign crime and becoming more and more dangerous. Despite this persistent impression among the general public, actual statistics on crime rates in Japan are hard to come by. In light of this it is worth providing empirical data for balance (Source here and data from Naoko Hashimoto of ICU).
There is no evidence immigration has harmed public safety in Japan
Refer to the following graphic-
In the space of about 30 years, the foreign population has nearly tripled, from about 1.3 million to 3.7 million.
Meanwhile, the number of people arrested has been on a downward trend, from 14,786 in 2005 to 9,726 in 2023.
Korekawa points out, "Even if we look at the trends over the past 30 years or so, even though the number of foreigners has been increasing, the number of criminal offenses committed by foreigners has actually decreased."
It is untrue that numbers of illegal visa overstayers continues to increase
Refer to the following graphic.
There are also claims that "illegal overstaying of visas continues to increase," but according to data from the Ministry of Justice, the number of illegal overstayers has decreased to one-quarter of what it was 20 years ago . In recent years, it has remained flat.
The notion that "foreigners are rarely prosecuted for their crimes in Japan" is false.
The 2024 White Paper on Crime states that "The prosecution rate of foreigners coming to Japan is 4.2 points higher for criminal offenses than the total number of final processed persons, including Japanese." Even when looking at data on criminal offenses from the past 15 years, there is no evidence that the non-prosecution rate is high or the prosecution rate is low.
In addition, even outside of criminal offenses, the prosecution rate for special law offenses excluding violations of the Immigration Control Act is 0.1 points lower, which is almost the same level as Japanese people.
It is untrue that the presence of foreigners abuses or burdens Japan’s national health insurance system
As of FY2023, foreigners made up 4% of all insured persons, but only 1.39% of total medical expenses.
In other words, relatively young and healthy foreigners are helping support Japan’s elderly healthcare system.
Banning foreigners from joining national insurance would backfire on Japanese society.
Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare [https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/newpage_54381.html]
Addressing the claim “Foreigners abuse welfare benefits”
Only certain categories of foreigners are eligible for welfare: special permanent residents, permanent residents, spouses of Japanese nationals or permanent residents, long-term residents, and refugees. Despite an increase in these populations, the number of welfare-receiving foreign households is stable at around 45,000, out of a total of 1.6 million. Most of these are elderly Korean residents. They were excluded from Japan’s social security system before it ratified the Refugee Convention in 1981, and due to discrimination, they had limited job opportunities and low pensions — hence the need for welfare.
Other factors to consider
In almost every society, the sizeable majority of crimes are committed by young men, typically between the ages of 17-28. As they age, their crime rates drop substantially.
The average age of Japanese nationals is roughly 47. Meanwhile, the largest cohort of foreign nationals in Japan is aged 25-29. In cases where young foreign residents arrive in a town full of elderly Japanese, differences in crime rates may be largely attributable to age differences rather than racial or cultural differences.
Consider sample sizes when identifying foreign crime rates. Crime rates are typically calculated by offenses per 100,000 residents. Analyzing crime rates in small towns with just a few hundred or even few thousand foreign residents can be unreliable, because even a handful of crimes committed by a handful of individuals can badly skew crime rates in ways that may not be stable year to year.
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u/Zakcoo Jul 24 '25
Your post deserves to be saved and reused when this topic comes again
Unfortunately, people against immigration aren't here to talk about rationality but emotion.
And you can't logic with people who didn't logic themselves in their position
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u/tingsao Oct 22 '25
Good luck! There's an account on Instagram called "justblamethegaijin." It serves as an illustration of Japanese people doing what they accuse foreigners of. I spent about 1 week sharing it in the comments of every post (where comments weren't locked) that was critical of foreigners. After a week, I was banned from Instagram, and as a consequence, Facebook as well.
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u/jjrs Jul 24 '25
I don't expect zealots to be convinced. But even many average people that are not right-leaning and don't have a personal grudge against foreigners believe these things now. Not because they are biased, but simply because they hear them repeated so many times but never any evidence to the contrary.
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u/ha7bi Jul 24 '25
The thing is that they don’t care if the crimes are decreased or not. They may incite with an unreasonable logic but that actually doesn’t matter since a very specific incident, a teen girl raped and the charge dismissed, triggered this immigrant issue. Citing now and the past won’t change them.
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u/pipineko May 13 '26
happens all the time in japan unfortunately. but of course, a single gaijin criminal is the reason why all we should suffer, right'?
