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Japan ranked 5th most peaceful country in world

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What makes a country peaceful? Journalist Akira Ikegami analyzes the “Global Peace Index” survey of 140 countries and regions which the Economist Intelligence Unit released in March.

According to the survey, Japan is ranked the 5th most peaceful country, following Iceland, Denmark, Norway and New Zealand. Japan is the only Asian country which is ranked in the top 20. The least peaceful country in the world right is Iraq, followed by Somalia, Sudan and Afghanistan.

The factors considered in the survey are: the number of internal and external conflicts, victims of organized crimes and number of refugees from 2000 to 2006. The frequency of riots, terrorism and availability of weapons as well as human rights violations and political stability are also considered. In addition, the number of police officers, prison population and murder cases per 100,000 population are factors.

People in Japan recently say they feel the number of serious crimes has been increasing. But it isn't really. According to a survey by the National Police Agency in 2006, the number of “confirmed murder cases” marked the lowest since 1945. The number of murders in the 1960s was double today's rate.

So what makes people feel like that? One reason is the increase of news programs and media. People are exposed daily to murder news, which makes it look like the murder rate is going up.

Why isn't Japan No. 1 in the ranking? The survey explains it is because Japan does not yet have good relationships with China and North Korea. If these relationships go well, Japan might get the No. 1 spot.

What about the United States? The U.S. was ranked 97th in the survey, while China was 67th. The U.S. is the least peaceful country among developed countries. Because the survey was conducted before the riots in China, China may be ranked lower next time.

Why is the U.S. ranked so low? This is because of its continuing military campaign in Iraq and the high possibility of a terrorist attack on the mainland. In addition, the number of prisoners per population is the largest in the world. The high murder rate and availability of guns are also factors in America's ranking.

To conclude, the definition of a “peaceful” country is one that never goes to war, never has riots, political instability and many murders, but protects human rights and provides public security with a small number of police officers. (Translated By Taro Fujimoto)

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

39 Comments
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what a load of crap

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Can we say, yeah right......To hell with those other countries Japan is too peaceful in my book.....Down with 9....<BG>

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so make up a bunch of hard-to-measure standards, just so that you can put your beloved japan at or near the top...i guess these twits need to be able to say they're good at something

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so make up a bunch of hard-to-measure standards, just so that you can put your beloved japan at or near the top...

This "report" has been compiled by the "Economist Intelligence Unit" - a division of the Economist Newspaper group in the UK...

There are no Japanese trying to blow their own horns or making up "hard-to-measure standards" to make themselves look good... All countries where judged by the same standards regardless if it's dribble anyways...

Myself - even though I take no great credence in it - find it an interesting read nonetheless...

http://www.visionofhumanity.org/gpi/home.php

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I feel pretty peaceful here.

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Japan protects human rights??

What about the death penalty? The strong sexual discrimination? The passive attitute towards minorities like the disabled, homosexuals, immigrants? Workers not getting payed for the extra hours?

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it is peaceful.

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It wouldn't seem quite as peaceful if the MSM didn't engage in such heavy self-censorship regarding the right wing, yakuza, etc. The media that does try to report stuff that strays into the dark side constantly forced to look over their shoulders. Freedom of the press in Japan is probably not even in the top 30.

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I agree with Lips.

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Internationnally peacefull... Steam boiler ready to blow inside...

All those countries are international dwarves...

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I just cant see how Australia has been left out of the top 5, it is just astounding when you consider all the issues

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"The least peaceful country in the world right is Iraq, followed by Somalia, Sudan and Afghanistan."

When you visit their site you see that by their very selective metric Israel is next, followed by Chad, Central African republic and then North Korea.

It's a joke.

Another anti-capitalist, anti-technology, anti-Western bunch of Lefty Luddites whose vague pleading for "peace" and groundless whimpering about "environmental destruction" masks explicit political ends.

http://www.visionofhumanity.org/about/about.php

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Interesting article. I'm pleased with the ranking. Looks like a fair analysis to me. Those who don't agree can continue to vent their frustrations about Japan and critize anything offhand, which makes interesting reading as well.

