Driven by concerns about rising crime, citizens are standing up to protect themselves by forming neighborhood watch groups.
While public attention has recently focused on an apparent surge in abductions, especially of minors, overall crime is on the rise. This is especially true of burglaries and muggings, thus threatening Japan's reputation as one of the world's safest countries.
According to the National Police Agency, the number of recorded criminal cases hit a postwar high of 2,853,739 in 2002, up nearly 60 percent from 1994, though the arrest rate fell to 20.8 percent, less than half that of 1994.