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In January 2008, then-Prime Minister Yasuo Fu<i></i>kuda of Japan's ruling conservative [[Liberal Democratic Party of Japan|LDP]], in response to an increase in violent crimes committed by minors and organised crime (''bouryokudan'' 暴力団), called for an amendment to the constitution, to allow for even tighter firearms control measures.<ref>"LDP's platform to call for a new Constitution"; http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070524a3.html.</ref>
In January 2008, then-Prime Minister Yasuo Fu<i></i>kuda of Japan's ruling conservative [[Liberal Democratic Party of Japan|LDP]], in response to an increase in violent crimes committed by minors and organised crime (''bouryokudan'' 暴力団), called for an amendment to the constitution, to allow for even tighter firearms control measures.<ref>"LDP's platform to call for a new Constitution"; http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070524a3.html.</ref>
Extensive police authority is one reason the Japanese gun control system works. Another reason is that Japan has no cultural history of gun ownership by citizens.
Extensive police authority is one reason the Japanese gun control system works. Another reason is that Japan has no cultural history of gun ownership by citizens.<ref>This culture dates back to the "Sword Hunt" (''taiko no katanagari'') declared on 29 August 1588, by one General Hideyoshi Toyotomi, which prohibited the ownership of swords and firearms by the non-noble classes. He decreed: "The people in the various provinces are strictly forbidden to have in their possession any swords, short swords, bows, spears, firearms or other arms. The possession of unnecessary implements makes difficult the collection of taxes and tends to foment upprisings... Therefore the heads of provinces, official agents and deputies are ordered to
collect all the weapons mentioned above and turn them over to the Government.</ref>
==Gun Control and Crime==
==Gun Control and Crime==
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===Why is Japan "Gun Free"?===
There is one almost over-riding factor that is the result of Japan's low crime rate. More than gun control, more than the lack of criminal procedure safeguards (see below), and more than the
authority of the police, it is the pervasive social controls of Japan. It is these socially-accepted and internalised restraints on individual behaviour that makes Japan stand out from other countries. For example, the former Soviet Union, had severe gun controls, far less criminal justice safeguards, and a more unconstrained police force than Japan, but suffered from a much higher crime rate than Japan. During the 1960s, whilst the English-speaking world suffered from a decline in social controls and a rise in crime, social controls remained and crime fell in Japan.<ref>Anthropologist Joy Hendry attributes the low Japanese crime rate to the effect of group controls such as shame. J Hendry; Understanding Japanese Society; Routledge; 1989</ref>
In addition, the Japanese people fully accept the authority of their police and trust their government. In this cultural context, it is easy to see why gun control has succeeded in Japan - the people accept gun control with the same readiness that they accept other Government controls. Further, they have little incentive to disobey gun controls, since they have hardly any cultural heritage of gun ownership.
The Japanese Government itself promotes a social climate for gun control by essentially disarming itself. The police, although they carry guns when on duty, rarely use them. This too, has a cultural background, as when the National Police Agency was created in the late 19<sup>th</sup> century, as part of the [[Meiji Restoration]], many of the founder-members were former [[samurai]], who were now unemployed as a result of the abolition of feudalism. Their code believed that guns were for cowards, and that real men fought using the martial arts.
Ironically, the Japanese police only started to carry firearms when ordered to do so in 1946 by [[Douglas MacArthur|General MacArthur]]. Two years later, when the American occupation forces noticed that few police officers had obeyed the order to arm, the Americans supplied the police with guns and ammunition.<ref>D Bayley; Forces of Order: Police Behavior in Japan and the United States; University of California Press; 1976; pp 164 & 180</ref>
The police only carry .38 (Smith & Wesson or Nambu .38s) special revolvers, and must always leave their guns at the station. Desk-bound police administrators, traffic police, most plainclothes detectives, and even the riot police do not carry guns.<ref>D Bayley; Forces of Order: Police Behavior in Japan and the United States; University of California Press; 1976; pp 162 & 170</ref>
Instead of using guns, the police rely on their black belts in judo or the use of their police batons. Indeed, police recruit training spends 60 hours on firearms training, compared to 90 hours on judo, and another 90 on kendo. After police school, few officers show any interest in further firearms training, while continued judo and kendo practice is frequent. Annual police martial arts contests are important events and some 60% of officers rank in one of the top judo brackets.
The official Japanese police culture discourages the use of guns. Shooting at a fleeing suspect is unlawful under any circumstance and police and civilians can both be punished for any act of self-defense in which the harm caused was greater than the harm averted.<ref>''Keiho'' 刑法 (Japanese Penal Code), Art 37.</ref>
However, the police are equally equipped with draconian powers to enforce the gun controls.
==Enforcing the Law==
==Enforcing the Law==