CRIME IN JAPAN.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXIII, Issue 12582, 1 October 1908, Page 4

CRIME IN JAPAN.

Japan can do many things well, but apparently she haa not yet learned how to organise a police force of Western efficiency. A correspondent of the Standard sends a disquieting account of the increase of lawlessness in Japan. During the last three years crimes of violence have increased to an alarming extent, foreigners no longer find it safe to wander alone about the environs of Japanese cities, and even in the public streets foreign women have been relieved of their purses in broad daylight. Piracy is increasing along the coasts and in the Inland Sea. The police system seems to be very antiquated. The Japanese policeman does not patrol the streets, but stays in one spot, a place often difficult to find, and the criminal feels pretty safe in operating at some distance from it. The night watchmen go about banging two pieces of wood together, which, of course,, gives criminals ample warning of their approach. The police seem afraid of the criminal element. :tnd not without reason, for the Japanese malefactor is apt to draw a knife and use it without compunction, whilst in the mass he can make things very ugly for authority. Not long ago a crowd of coolies were making a disturbance outside the house of a foreigner who was entertaining guests. When he requested them to be quiet, they were insolent. A complaint to the police led to the coolies returning and bombarding the house with bottles. When the foreigner complained to the police again, he was told that the offenders were not the crowd of which he complained in the first instance. This is described as a typical Japanese method of evading a clash with the lower element. The average citizen has little faith in the administration of the law, and frequently takes matters into his own hands, stabbing being a favourite method among the lower orders of setuing differences of opinion. The Japanese newspapers are continually complaining 4 the decline of moral standards, and cation is declared to be ineffective to meet the danger. Some attribute the evil to Western influence, but others maintain that what is needed is an adequate and effective moral ideal, such as that provided by Christianity. The question is being asked whether Japan can meet the requirements of the modern world independently of the ideals which have produced modern Christendom.

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