Japan's relatively low crime rate just got lower. Recently released figures from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development showed that only 1.4 percent of people in Japan had been victims of assault compared with the OECD average of 4.0 percent for annual assault and mugging rates.

Overall Japan was ranked the safest country in the world, with the second- lowest homicide rate after Iceland and the second-lowest assault rate after Canada.

The National Police Agency also recently released a report noting that murders across the country declined 8.8 percent to 939 in 2013. That figure is below 1,000 per year for the first time since World War II. While even one murder is one too many — much less more than 900 — those figures reveal an improvement in one important area.