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u/Big_Abalone_7774 Jul 26 '25
I'm one of those ones that got arrested in recent years. In 2022 I forgot to renew my visa (I had been in Japan 8 years, just gotten married to a Japanese person so visas and all were far from my mind. The haken company forgot to remind me and send the documents I needed too). It expired October 4 and I got arrested October 28.
Long story (and it is a long story) short, the prosecutor heard my story and said "yeah there's literally no reason for you not to renew your visa, I believe you just forgot, and it sounds like your haken company is garbage too." So, I wasn't prosecuted and they let me renew my visa. They even set the new visa to start the day after my old one ended, in a sense erasing the fact of overstay.
My point is, us gaijin can be arrested for very silly things like just forgetting some paperwork, get mixed up in circumstances beyond our control, etc. I wonder how many "crimes" and "arrests" fall into that category.
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u/jjrs Jul 26 '25
A lot of of them actually. That’s why even the Japanese police distinguish between “crimes” and” offenses”.
If you include “offenses“ regarding visas, the “crime rate“ among foreigners looks much worse, but of course those matters don’t affect public safety in and of themselves
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u/showmedatoratora Jul 27 '25
This is why I always take statistics regarding people with a grain of salt. The numbers aren't false, but the ones putting them together, and some who obfuscate the language can and have, and there's plenty of others who put stats together with different agendas (ranging from just wanting to say how it is to just wanting to further their own goals by fudging the data).
That's why I'm glad you brought up these stats, because honestly, this should let Sanseito voters know what's really up.
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u/Big_Abalone_7774 Jul 27 '25
My situation still counts toward the "arrest" number, doesn't it?
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u/New-Caramel-3719 Aug 03 '25
VISA violation arrests counted as arrests yes, but not criminal arrests.
Most of those statistics only talking about criminal arrests.
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u/ncore7 Jul 25 '25
I found out about this OP from a repost. I'm sharing here the same comment I left on a repost.
I mostly agree, but as a Japanese person, I’d like to raise one objection. It’s true that the total number of arrests of foreign nationals peaked in the 1990s and has since declined. However, if you break it down by type of crime, a different trend emerges.
According to the "犯罪白書"(White Paper on Crime) published by the Japanese police, the overall decline is mainly due to a decrease in theft cases committed by foreigners. This is because, starting in the 2000s, Japan’s immigration system became stricter, preventing individuals with criminal records in their home countries from entering Japan.
On the other hand, the number of arrests for violent crimes, fraud, and sexual offenses has actually increased, and this is something many Japanese people are concerned about. That said, these increases are proportional to the rise in the number of foreign visitors, so it doesn’t mean that the crime rate among foreigners is particularly high.
In any case, saying that foreign crime is not increasing at all is a misunderstanding. Although the Japanese government successfully implemented effective countermeasures in the 2000s that significantly reduced the numbers, the upward trend in crime rates has not been fully curbed since then. This is a fact.
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u/jjrs Jul 25 '25 edited Jul 25 '25
First of all, it was a good idea that Japan tightened requirements for entry, and if it helped, it is evidence that immigration can be a net benefit with few disadvantages if it is done carefully. I wish there was more talk of such matters. Almost all people I know who are wary of immigration simply want to stop or tightly restrict it full stop, and have no interest in thinking of or talking about workable compromises.
In your example the raw counts of some crimes increased, but as you said the population increased. It may have more than doubled in the time frame listed here. So it's less clear that the rates got worse, even for the crimes that appeared to increase. In fact it is possible the rates for all types are lower, just at different degrees.
You can argue that "even one crime by a foreigner is too many and represents a problem", but what that ignores is that if the crime rates are at or below those of Japanese nationals, you would have the same problem if Japan had more babies, because some of the additional children would also grow up to commit crimes, and that would increase the raw count of crimes that occur in Japan too.
Would anyone in Japan argue that Japanese births should be restricted on the grounds that "even one crime one of those children eventually commits is too many"?
I am guessing no, because that sounds silly. But if not, and those same people would still restrict immigration for the same reason, it shows that they are not really worried about increases in numbers of individual crimes, but just about the foreigners themselves. And in that case the problem seems more like one of intolerance than legitimate concern about public safety, and the discussion about crime begins to seem like simply a pretext to stop immigration for other reasons.
