Crime differences
I often hear friends in Brazil mentioning about how safe it is in Japan. I may agree that you feel safer. And overall it is safer, especially when you talk about numbers. But it's a different feeling. In Brazil you avoid showing possessions or going around certain neighborhoods because that's almost the same than asking for trouble. So, following some "guidelines" it's possible to protect oneself... even if it is only a little bit.
In Japan, that worry with possesions is usually not so strong, so you may walk at night listening to your iPod or withdraw money from the bank without having to look carefully at every corner and beyond...
What about when violence is totally random? That's what happened last 8th in Akihabara, Tokyo.
From The Japan Times:
Seven people died and 10 others were injured after a man hit pedestrians with a truck and then stabbed passersby Sunday in broad daylight on a street in Tokyo's busy Akihabara district.
Police arrested the man, Tomohiro Kato from Susono, Shizuoka Prefecture, on the street and seized a survival knife he was carrying. The 25-year-old temp staffer at an auto component factory in the prefecture admitted to stabbing people with the knife, which had a 13-cm blade, from around 12:30 p.m., the police said.
"I came to Akihabara to kill people," investigative sources quoted Kato as telling the police. "I am tired of the world. Anyone was OK. I came alone."
(...)
The Akihabara area was crowded with shoppers as Chuo-dori was vehicle-free for pedestrians. The scene was near the intersection of Chuo-dori and Kanda Myojin-dori streets, only a stone's throw from JR Akihabara Station.
A 19-year-old man from Tokyo's Ota Ward said, "The man (Kato) jumped on top of a man he had hit with his vehicle and stabbed him with a knife many times. Walking toward Akihabara Station, he slashed nearby people at random."
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The Japan Times article shows links to other recent cases. The interesting thing here is that most follow a pattern: people discontent with their position in society that go on a killing rampage with a knife. No wonder people are forbidden to walk with knifes here (even a Swiss army knife or scissors). I'm serious! To carry such things around, they must be in a place where it can't be promptly withdrawn. Like inside a backpack, for example.
That's an interesting thing about violence in Japan: people who are assaulted are usually close friends (or even from the same family) with the agressor... or are picked completely at random! How to protect oneself against these? There were cases even where I live, where a student bumped into one of those "potential madmen" and was stabbed... just for that!
You know, one thing I've been thinking, major violent events in Brazil and in Japan may be consequence of social conditions. Social difference in Brazil, social pressure in Japan...
Other thing, maybe those killing sprees are ways for those people get others' attention. In that case, we may be giving them exactly what they want... and risking motivating other potential "killers". Still, in this case, omission may not be the solution. I'd be like blaming video-games for the violence. The origin of the problem is something different...
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Added on June 12th
Some discussions about this problem showed a different light. Some say that it's because some crimes common in Brazil are low in Japan, so that we don't notice our own random mass killings. Most countries have their cases, from the US to Brazil (English).
I still think numbers in Brazil don't live up to numbers in Japan regarding that kind of crime... Apart from that, I admit there have been quite a number of killings in the US too.
I've heard some possible causes for that difference, but none seems really convincing...
In Japan, that worry with possesions is usually not so strong, so you may walk at night listening to your iPod or withdraw money from the bank without having to look carefully at every corner and beyond...
What about when violence is totally random? That's what happened last 8th in Akihabara, Tokyo.
From The Japan Times:
Seven people died and 10 others were injured after a man hit pedestrians with a truck and then stabbed passersby Sunday in broad daylight on a street in Tokyo's busy Akihabara district.
Police arrested the man, Tomohiro Kato from Susono, Shizuoka Prefecture, on the street and seized a survival knife he was carrying. The 25-year-old temp staffer at an auto component factory in the prefecture admitted to stabbing people with the knife, which had a 13-cm blade, from around 12:30 p.m., the police said.
"I came to Akihabara to kill people," investigative sources quoted Kato as telling the police. "I am tired of the world. Anyone was OK. I came alone."
(...)
The Akihabara area was crowded with shoppers as Chuo-dori was vehicle-free for pedestrians. The scene was near the intersection of Chuo-dori and Kanda Myojin-dori streets, only a stone's throw from JR Akihabara Station.
A 19-year-old man from Tokyo's Ota Ward said, "The man (Kato) jumped on top of a man he had hit with his vehicle and stabbed him with a knife many times. Walking toward Akihabara Station, he slashed nearby people at random."
---
The Japan Times article shows links to other recent cases. The interesting thing here is that most follow a pattern: people discontent with their position in society that go on a killing rampage with a knife. No wonder people are forbidden to walk with knifes here (even a Swiss army knife or scissors). I'm serious! To carry such things around, they must be in a place where it can't be promptly withdrawn. Like inside a backpack, for example.
That's an interesting thing about violence in Japan: people who are assaulted are usually close friends (or even from the same family) with the agressor... or are picked completely at random! How to protect oneself against these? There were cases even where I live, where a student bumped into one of those "potential madmen" and was stabbed... just for that!
You know, one thing I've been thinking, major violent events in Brazil and in Japan may be consequence of social conditions. Social difference in Brazil, social pressure in Japan...
Other thing, maybe those killing sprees are ways for those people get others' attention. In that case, we may be giving them exactly what they want... and risking motivating other potential "killers". Still, in this case, omission may not be the solution. I'd be like blaming video-games for the violence. The origin of the problem is something different...
-----
Added on June 12th
Some discussions about this problem showed a different light. Some say that it's because some crimes common in Brazil are low in Japan, so that we don't notice our own random mass killings. Most countries have their cases, from the US to Brazil (English).
I still think numbers in Brazil don't live up to numbers in Japan regarding that kind of crime... Apart from that, I admit there have been quite a number of killings in the US too.
I've heard some possible causes for that difference, but none seems really convincing...
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