Japan was once thought to be one of the safest countries to live in by residents as well as visitors. But a series of incidents the past year suggest that this is no longer the case. Crimes and accidents have cost people their lives, while the shirking of responsibility and business ethics on the part of enterprises and professionals have deprived people of their sense of safety.
It is especially deplorable that society's weaker members have been victimized. Reports of ill treatment of children and fraud targeted at elderly people are rampant nationwide.
The most devastating incident in terms of the number of lives lost was the derailment of a West Japan Railway train in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, on the morning of April 25. The crash killed 106 passengers and the driver.