Sense of security eroding among Japanese

TOKYO - By the standards of industrialized countries, Japan is incredibly safe. Few areas are too dangerous to walk at night, lost purses and wallets generally are returned with valuables intact, and missing bicycles often turn up the next day, after being "borrowed" by drunken businessmen.

So why are security-conscious Japanese snapping up infrared locks, four-legged barking robots and panic rooms at a record pace? Because everything is relative, and crime in Japan has spiked in recent years - albeit from a low base.

"Japan always seemed like such a safe country," Akito Masunaga, 45, a trading company executive, said recently after installing extra locks in his house. "Now it's a country surrounded by fear." Although Japan saw only 1,985 crimes per 100,000 people in 2000, according to Interpol statistics - which is less than half the 4,123 in the United States - that represents a 25 percent rise over 1995 levels. During the same five-year period, the United States experienced a slight decline.

Throw in several high-profile attacks and mounting police scandals, and it's easy to see why Japanese are lapping up security equipment, services and gizmos in a quest for peace of mind.

Kaori Sano, a 31-year-old employee of an apparel company, returned to her Tokyo apartment late one night in July to find her door ajar and her VCR, computer and watches gone.

Police informed her that she was the fourth person in her building to be robbed in recent weeks. Officers showed little sympathy for her or interest in catching the thief, she said, focusing instead on playing down the value of her stolen items in an apparent bid to make politically sensitive crime figures look smaller.

A National Police Agency official denied any such practice and said the real problem is a lack of personnel. "Crime rates just keep rising, and the officers can't keep up," said the official, requesting anonymity.

Sano hoped that her landlord would install a high-end magnetic tumbler lock, but he added only another ordinary lock - and even that took three weeks. Now Sano is considering spending hundreds of dollars on additional safety devices, provided she can figure out which offer the greatest security.

"I always considered my neighborhood a good place for women living alone," she said. "Now that something's happened to me, I feel so vulnerable." Exact statistics on how much Japanese are spending on security products and services aren't available, but analysts say the amount is growing by leaps and bounds. Secom, Japan's largest security company, says its home-protection business is expanding 20 percent annually. Demand for Miwa Lock Co.'s high-end cylinders has tripled in the last two years, while Asahi Glass reports strong interest in tempered panes, which are much stronger than regular windows.

The rate of theft in many categories has doubled in the last five years, and experts say several factors related to Japan's changing lifestyle are behind the increase.