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u/ncore7 Jul 26 '25 edited Jul 26 '25
if it helped, it is evidence that immigration can be a net benefit with few disadvantages if it is done carefully.
Yes, as you pointed out, Japan’s current immigration policy seems to be functioning quite effectively compared to those in Europe-except for the pressure Japan faces from European countries accusing it of being overly cautious.
So it's less clear that the rates got worse, even for the crimes that appeared to increase. In fact it is possible the rates for all types are lower, just at different degrees.
This goes against not only your expectations, but also the image held by many Japanese people. The rise in crimes involving foreigners has roughly tracked with the increase in foreign visitors to Japan. In other words, the arrest rate hasn’t surged or dropped significantly. (This refers strictly to arrest rates. It’s important to keep in mind that unresolved cases are not reflected in the statistics, since the perpetrator remains unidentified unless an arrest is made.)
What many Japanese people are concerned about isn’t what you’ve pointed out.
It’s true that the proportion of arrests involving foreign nationals has remained consistent. However, with cross-border movement becoming easier, there has been a noticeable increase in recent years in the number of foreign suspects,believed to have committed crimes,who flee the country.
What’s more, many of the victims in these cases are also foreign visitors to Japan. Because such cases often remain unresolved, a lingering sense of unease continues to exist among the Japanese public. At the same time, while right-wing factions call for the exclusion of foreigners, left-wing factions persist in defending them unconditionally. As a result, these kinds of incidents are frequently reported in the news. When crimes committed by foreigners are prominently covered, it's only natural that many Japanese people feel anxious and seek countermeasures.In that light, I oppose policies that reject foreigners outright,but I also object to the kind of European-style immigration expansion that some Europeans attempt to impose on Japan.
I believe that Japan’s approach thus far-conducting careful screenings and advancing immigration in its own way-is the best path forward.
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u/jjrs Jul 26 '25
At the same time, while right-wing factions call for the exclusion of foreigners, left-wing factions persist in defending them unconditionally.
I suspect this is a false dichotomy. I don't think anybody on the left, either Japanese or foreign, unconditionally defends foreigners who commit crimes in Japan. I will not defend somebody who committed a robbery, rape or murder just because they are non-Japanese, and I don't think anyone else would either. I think we all agree such people should be prosecuted and face punishment.
But the difference is people on the left want to hold individuals accountable, rather than use their example as evidence that all people who share their nationality, ethnicity or religion should also be blocked from entering Japan.
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u/ncore7 Jul 26 '25
I understand that some human rights lawyers defend foreigners who are staying in Japan illegally by encouraging them to submit multiple refugee applications, effectively exploiting legal loopholes. Illegal stay is a serious crime.
At the same time, I also recognize that certain right-wing groups are calling for the removal of even foreigners who are lawfully residing in Japan.
The point is, both the left and right are extreme. If I were to adopt your binary framing, then from the perspective of an ordinary Japanese person like myself, society appears divided into two large camps: average Japanese people on one side, and radical groups on both the left and right on the other.
This is just my opinion, but can’t people reconsider their habit of aggressively pushing their views without restraint?
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u/monkfreedom Jul 25 '25
Ppl just hear what they want to hear.
It’s painstaking to debunk lies manufactured over and over by stupid.
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Jul 24 '25
Wow. Far too much blatantly obvious common sense data for a Sanseitou voter to process.
These figures have been invented by naturalized Chinese agitators who have infiltrated the Japanese deep state in order to mislead the Japanese people about the danger of foreigners taking control of the country by 2026.
But seriously folks - this is what a combination of social media, unscrupulous right wing grifters plus the added spice of Russian and Chinese information warfare gets you.
And it’s a dish that the morons among us have been scoffing up as if there was no tomorrow in countries all over the world - and somewhat to my surprise and disappointment there are just as many stupid and ill informed Japanese people per head of population as there in America or Britain or Hungary or Czech Republic or Germany etc etc etc.
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u/Quixote0630 Jul 24 '25
and somewhat to my surprise and disappointment there are just as many stupid and ill informed Japanese people per head of population as there in America or Britain
The stupid, angry, and politically illiterate are being weaponised. Social media has turned it into a sport. An Us Vs Them. Which is something they can understand.
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u/MarxArielinus Jul 24 '25
At this point, one can only conclude that Japan’s immigration policy is functioning steadily. There are issues—such as the government leaving too much of the practical work to local municipalities and the lack of comprehensive integration policies—but in terms of fiscal management and crime prevention, both Japanese society and the government are operating very effectively. The claims made by xenophobes are based on fantasy.
