The Japanese Police System Today: A Comparative Study

In all major categories of crime, statistics show clearly that Japan has dramatically lower crime rates than the United States. How can this be accounted for, considering that Japan's population is as urbanized, industrialized, and sophisticated as those of the most advanced Western nations?

One of the major factors is the very different way that the Japanese police system is viewed and operates compared with police in the U.S. This study examines those differences through direct observation of Japanese police practices combines with interviews of Japanese police officials, criminal justice practitioners, legal scholars, and private citizens. Written by a teaching criminologist, it compares many Japanese police practices side by side with U.S. police practices, and places the role of the police in the broader cultural and historical Japanese framework.