This year's white paper on crime opens, on the first page, with the proclaimed aim of restoring Japan as "the safest country in the world" and closes, on the final page, with the expressed determination to achieve this goal. The report seems to convey the Ministry of Justice's concern and sense of tension over the deterioration of public order in the country.
The question is how security can be restored to citizens' lives. The ministry suggests various prescriptions, but does not indicate, in the report at least, what safety checks exist today to help effect this public order.
According to the white paper, with regard to ordinary crimes excluding traffic offenses, the number of cases recognized by the police as well as the incidence of offenses per 100,000 population gradually increased after hitting a low around 1973 -- at the end of the period of high economic growth.