76% feel Japan is less safe – police survey

Japan map. INQUIRER.net stock images

TOKYO, Feb. 6 — A recent National Police Agency survey has shown that 76.6% of the respondents feel that Japan has become less safe over the past 10 years.

According to the survey conducted in October last year, the share rose 4.7 percentage points from a year before to the highest level since the agency started asking about a change in the public security situation in 2021.

Those who answered that Japan is safe accounted for 56.4% of the total, falling below 60% for the first time.

In the survey, 41.8% said Japan is somewhat less safe, while 34.8% answered that the country has become less safe.

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Asked about the reasons for feeling the deterioration, 69% cited the presence of frauds including romance scams and phishing, while 58.3% mentioned personal information theft through unauthorized access to computer systems.

The online survey was conducted on people aged 15 or over across the country. Valid responses came from 5,000 people.