[snogglethorpe]

The basic point is that people in Japan aren't scared of the police, and in fact the police are often thought of as being kind of wimpy and ineffective; most people consider them "those guys you ask for directions when you're lost." Their relationship with the general public is hugely different than that of American police.

So while the Japanese justice system may have some bad habits, that is not an explanation for very low Japanese crime rates.

[saraid216]

Right. The general sense I've gotten from the American public is that the police are a paramilitary organization sanctified by the government. You don't ask the police to settle a dispute; you call the police to start a war.

[r00fus]

I've heard it being told by some that "the police is the biggest and most well-armed gang in the neighborhood".