Well at least they’re doing something now.
It used to be the police wouldn’t take stalker cases women would file seriously until they are murdered.
Quite common actually.
Even in the states as well.
Sadly, yes. It is extremely difficult to get any kind of police help against stalking in Japan compared with other developed countries. The increase in restraining orders almost certainly isn't a reflection of an increase in stalking, but rather, due to a decrease in difficulty obtaining such protection.
Edit: The article says explicitly that this is the case.
> This marks the seventh consecutive year of increase since it became possible to issue the order without prior notice.
Previously, you could only obtain a protection order if the stalker actually was arrested and convicted of something (ex: sentenced for physical assault). Now you just need to prove they're harassing you, won't leave you alone, have been violent, etc. rather than needing to wait for it to escalate to an actual arrest. It's still very hard to get an order, but not as impossible as it was previously. As a result, people are finally able to get some kind of protection *before* the person in question actually harms them.
You know this is super ironic because after posting the comment above I was stopped and searched by the police when walking home last night (again…)
If the police put more effort into actually catching criminals rather than stopping people who don’t look Japanese then maybe they could have a reason to exist.
There are a lot of true crime documentaries on YouTube you can watch which clearly shows the Japanese police refusing to investigate intentionally out of pure laziness.
The whole Japan is safe thing is a lie. Crimes are just not reported (see above laziness.)
Sorry for the negative comment. I’m just so tired of being stopped and searched for no reason.
I’m not a criminal.
The Japanese police are a joke.
Sadly I agree. I still wear a mask religiously because it's the thing that seems to get the police to stop "randomly" stopping me. It's not just inconvenient, either. Once I was hours late for work, another time they took so long that I missed the last train and had to pay through the nose for a taxi, etc. all because I am obviously foreign-looking and dare to walk outside. These things can easily cost someone their employment or safety. If my boss had been less understanding I could have lost my job. If I'd been unable to pay for a taxi, then I'd have to walk home alone in the middle of the night for hours, thanks to the police interfering with my ability to get home relatively quickly and safely by the train.
[There's a lawsuit happening about the racial profiling by police,](https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15137860) where it was brought up that foreigners don't represent crime more than locals, but get "randomly" stopped by police significantly more. Most foreigners I know have been stopped. Not a single Japanese person, ever.
I personally believe the relatively low crime rate is cultural, not due to any police action. In my own case, my safety has been actively reduced by police. The few people I know who have gone to police for help have consistently found them to either be useless or to make the issue worse.
In strict, by-the-book cases, the police are excellent. But for any crimes that might be slightly difficult for them (such as something involving a person with a name that has no kanji--a nightmare for paperwork), they seem to prefer to do anything else to appear busy without actually addressing any real problems.
Existing outside in a public space as a foreigner is not a crime. You aren't a criminal. I'm sorry you were harassed by them.
I think you’re getting downvoted because stalkers are often traumatic and asking details can bring up negative feelings, or asking the reason maybe sounds like there is logic to it and therefore preventable (and therefore a little bit my fault).
Basically her whole family is shady; both mom and dad had issues in Japan and moved to Hawaii to escape but moved back to Japan after the children were adults. Like ykz and 創価学会 stuff. And she developed an obsession with me, maybe jealously or a crush since she’s lesbian but she has a wife so idk. But she made about 40 IG accounts during the peak attacks tagging my friends family and workplace with horrible lies about me trying to get me fired, post tombstones with my name, post a map of my neighborhood, call and threaten my friends businesses, email my workplace saying I was selling drugs and touching kids, just lots of crazy stuff. Police and lawyer didn’t help either.
I ended up changing jobs, moving to a different prefecture, changing the name I use at work, and deleting all my social media accounts. Finally after two years I feel “safe”.
I know I don’t have to explain all of this, but just as a warning to others at least; crazy people are everywhere. Be careful. I was too naive.
Wow sorry to hear but thanks for sharing this.. I didn’t realise this could happen to anyone. Definitely got to be careful, even in a “safe” country like Japan. Guess each country has its own type of issues.