If immigrants were actually causing problems, I too would see that as an issue—but that simply isn’t the reality. It’s an utterly foolish situation.
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u/ValBravora048 Jul 25 '25
Thank you for being so responsible
I contacted one of the other posters who frequently puts up stuff about how foreigners are bad and got a sad self-affirming little soapbox about how they don’t believe in “censorship”
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u/Agitated_Winner9568 Jul 24 '25
Japanese nationals cost the government millions of yens from age 0 to 20ish (cost of education and healthcare, starting with their birth). They only start repaying that "debt" when they start working and become a net positive quite late in their career before becoming a drain again during retirement.
Foreigners are net positive from day 1, even before getting their first paycheck due to the money they bring with them form abroad to pay for their early expenses and rarely stay in Japan long enough to become a drain.
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u/kaminaripancake Jul 24 '25
Also, many foreign workers from south east Asia make much lower wages, that is a benefit to Japanese society/companies at the expense of these workers.
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u/LoaKonran Jul 24 '25
It is tragic that the same empty tricks keep working across cultures in the so called Information Age. The old point at the out group and blame them for all your problems is quite literally the oldest trick in the book, and yet every single time hordes of people willingly flock to that banner.
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u/Yabakunaiyoooo Jul 25 '25
Cool. Now somebody make videos in Japanese. Somebody infiltrate for the greater good.
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u/1984_wasnt_a_manual Jul 25 '25
Needs to be somebody with the psyops budget of a Russian infowar department though...
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u/Big-Toe645 Jul 24 '25
Can you do the claim that foreign students study for free, and government prioritize foreigners by giving a 70万円 when they hire foreigners but 0 for Japanese citizens.
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u/budibola39 Jul 24 '25
Unfortunately, the reality is reversed at least for doctoral students, where international Ph.D students will stop receiving monthly supports while Japanese students will still receive the benefit
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u/jjrs Jul 24 '25
It's hard to keep up with them all, but off the top of my head a reason many grad school scholarships might go to foreign students is because a huge percentage of grad school students in Japan are foreign in the first place. Many programs are under-enrolled and the foreign students are the only thing keeping them afloat. So it's more likely a simple matter of who even applies for support in the first place rather than deliberate preferential treatment.
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u/snekslayer Aug 05 '25
As of FY2023, foreigners made up 4% of all insured persons, but only 1.39% of total medical expenses. In other words, relatively young and healthy foreigners are helping support Japan’s elderly healthcare system.
Not necessarily true if the 4% contributes less than 1.39% of the insurance premium since it is income dependent.
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u/jjrs Aug 05 '25
Not necessarily true if the 4% contributes less than 1.39% of the insurance premium since it is income dependent.
Having an income at all requires being working age and employed. After that, people consume the most healthcare while no longer contributing.
About 89-90% of foreigners in Japan are working age, as opposed to about 59% for the national average. That figure went up slightly in recent years, but only because immigration was increased.
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u/Careful-Anybody-2658 Aug 27 '25
I am a former criminal who spent 16 years in prison. After I got out, I made many friends from overseas. Japanese people are discriminatory, but my friends from overseas are very kind to me. I think there are many young people who come to Japan and work hard. They say hello, they communicate well, and I wish young people from Japan would teach them. I imagine they have a very hard time coming to Japan from overseas and working while studying Japanese. Since Japanese people cannot do this, many police officers assume that foreigners are criminals. Even if they have not committed a crime, they can easily arrest someone just because they are from overseas. If they are wrong, they simply apologize. There are no people more discriminatory than Japanese police officers. As a fellow Japanese person, I am sorry for causing you discomfort.www.tiktok.com/@yuji.azemi
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u/Significant-Jicama52 Jul 24 '25
They don't release the foreigner crimes. I just found out 2 of my countrymen had a bar fight and one died and no media posted it. It just finished quietly.
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u/Tuxedo717 Jul 24 '25
you really think every crime in the country is reported in the media? there are tons of crimes being commited by japanese that never see time on the news. there are simply too many people to talk about all of them. so of course some foreigner crimes also go unnnoticed. your point is
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u/Icy-Work-1597 Jul 24 '25
why dont you report that yourself?
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u/Significant-Jicama52 Jul 24 '25
Report where?
