Japan has long enjoyed a reputation for being one of the safest countries in the world. It's said that you can trust your neighbors here. That there's little need to be constantly worried about your belongings. That you can walk the streets safely at night.
But is this sense of security starting to erode? Faced with daily reports of random crimes, it's hard for the average citizen not to feel a little uneasy.
Although there has been no major increase in felonies for decades and the national murder rate is still comparatively low, the number of crimes reported across the country has been increasing steadily. Among those, larceny ranks the highest. Out of 2.17 million reported cases of crime in 1999, 90 percent were theft-related, according to the National Police Department's 2000 white paper.