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Another anti-capitalist, anti-technology, anti-Western bunch of Lefty Luddites whose vague pleading for "peace" and groundless whimpering about "environmental destruction" masks explicit political ends.

Calling the 'Economist' "anti-capitalist" is a good laugh. Ever read it?

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Australia should be up there, but they follow the US into battle every time. Maybe if they could think for themselves for the first time in history, that would raise their position closer to Japan's?

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"Calling the 'Economist' "anti-capitalist" is a good laugh. Ever read it?"

Yes, I have. Calling this article an accurate translation of the original is where I get the last laugh. Data were compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit, it was analyzed and presented by 'Vision of Humanity'.

From the site:

*Global Peace Index

A ground-breaking milestone in the study of peace from the Institute for Economics and Peace. With data compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit, it ranks countries by their peacefulness and identifies some of the drivers of peace.*

http://www.visionofhumanity.org/peace-initiatives/index.php

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and last in Human Rights violation

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Who are the "Economist Intelligence Unit"?

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i think it was expected. (?)

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I think the rankings make sense. As for Australia, I don't think it's that Australia isn't a peaceful country, but rather there are more peaceful countries out there.

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Australia doesn't deserve to be in the top 5...as niku mentioned, they have a habit of following USA into unsavoury wars (Iraq). Not to mention things like Cronulla race riots, detention centres for refugees on islands they don't even own and terrible terrible treatment of indigenous people...how could you even expect it to edge out (for example) Jpn or NZ? And I'm not sure why RedMeatKoolAid is so surprised Israel is near the bottom of the list - would you call that place 'peaceful'!? I am surprised East Timor isn't mentioned but I haven't looked at the full list.

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some interesting facts and figures as of 2007. The data was compiled in 22 countries which included Australia, Argentina, Austria, Bulgaria, Japan, Canada, England and Wales, Germany, Malaysia, New Zealand, Thailand and Sri Lanka besides others The maximum number of robbery related cases were reported in Japan which had registered 17,25,072 such counts. The number of rape cases was maximum in the US which recorded 93,934 The US topped the crime list with 2,31,13,708 total crime related incidents

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To be absolutely peaceful is to be out of Earth.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

According to a survey by the National Police Agency in 2006, the number of “confirmed murder cases” marked the lowest since 1945. The number of murders in the 1960s was double today’s rate.

Just like in any other country, when crime rates do go down, the media reports the opposite cuz it sells papers and Adsense. Japan is a pretty peaceful place, or at least it is compared to most others.

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Seems like a fair enough list. Those countries in war zones or with high crime rates at the bottom, those with relatively safe domestic situations at the top. It's not a survey based on rights, freedoms or anything like that, just on safety.

As for Japan and crime reporting, like most countries these days, the media like to over-sensationalise and, when there is a murder, run with the story every night for a up to a week. If you follow that pattern, you'd only need 25 or so murders a year in a country of around 130 million to have the media reporting on them every other day. At least countries like Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the other top 30 or so on the list are still at the stage that any murder is big news, unlike some countries where murder is common enough that only the big ones get reported.

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***It would be of great interest to me to see each of the fifty US states represented individually, then compared to the other countries of the world, including Japan. Why? Well, because many of the US states have populations larger than many countries, and because having visited 47 of the 50 I believe there are wide differences. After the Virginia Tech shooting, Newsweek published a map of the United States, with each state color coded into one of five colors according to the incidents of gun-related homicides. If my memory is correct, six states--Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and Hawaii came out in the most peaceful group. The rates of gun-related homicides were considerably worse in the most unpeaceful group. I'm from one of those most peaceful states, though now living in Japan, and feel just as safe and peaceful there as I do in Japan!

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Possibly the murder rate has dropped in Japan over the last thirty years or so, however, the obscurity of murders in Japan are definitely increasing.

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serendipity,

Please!"..the obscurity of murders in Japan are definitely increasing." What does that mean?

How about facts and data to support arguments? Without these, and all their warts, it's all just conjecture and opinion... Basically worthless.

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In today's era that is not hard to earn.

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Serendipity,

Do you mean bizarreness? Yeah, I think so, too. Another example of the Japanese trying to be like the West.