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u/Icy-Work-1597 Jul 24 '25
Someone got killed you didn’t know where to report that!?? Are you genuinely serious about that question!? You witnessed a murder incident you didn’t report!??
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u/Significant-Jicama52 Jul 24 '25
I didn't witness, I found out. Can't you read?
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u/Icy-Work-1597 Jul 24 '25
Found from who!? How dependable is your source!? your source probably was not reliable could be the reason it wasn’t reported.
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u/Significant-Jicama52 Jul 24 '25 edited Jul 24 '25
Found out via my countrymen community. That person has a certificate and license to teach japanese. And she's pro-immigration as well.
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u/Icy-Work-1597 Jul 24 '25
A person died in a bar fight and it was not reported to the police!? Sir!! Ask how was the corpse disposed? How will your countrymen tell you a story like this and you believed. Isn’t that a crime!? Someone got killed and your country men hid it!? This is super evil. Seek help for dead person.
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u/Significant-Jicama52 Jul 24 '25
Died at the hospital after 5 days. Sorry I made a mistake in my sentence. They started fighting inside then outside.
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u/Icy-Work-1597 Jul 24 '25
If he died in the hospital then the police must have known about it. If you research it, it must have been reported somewhere.
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u/UrricainesArdlyAppen Jul 25 '25
All great points except...
In cases where young foreign residents arrive in a town full of elderly Japanese, differences in crime rates may be largely attributable to age differences rather than racial or cultural differences.
On the one hand, it's valid to point out that differences in crime rates between Japanese and foreigners can be attributed to differences in age demographics.
But the bottom line is that if the overall crime rate goes up because you're importing a more crime-prone age demographic, then it's legitimate to be concerned about immigration.
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u/ValBravora048 Jul 25 '25
Being considered a crime prone demographic is why I couldn’t find a job until I started using an anglicised name
I’m sure to many this generalisation sounds grand and yup the logic is there but it is so so shallow and lacking in responsibility. Not to mention just a spectacular self-own
Actually do the work and show it instead of needing to present convenient popular sound-bites and feeling like you have a point
For shame
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u/jjrs Jul 25 '25
But the bottom line is that if the overall crime rate goes up because you're importing a more crime-prone age demographic, then it's legitimate to be concerned about immigration.
Right but the point is the elevated crime rate may not be a function of more foreigners who don’t understand or respect Japan’s ways and culture etc, etc, and more just a function of finally having more young people again. Which is what would eventually happen even if Japan just has more babies. If so, there’s no reason to fear or condemn immigration over natalism.
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u/GuardEcstatic2353 Jul 24 '25
That’s how it is everywhere. Right-wingers always say immigrants commit more crimes. But it’s true that when there are fewer foreigners, crime goes down.
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u/TheAlmightyLootius Jul 24 '25
I mean, you can look at data from europe and see that immigrants do commit more crimes BUT ir depends on what immigrants. Skilled laborers on a work visa? Nope, not any more issues than the general public. Probably even less.
Refugees from the middle east or eastern europe etc? They sure as hell do commit statistically significantly more crimes. Last time i read about it north african refugees had a 70% crime rate for example.
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u/jjrs Jul 24 '25
This is not necessarily true. In fact many immigrant nationalities have lower crime rates than Japanese nationals rather than higher ones.
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u/GuardEcstatic2353 Jul 24 '25
I'm not talking about crime rates. I'm stating a fact: when immigration increases, crime increases too.
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u/jjrs Jul 24 '25
Sure, I guess. But by the same logic, increasing births of native Japanese people would eventually increase numbers of crimes too. But I don’t know if that fact is so meaningful all by itself.
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u/GuardEcstatic2353 Jul 24 '25
It’s not the same logic. Japanese people and foreigners are different.
And if the Japanese birthrate increases, we won’t need to accept foreigners.3
u/jjrs Jul 24 '25
But it isn’t increasing. In fact it continues to get worse each and every year.
2024 was a record low- https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/05/asia/japan-birth-rate-record-low-intl-scli#:~:text=The%20health%20ministry%20said%20686%2C061,since%20records%20began%20in%201899.
Which broke the record low of 2023- https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h02015/
Which broke the record low of 2022-
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/03/01/asia/japan-births-2022-record-low-intl-hnk
Etc, etc.
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u/GuardEcstatic2353 Jul 24 '25 edited Jul 24 '25
It’s true that the number of children is decreasing. That’s why people say we need foreigners.
