Minoru Yokoyama

Delinquency Control Programs in the Community in Japan

(Editors Note) This paper examines the various means by which the Japanese, and especially the residents of Kawasaki, work to prevent juvenile delinquency. Through a combination of activities that involve the neighborhood, the school, the Juvenile Guidance Center, the police and through special delinquency control programs juveniles are guided away from delinquency. Professor Yokoyama personally presented this paper during the special seminar which was held in Kyoto on July 25 and 26, 1981 with some twenty Japanese criminologists with that of Dr. Albert K. Cohen of the University of Connecticut.

Measures Against Human Trafficking in Japan

In the early 1980s, Japan began to witness the human trafficking of females into the country from neighboring Asian countries; however, Japans government did not take sufficient measures against human trafficking. Since 2000, the United States has actively moved to combat human trafficking, and Japan did not fare well in the annual Trafficking in Persons Report. According to the 2004 report, Japan was ranked as a Tier 2 Watch List country. That same year, to improve its reputation in the international arena, Japan enacted and revised laws to take measures against human trafficking. This article examines how the Japanese laws were improved and discusses the measures implemented to fight human trafficking through the development of Japans Action Plan to Cope With Human Trafficking.

Analysis of prostitution in Japan

Before World War II, we witnessed the purification movement, on which Christian groups embarked as moral entrepreneurs. After the war, female groups took the initiative in a movement for anti‐prostitution law. The movement resulted in the enactment of the Prostitution Prevention Law in 1956, which made prostitution a punishable criminal offense. On the other hand, in the United States in the 1960s, some criminologists advocated the necessity of de‐criminalization of victimless crimes, one of which was prostitution. Some groups of feminists also insisted on the de‐criminalization of prostitution to emancipate women toward a freer and more liberated sexuality. New ideas regarding the control, or lack thereof, of prostitution were then introduced into Japan — a country where decriminalization was not realized in the dimension of criminal laws. With its rapid economic growth, Japan became a consumers society, in which the demand for prostitution increased. In response to this trend, more prostitutes committe...

Criminalization Against Traffic Offenders in Japan

ABSTRACT Japan experienced rapid motorization, which was followed by an increase of traffic accidents. However, the increase was suppressed around 1970. Criminalization against traffic offenders may have contributed to it. The process of criminalization may be instructive to other countries suffering from an increase of traffic accidents. But in Japan we should realize the limit of criminalization and check further criminalization.

Development of Criminology in Japan from a Sociological Perspective

In this paper the development of criminology, especially from a sociological viewpoint in Japan, is analyzed. Before World War II psychiatrists took the initiative in the development of criminology. After the war sociology became a popular academic subject. Then, sociologists began to research crimes and criminals. Under the influence of theories on criminology in the United States sociological criminology has been developed especially after the establishment of the Japanese Association of Sociological Criminology in 1974. In this paper I evaluate the development of sociological criminology, and point out some problems by which this criminology may wane in the future.

Environmental Pollution by Corporations in Japan

Corporations pursue as much profit as possible in the free market. One of the ways private corporations do this is to become larger by adopting a joint-stock form. The joint-stock corporation has a large number of stockholders and employees1 and supplies products or services to many people. If it pursues profits egoistically, great damage to society can occur.2 Therefore, some believe that a private corporation, especially a large one, comes to be regarded more as a social entity rather than simply as a private one.

Analysis of the crimes by foreigners in Japan

In Japan, the crimes committed by foreigners have not historically been considered a primary social problem prior to the 1980s. In the decade of the 1980s, many foreigners entered Japan in hopes of making a substantial amount of money. With the increase in the total number of new alien entrants, the crimes by foreigners gradually increased. However, all of the publicity focused on the countrys economic prosperity and little attention was drawn to crimes by foreigners. After the summer of 1990, a severe economic depression began. As the depression deepened, the crimes by foreigners increased drastically. The quality of these crimes became aggravated. This paper analyzes such phenomena through a study of empirical data, formal statistics, media resources, and a host of other resources. The paper will conclude that the economic elements played an important role in the development of criminal activity by alien newcomers to Japan.

Emergence of Anti-Prostitution Law In Japan—Analysis from Sociology of Criminal Law

In analyzing the process of creating criminal law, Howard Becker pointed out elements such as moral entrepreneurs, availability to the mass media, and political maneuvering. In this article the author analyses how these elements are seen in the emergence of Anti-Prostitution Law in Japan. According to historical documents Christian groups worked as moral crusaders in the purification movement before World War II. But after the war secular groups, especially female groups, became the main entrepreneurs for the enactment of Anti-Prostitution Law. In those countries where believers in a monotheistic religion like Christianity are the majority of the population, moral entrepreneurs may play an important role in creating criminal law. On the other hand, Japan does not have many such believers. Most Japanese, influenced by Shinto, are tolerant of different religions. Therefore, in the emergence of criminal law, moral crusaders who are interested in forcing their own morals on others are rarely seen. The author ...

Elderly Victimization in Aging Japan

Japan has become an aged society, in which 26.7% among all population is old persons of 65 years old and over. Therefore, the topic on the elderly victimization has become a big social problem. However, there are not data enough to analyze this topic in detail. In this paper the author will analyze the change in the situation of old people. Then, crimes committed by old people are briefly analyzed. The topic of the main analysis is the elderly victimization by crimes. The author uses data from the White Paper on Highly Aged Society in 2015 and newspaper articles as the major sources of information. The elderly victimization by accidents and disasters is also analyzed.

Changes in Crime and Reactions to Crime in Japan Becoming Stagnant with Aging

In this paper the crime problem in Japan is analyzed demographically by the use of framework presented by David Riesman et al. As they foresaw, Japan seems to move toward a stagnant society with advancement of aging. We see many young persons with the social character of being other-directed. The delinquency committed by them is different from that committed by previous youngsters with the social character of inner-directedness. We see prevalence of a social-typed delinquency instead of antisocial-typed one. However, the reaction to juvenile delinquency has become harsh since the upsurge of movement by victim crimes.