The peacefulness of Japan is often interrupted by a variety of noises. I especially hate the old people who walk around with transistor radios and don't use earphones. Election time is not so peaceful.

Of course, the topic is murder. Although the rate is low, the desire to commit murder is probably the same as anywhere else. I think they just don't know how. It's a little tougher here with so many witnesses and a shortage of good weapons.

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Homogenous nations for the win!

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Japan is peaceful only becase they tried their hand at war and global domination and failed miserably. Japan is peaceful not because they chose to be peaceful, rather, they valiantly attempted to be brutal and savage and murderous on a large scale, but they sucked really bad at it, and got their collective behinds handed to them.

Nevertheless, the end result is Japan is peaceful country to live in, and hopefully it'll stay that way.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I dont know about you folks, but I would rather live in Japan than in any other Nation......Yes I do live here, and I feel good that my family is safer here than in the US or any other nation.

bamboohat, dont think it was world domination more like regional domination.

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Ranking 5th in this list, with only having to look up to countries with a long-standing peaceful tradition like Iceland and Norway, is certainly a very good achievement. It is difficult to say if Japan can work it's way up still further, the conditions are less in favour than with the comptitors on top of the list, and they truly are formidable competitors, countries like Iceland traditionally scoring high across the board in peace, human rights, social policies and more pleasant things. Still, the challenge is there, and worthy of trying.

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so i guess this means Japan Today finally accepts that Oceania isn't part of Asia. Glad to see the change in editorial attitude. Thanks JT. I have written about 10 times in the past that Australia and New Zealand news should be in the world section and not the Asia section but got the cold shoulder.

<strong>Moderator: We don't have an Asia section.</strong>

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"Why is the U.S. ranked so low?"

"the high possibility of a terrorist attack on the mainland.2

Huh ??? For example ???

"In addition, the number of prisoners per population is the largest in the world."

Maybe if the US did like Japan and just refused to investigate thousands of "unnatural deaths" a year, their ranking might rise accordingly !

"availability of guns are also factors in America’s ranking."

Yet nations with "mandatory gun ownership" laws ranked in the top 10 !

Another bogus survey/study to get the American bashers something to crow about... Nothing but flawed thinking !

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

BTW... Shouldn't any country that depends on the USA for it's "National Security" be ranked in a similar position with them ? I mean how can you logically argue that Japan is way more peaceful than the US when it takes advantage of US policies around the world... policies that are deemed agressive by this study. I would add Korea, Canada, and much of Europe (as they benefit considerably from the US military presence there !

just another crock JT article, good to see the masses have skipped this one.

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"BTW... Shouldn't any country that depends on the USA for it's "National Security" be ranked in a similar position with them ?"

You're right. Japan would have been ranked higher and be a safer country if those Americans who provide that so-called "security" where not here.

BTW..."ranked in a similar position with them".......thank you for agreeing with the article...;)

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We, the american people, have been programmed (conditioned/brainwashed) whatever term you want to use, into believing in the marketing/sales slogans of our extremist regime called the Pentagon/MIC "fighting for peace and freedom", like puppet-on-a-string "Patriots" for so long, it is sadly deeply sewn into the very moral fabric of our being. Our founding fathers warned of this, and are rolling over in their graves. roomtemperature is right on...Japan in fact does not even WANT our military base there (ditto with most any country out there) as it causes increased violence and crime around surrounding areas. Military/war does not bring peace, not to our country nor others. It's always only ever been about oil/"power" money into weapons. Is it really a surprise that USA with its unbridled predator style capitalism enabling profits in wrong direction before its people ranks so low in global peace? We wer 82nd, then slipped to 88, now some studies show 97....slipping, slipping, with each of our self destructive wars and spending more than half the world combined on this negative oppressive energy. Even 9/11, like Pearl Harbor, had proven internal measures taken to provoke to fuel this blood money for oil. If you do not wish to see this for yourselves due to your intentioned yet blind allegiance to our "flag", then at least open your minds, hearts, eyes for the next generation of which are being widely taught the truth rather than lies in our history books. time to get the unsustainable war bandwagon off our budget priorities, put the money back into schools, transportation, the good of our society. Amen

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