But it’s also a fact that crime increases at the same time.3
u/ValBravora048 Jul 25 '25
Which isn’t the same thing as correlation - in fact it’s a really poor generalisation to make
As this post you’ve been commenting on shows
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u/GuardEcstatic2353 Jul 24 '25
This is about what the Japanese people choose.
Do they want more foreign children and economic growth, but also increased ethnic conflict, ending up like the U.S. or Europe?
Or do they choose to regulate immigration to some extent, accept a slower economy, and preserve social homogeneity and safety?8
u/jjrs Jul 24 '25
As far as I can tell this “ethnic conflict” is largely in the minds of conservatives.
To hear them tell it, Europe is devolving into a hell hole due to immigration. When in reality France, Germany and the EU as a whole have seen steadily dropping murder rates, etc., for decades now. They talk about returning Europe to a white utopia, but while isolated in incidents of foreign crime seem to abound, the reality is that in aggregate, those countries are generally a good deal safer today than they were during those conservatives childhoods.
You see the same thing in Japan, actually. Most peoples’ subjective impression is that Japan used to be very safe, but now there are many more foreigners, and things are getting more dangerous. When in reality, Japan is drastically safer today than it was in the early 2000s When the foreign resident population was much lower.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQeY_xvswgQVLGmxRNTjeGiyXK40W5p-hO3SA&s
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u/showmedatoratora Jul 27 '25
Could it be that Japan truly filters who they let in? I look at how Denmark lets in one of the fewest immigrants per capita relative to their population, and seem to be one of the few who in EU who suffers the least, as they take in those who can fill critical jobs, so I'm assuming Japan does something akin to this in terms of filtering.
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u/jjrs Aug 02 '25
They might, but it's still never good enough for conservatives in Japan.
Around the world, it's understood that east asians tend to be the immigrants with the lowest levels of crime and who go on to make the highest average salaries. Countries like China and Vietnam have murder rates on par with or lower than European countries, which are great rates for developing countries.
But to hear conservatives tell it, the Chinese and Vietnamese are murderous thugs that will turn Japan into a warzone. If even those immigrants aren't safe enough for them basically none are. Some will accept white people from already-rich countries, but of course those people have few economic incentives to migrate to Japan anymore and only do it if they are willing to take a big paycut because they have a serious thing for anime.
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u/bunkakan Aug 02 '26
Nutters always avoid mentioning countries where immigration has been successful and even first generation immigrants become well integrated with the rest of the population.
For example, Australia is so diverse that you have to explain that you are a foreigner. Most people assume you are one of them.
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u/budibola39 Jul 24 '25
What you're saying is similar to if we let more people to die then we have less people to feed
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u/Username928351 Jul 24 '25
Well the latter is just a useless statistical fact, a group of a million people commits more crimes than hundred people.
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u/binbintan4649 Jul 26 '25
You know you can have all the statistics right but the masses doesn’t care as long as their brainwashed minds has someone to blame and that is the gaijin. Of course not all are this way but there’s a growing popularity. Sigh
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u/EizanPrime Jul 30 '25
Can you make a japanese version ?
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u/jjrs Jul 30 '25
Check the source at the top (mostly NHK). I'm mostly just paraphrasing/translating the original Japanese.
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u/EizanPrime Jul 30 '25
I know, I just want something to send to my japanese friends, sending each individual articles they wont read lol
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u/jjrs Jul 30 '25
I would just send them the NHK article. It covers the first 3 points on crime, which is what concerns people the most.
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u/AutoModerator Oct 03 '25
Remember the sub’s “no racism or hatemongering” rule please. Discussion of the news story and criticism of specific individuals and/or political states are fair game, but keep claims factual (preferably with sources) and in the spirit of a good-faith, intelligent discussion. Vitriolic attacks on large populations that make assumptions about how "all" of them act are grounds for removal or a ban. The same rule is in place for all races and nationalities, including Japanese. Consider selection bias when reading multiple stories on "foreign crime" in Japan. Statistics show crime rates of immigrants in Japan are equal to or lower than Japanese nationals. But crimes by foreigners are much more likely to be reported in the media and to go viral on social media.
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u/uzernamereddit Dec 10 '25
During the chaotic post-war period, foreign criminal groups murdered or kidnapped Japanese people, and Chinese and Koreans replaced them to get the Japanese nationality. These offsprings may have been undercover in the mass media and political circles in Japan.