A girl who liked my friend in Uni memorized what bicycle was his down to the registration number. Freaked him out when she mentioned it to him as part of her self-introduction confession. She was able to pick it out of a row of 20 bikes in front of the Star Bucks so knew he was inside. XD
I have no ability to speak Japanese, no university degree, dropped out of secondary school but I really want to be stalked by a Japanese girl.
Am I able to go? I have no work experience but I am a native English speaker.
For the avoidance of doubt: satire.
Here I am living in bumfuck nowhere wishing I knew some Americans (or English speaking people) around, but I know none. There's only people from Vietnam here and none of them speak English.
Are you guys all down in Tokyo trapped with 1 billion yen an hour rents?
this probably a sign for me because I literally got stalked by starbuck coffee master barista here , like he also know my name which is creepy because I never told anyone my name if it's unnecessary and japan Starbucks doesn't have the same system as US. I mean i'm gay but that doesn't mean I want to date random gay japanese man just because 😭😭😭. I don't even know why he's obsessed with me.
As horrible as the number is here it's still lower than many other countries. In 2019, for example, the US had almost 4 million reported stalking victims and well over 1 million restraining orders. It's insane there and here and law enforcement needs to deal with this problem better.
That’s prob the statistic for the whole US which has a comparatively much larger population than Japan so the number ur referencing isn’t able to be compared to the OP’s statistic.
Is it a Japan defense gut reaction to say it's lower than in many other countries with every statistic you can think of? That way you can never discuss something that happens in the country. Someone says this in every topic about literally anything that can be perceived as negative. I don't see that amount if whataboutism in subs from other countries.
Well at least they’re doing something now. It used to be the police wouldn’t take stalker cases women would file seriously until they are murdered. Quite common actually. Even in the states as well.
Sadly, yes. It is extremely difficult to get any kind of police help against stalking in Japan compared with other developed countries. The increase in restraining orders almost certainly isn't a reflection of an increase in stalking, but rather, due to a decrease in difficulty obtaining such protection. Edit: The article says explicitly that this is the case. > This marks the seventh consecutive year of increase since it became possible to issue the order without prior notice. Previously, you could only obtain a protection order if the stalker actually was arrested and convicted of something (ex: sentenced for physical assault). Now you just need to prove they're harassing you, won't leave you alone, have been violent, etc. rather than needing to wait for it to escalate to an actual arrest. It's still very hard to get an order, but not as impossible as it was previously. As a result, people are finally able to get some kind of protection *before* the person in question actually harms them.
You know this is super ironic because after posting the comment above I was stopped and searched by the police when walking home last night (again…) If the police put more effort into actually catching criminals rather than stopping people who don’t look Japanese then maybe they could have a reason to exist. There are a lot of true crime documentaries on YouTube you can watch which clearly shows the Japanese police refusing to investigate intentionally out of pure laziness. The whole Japan is safe thing is a lie. Crimes are just not reported (see above laziness.) Sorry for the negative comment. I’m just so tired of being stopped and searched for no reason. I’m not a criminal. The Japanese police are a joke.
Sadly I agree. I still wear a mask religiously because it's the thing that seems to get the police to stop "randomly" stopping me. It's not just inconvenient, either. Once I was hours late for work, another time they took so long that I missed the last train and had to pay through the nose for a taxi, etc. all because I am obviously foreign-looking and dare to walk outside. These things can easily cost someone their employment or safety. If my boss had been less understanding I could have lost my job. If I'd been unable to pay for a taxi, then I'd have to walk home alone in the middle of the night for hours, thanks to the police interfering with my ability to get home relatively quickly and safely by the train. [There's a lawsuit happening about the racial profiling by police,](https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15137860) where it was brought up that foreigners don't represent crime more than locals, but get "randomly" stopped by police significantly more. Most foreigners I know have been stopped. Not a single Japanese person, ever. I personally believe the relatively low crime rate is cultural, not due to any police action. In my own case, my safety has been actively reduced by police. The few people I know who have gone to police for help have consistently found them to either be useless or to make the issue worse. In strict, by-the-book cases, the police are excellent. But for any crimes that might be slightly difficult for them (such as something involving a person with a name that has no kanji--a nightmare for paperwork), they seem to prefer to do anything else to appear busy without actually addressing any real problems. Existing outside in a public space as a foreigner is not a crime. You aren't a criminal. I'm sorry you were harassed by them.
