It follows calls from the mayor of at least one Japanese city for citizens to form “vigilante groups” in response to reports of rising crime by foreign nationals.
“This is symptomatic of Japan’s changing demographics and the rise of xenophobia,” Teppei Kasai of Human Rights Watch in Tokyo told This Week in Asia, pointing to the unprecedented number of foreign workers and tourists the country had seen in recent years.
A government panel assessing the possible impact of a major Tokyo earthquake warned in December of the potential for communications breakdown and unrest in the aftermath of a natural disaster, citing the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 as a historical precedent.
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Tokyo in flames: the earthquake that changed Japan forever
Tokyo in flames: the earthquake that changed Japan forever
‘Easier targets’
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