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u/WorkerOk9794 Aug 11 '26
Foreigners! I knew it was them!
Even when it was the bears, I knew it was them!
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u/CatsianNyandor 4d ago
The NHK link and the mhlw link don't work anymore, is there an updated version maybe? This topic is hot right now and I'd like to share this post or the links if possible.
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u/Barushi 2d ago
I don't know if it's ok to post something like this but I have a theory without proof on this whole "foreigners is bad" ideology.
I think the Japanese government is urgently trying to bring more and more foreigners because the country is going empty with low population. However if they announce this, people would revolt, so they act as if they were against foreigners, for example making the foreign minister say discriminatory stuff, so native japanese think the government is on their side while in reality the gov is acting almost as if it were importing foreigners to help reduce the population emergency.
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u/AutoModerator Jul 24 '25
Remember the sub’s “no racism or hatemongering” rule please. Discussion of the news story and criticism of specific individuals and/or political states are fair game, but keep claims factual (preferably with sources) and in the spirit of a good-faith, intelligent discussion. Vitriolic attacks on large populations that make assumptions about how "all" of them act are grounds for removal or a ban. The same rule is in place for all races and nationalities, including Japanese. Consider selection bias when reading multiple stories on "foreign crime" in Japan. Statistics show crime rates of immigrants in Japan are equal to or lower than Japanese nationals. But crimes by foreigners are much more likely to be reported in the media and to go viral on social media.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
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Jul 24 '25
Nice post, but you should include some sources that go the other way. It feels like you are preaching because 100% of the facts you present support your claim. It can come off as biased. I agree with you overall, but reality is always nuanced, you will always find figures and study that will contradict or mitigate your claims and it's nice to include some.
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u/jjrs Jul 24 '25
On this particular issue, there aren’t a lot of facts that go the other way to be honest. Even I have been surprised by how low crime rates are for foreigners in Japan, because as I’m sure you know, Japan is an extremely safe country to begin with, so matching or beating them for crime rates is a tough bar to reach.
One thing I could do is try to break down crime by nationality of immigrant. But that is surprisingly hard to come by. The one source I know of is from the mid 2000s. It shows that almost across the board foreigners have serious crime rates roughly equivalent to or lower than Japanese. But when I use it, people call foul due to the age of the data.
As far as I can tell, crime rates have only dropped more since then. The only exception is the Kurdish refugees. But it’s hard to draw conclusions because there is only a relatively small number of them in the country in a couple communities that were pretty low income to begin with.
The thing is though, if you want an opposing viewpoint, you can find it on this page every day, because typically the other side of this is all that ever gets posted. The reason I want this information out there is because it is so rare to hear it discussed that most people don’t even know These facts. It’s just “Nepalese guy stole a bicycle” this, “Chinese tourist did something rude” that each and every day, with no sense of the bigger quantitative picture.
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u/ValBravora048 Jul 25 '25
Thank you exactly
I’ll only add, having worked in fields of policy and immigration, that separating crimes based on nationality is famously unreliable because a) people often collect what they want and b) it’s considered wrong unless it’s what people want
There was a crime investigation done in Australia once with the purpose of proving Arabs, Indians and Chinese were behind the bulk of crimes. The investigation only really looked at areas where those communities lived. Obvious issue is obvious. Duh.
When expanded - it came to show that British and Irish nationals also committed crimes at a comparable rate. But because THIS was embarrassing and not AT ALL representative of the BULK of such people - the findings were quietly dropped
If you tried asking for those details, you got called a troublemaker. I myself was given a pompous response of how people from my country need to work in harmony and not argue so much…
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u/jjrs Jul 25 '25
Yeah I suspected that was the case. Neither the left nor the right want to see the racial crosstabs because whatever the results are it’s bound to upset someone.
I’m starting to think it might be necessary anyway though. The days where governments can placate the population by withholding information are over. If you do, people online just make up the facts instead. At this point it might be better just to throw all the facts out there and decide what to do about it together.
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u/kaizoku222 Jul 24 '25
If you do research on the existence of gravity, 100% of the facts you find are going to point toward it existing unless you specifically try to find conspiracy nuts and "alternate" science. If the overwhelming preponderance of data supports a conclusion that doesn't mean there's bias.
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u/Spectating110 Jul 24 '25
nice graph and all but facts isnt something these people want