Replies

Is there a problem with government overreach [in Japan].

* * *

Comparing Japan to America in "government involvement" is a topic I often think about as I walk the streets of my mid-sized Japanese city. Comparing cultures and laws is not a perfect science since there so many exceptions. But in three areas, I think, the Japanese are doing an excellent job:

Immigration — Japan has strong control of its border and rigorously screens the 2% immigrant population in the country today. Me and my wife (a former Japanese national) had to produce 50 pages of documentation, photos, and financial records before we were given a 5-year resident alien visa (which we hope will be renewed). And as aliens, we have no rights to vote.
Citizen Respect for Laws & Law Enforcement — Petty theft is very rare here. Evidence of that is how merchandise in the store is on full display. You can even leave your laptop unattended in a public place and it will be there when you come back to it. And going hand-in-hand with this law-abiding culture is training of the kids by the family and schools.
Law enforcement is strict here, yet the incarceration rate is low. Comparisons: number of people in jails in Japan is 40,081; in USA there are 1,808,100 people in jail according to Wikipedia stats.
Drinking & Driving — Here too, Japan is stricter. The legal Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) in the USA varies by state and is generally getting stricter. It's currently between 4% and 8%.
In Nippon the maximum BAC is 3% — regardless, a police office can declare a person drunk even if the BAC is relatively low. Here, Wiki's drunk driving by country analysis is interesting to read.
And the Japanese have good reasons to be be strict about drunk driving: Japanese cities have a denser population; the roads are narrower; single-lane roads are very common; and the sidewalks on secondary streets often lack protective curbstones or rails.
Bottom line: as I mentioned in my previous post, traffic-related deaths are far lower in Japan ( 2.1 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants) versus USA ( 12.84 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants).

So this is a quick rundown. Hope it's some food for thought.