The NPA is National Police Agency. Sickenning the way they use figures. Plus the inconsistancies (mixing arrest case nb with nb of crimes stricto sensus). Plus of course they are not going to compare the figures to the nb of crimes comminted by 'native' japanese (or even a ratio to the population).
I checked that out the other day (for another list) and found :
-----------------------------
> What is the crime rate for foreigners vs. Japanese, per capita?
(1996 data from Japanese Almanac 1998 ed.)
number of criminal offenses (excluding traffic accidents and negligence in course of duty) : 1.812.000 crime rate (nb of cases per 1.000h) : 1.440
number of foreign criminal offence (nb of arrest cases) : 19.513 (for 6.026 arrested persons) _there is absolutely no info on the number of criminal offenses_ only the nb of people arrested !!! (with 342 who made it out of the country before being arrested).
The two numbers can't be compared, no info on number of japanese people arrested, no info on offenses excluding "traffic accidents and negligence in course of duty" for foreigners, plus "foreigner specific" crimes (related to registration card, visa, etc...
Still considering what we have here, one can easily say that there are proportionaly infinitely less criminals of foreign origins in Japan as there are Japanese criminals :
Japanese : 1.440 case per 1000h Foreigners : 19.513/1.500 = 13 (very rough estimation...) ---------------------------------
Plus the info above does not mention the fact that about 4.5 million foreigners enter the country every year. The ratios are only to the 'long stayers' (about 1.5 m)
JC Helary
NPA: Crimes by foreigners rising
Asahi Shimbun
May 1, 2000
The number of reported crimes committed by foreign nationals in Japan reached an all-time high of more than 34,000 in 1999, the National Police Agency said in a report released Sunday.
The report said the number of serious crimes such as murder, robbery and arson linked to foreigners increased last year.
These included reports of robberies, which rose by 50 percent to 195, and involved 278 foreign suspects, up 73.8 percent.
Those staying illegally in Japan were suspects in 58.3 percent of all crimes linked to foreigners, the NPA said.
Foreign criminals tend to commit crimes in groups, the report said.
The total number of crimes reported to have been committed by foreigners stood at 34,398 last year, the report said.
It said the number of foreigners arrested in 1999 was 13,436, second only to the 1997 total.
The number of serious crimes linked to foreigners rose in 1999 to 338, and involved 411 foreign suspects.
The number of crimes reportedly committed by foreigners illegally staying in Japan totaled 7,837, accounting for 58.3 percent of all crimes involving foreigners.