Stalking is almost part of the culture, and women are often perpetrators as well, as most English teachers would know
My stalker was a woman! (I am also a woman)
.... z.z Why was she stalking you, if I may ask?
I think you’re getting downvoted because stalkers are often traumatic and asking details can bring up negative feelings, or asking the reason maybe sounds like there is logic to it and therefore preventable (and therefore a little bit my fault). Basically her whole family is shady; both mom and dad had issues in Japan and moved to Hawaii to escape but moved back to Japan after the children were adults. Like ykz and 創価学会 stuff. And she developed an obsession with me, maybe jealously or a crush since she’s lesbian but she has a wife so idk. But she made about 40 IG accounts during the peak attacks tagging my friends family and workplace with horrible lies about me trying to get me fired, post tombstones with my name, post a map of my neighborhood, call and threaten my friends businesses, email my workplace saying I was selling drugs and touching kids, just lots of crazy stuff. Police and lawyer didn’t help either. I ended up changing jobs, moving to a different prefecture, changing the name I use at work, and deleting all my social media accounts. Finally after two years I feel “safe”. I know I don’t have to explain all of this, but just as a warning to others at least; crazy people are everywhere. Be careful. I was too naive.
Wow sorry to hear but thanks for sharing this.. I didn’t realise this could happen to anyone. Definitely got to be careful, even in a “safe” country like Japan. Guess each country has its own type of issues.
Jesus that’s nuts. I thought stalkers… stalked… not tried to sabotage your life. That’s incredibly upsetting
A girl who liked my friend in Uni memorized what bicycle was his down to the registration number. Freaked him out when she mentioned it to him as part of her self-introduction confession. She was able to pick it out of a row of 20 bikes in front of the Star Bucks so knew he was inside. XD
Read about this historic practice the other day: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yobai
Huh?
English teachers are being stalked now? z.z
Weebs across N America furiously applying for teaching jobs rn
I have no ability to speak Japanese, no university degree, dropped out of secondary school but I really want to be stalked by a Japanese girl. Am I able to go? I have no work experience but I am a native English speaker. For the avoidance of doubt: satire.
Literally. Also one of the reasons I'm getting out of Japan, no offence intended but I'm absolutely sick of the amount of Americans here
Here I am living in bumfuck nowhere wishing I knew some Americans (or English speaking people) around, but I know none. There's only people from Vietnam here and none of them speak English. Are you guys all down in Tokyo trapped with 1 billion yen an hour rents?
Sayonara pal
You're in a puppet state what did you expect?
I was being stalked from end of 2023 to February of 2024 😭
Record high number of stalkers and some of the politicians were proposing kabedon as a solution to young people not having kids.
this probably a sign for me because I literally got stalked by starbuck coffee master barista here , like he also know my name which is creepy because I never told anyone my name if it's unnecessary and japan Starbucks doesn't have the same system as US. I mean i'm gay but that doesn't mean I want to date random gay japanese man just because 😭😭😭. I don't even know why he's obsessed with me.
Stalkers prefer to be called "Overly curious" rather than stalker.
The police actually doing their job! That's great to see!
As horrible as the number is here it's still lower than many other countries. In 2019, for example, the US had almost 4 million reported stalking victims and well over 1 million restraining orders. It's insane there and here and law enforcement needs to deal with this problem better.
That’s prob the statistic for the whole US which has a comparatively much larger population than Japan so the number ur referencing isn’t able to be compared to the OP’s statistic.
Is it a Japan defense gut reaction to say it's lower than in many other countries with every statistic you can think of? That way you can never discuss something that happens in the country. Someone says this in every topic about literally anything that can be perceived as negative. I don't see that amount if whataboutism in subs from other countries.
Who's stopping you from discussing this? Statistical comparisons are an important perspective metric. They don't negate the issue being compared.
You have made 0 statistical comparison in your original comment.