Population size:
126264931 [1]
Number of people experiencing domestic abuse each year:
Japan’s National Police Agency released data from 2018 showing 77,480 calls to local police related to domestic violence and gender-based matters. police took action against 9,088 cases of domestic violence across Japan — an increase of 666 cases from the previous year.[2]
After the National Police Agency changed its policies on domestic violence in 2011, there has been a dramatic surge in the number of reported cases, from 28,158 in 2009 to 49,533 in 2013. A significant portion of women suffered physical violence and an important proportion among them also suffer from psychological violence. However, because of cultural norms, many women do not report the abuse. In 2015, a government report stated that 10 percent of women had been victims of harassment or stalking, and 29 percent among them said that they feared for their lives. Of 3,544 respondents to a government survey, 11 percent of women said that they had experienced harassment from the opposite sex, while 4 percent of men admitted the same. Of all those surveyed, just 10 percent of women reported the cases to the police and only 3 percent of men. [3]
No research on male victims or other gender identities.
Cost of domestic abuse to the economy each year:
No research.
Estimated % change due to COVID-19:
No research.
Current law and policy:
Japan commits to take concrete actions along with a national plan to end and prevent violence against women and girls. Japan commits to take concrete actions along with the Third Basic Plan for Gender Equality which incorporates policy measures to end and prevent violence against women and girls. The Plan places its priority on the "elimination of all forms of violence against women" and recommends related Ministries to implement concrete policy measures.
As well as awareness raising and educational campaign, Japan has implemented concrete measures which include the following in line with the plan: the establishment of a help desk service for survivors of sexual crimes and access to female police officers in such cases; the establishment of Juvenile and Women Aegis Teams in police headquarters nationwide working exclusively to identify persons showing signs of possible sexual abuse such as accosting and stalking, and to mitigate such cases; provision of funds for required urgent contraception to survivors of sexual crimes as well as construction of police and obstetrician-gynaecologists network; prevention of second offense by interviewing, if the need arises, those who have served time for violent sex crimes to children and were released from prison; implementation of an automated voice response service to direct survivors of domestic violence to announce the closest consultation service or Spousal Violence Counselling and Support Centre; and human rights counselling services provided by the Human Rights Organs of the Ministry of Justice, including the establishment of a "Women's Rights Hotline''.
Japan also contributes to international cooperation in tackling various challenges including violence, through both bilateral and multilateral schemes which aim at promoting protection and empowerment of vulnerable women and girls, based on human security.
Frontline Services:
Tell Japan - https://telljp.com/about/contact/ - event@telljp.com
For Empowering Women (FEW) in Japan - https://fewjapan.com/about-us/ - https://fewjapan.com/contact-us/
National Women’s Education Center - https://www.nwec.jp/en/ - https://www.nwec.jp/form/
Asia-Japan Women’s Resource Centre - http://www.ajwrc.org/eng/ - ajwrc@ajwrc.org
Japanese Womens Leadership Initiative - https://jwli.org/jwlia/ - https://jwli.org/contact/
Sources
[1] The World Bank, (1)
Further Reading
[1] UN Women, (10)
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