Abe vows to make Japan world's safest country

At first I wondered what on earth he was talking about. Japan is already one of the world's safest countries, so what kind of pledge is that? Then I read it. So he is whipping up fear about something that may happen and using that fear to take more power away from the people so he and his cronies can abuse it.

Seems par for the course these days. Let's see if the Japanese are as gullible as the Americans, who have already happily surrendered most of their rights.

and he plans to this this by eroding rights, militarising and destroying the economy? ahh yeah, right mate!

Considering death threats against Koreans, mutilated cats around Tokyo ( pre-curser to serial killer), earhquakes, tsunamis, inept companies and government that put us all in harms way (think air bags, faked maintence records for nuclear reactors, etc.) plus the only terrorist attacks in Japan have been perpetrated by Japanese, this is indeed a tall order.

duh..Japan was always one of the safest country anyways, what is this vow suppose to mean?

Abenomics was a disaster. Now Abe is throwing a new bait to distract the mass.

Japan is already the safest country in the world. Or, that does he mean by "safe"? Safe for him and his nationalist front?

Seems like the biggest threat to the safety of Japan is Shinzo Abe himself.

The great leader making more ridiculous proclamations! It's all well and good to proclaim that Japan is safe from international threats, but what is he doing to save Japan from itself?

Abe vows to make Japan world's safest country.

Alright Abe, I accept your resignation.

Abe vows

Stopped reading there. Any article that has the words abe + vow in it can be considered fluff

The beheading of two Japanese earlier this year, claimed by the Islamic State group, and the death of 10 others in a hostage crisis in Algeria in 2013 have highlighted the vulnerability of Japanese people abroad.

Which has absolutely nothing to do with making Japan the safest country in the world. If people read between the lines one thing Abe is saying is that there is more going on here than meets the eye, meant not in the press.

Abe vows to make Japan world's safest country

by scaring, then fleecing, taxpayers.

If Abe is going to apply the same "expertise" to public safety as he has in revitalising the Japanese ecomony, I think I'll move.

It's going to be too dangerous.

Stop being USA's arms dealer

Hmmmm... safe like North Korea? Put Japan in a bubble of protection like before? Keep out the foreign troublemakers... okay...here we go...

The idea of bringing safety is used to justify almost every policy in Japan anyway, from concreting a river to human rights violations. This works very well in a country where fear is the main motivator. Everyone feels a sense of anxiety about almost everything, from social interaction and personal worth to the outside world and the future. These anxieties are assuaged by the continual assertion that the authorities are looking after us. It is a major ideological tool in the armory of control. Abe is just reinforcing it.

By making it more and more like China or North Korea in terms of taking away rights, increasing poverty, and increasing the military instead of spending money on the needs at home? You can call that 'safe', if you like -- safer for the government to do as it pleases. In the meantime, those without our heads up our butts see it for what it is.

In other words: if you think helicopter parents are bad, wait until you see helicopter government.

Does Abe actually understand the cost of such a promise??? It means he has to do nothing... talk about "talk is cheap".

Japan is already the safest country in the world. actually Iceland Denmark Austria all have been voted safer places to live than Japan, all also have a much better standards of living. please enough with the Japan is the safest country in the world BS, there are many factors that make a country a great place to live and while safety is important its certainly not the only thing

Abe vows to make Japan world's safest country

Isn't it already?

Isn't this a bit of unnecessary sabre-rattling, after all? Japan already is the world's safest country. If he's promising a police state and surveillance state -- this has done nothing for the USA aside from abbreviate its citizens' liberties and turn its' society into a paranoid mess of social division.

Smart, tight immigration policy will preserve Japan's culture and safeguard its citizens. Learn from Europe. Learn from the USA. Don't go down a path you can't return from from.

North Korea is probably the world's safest country, as long as you don't offend anyone in the Party.

FernGullyDEC. 09, 2015 - 08:45AM JST In other words: if you think helicopter parents are bad, wait until you see helicopter government.

"In Japan the government is the parent, the police is the nanny and the people are the children." as per the first police chief of Tokoy ca. 1890.

As for Japan being the safest country, it is not. It is in the first ten because crime is under reported, murder rate would definitely be higher if forensic pathologists made the appropriate decisions as to the cause of death and not incompetent police officers (heard it first hand from a forensic pathologist). So basically you can literally get away with murder with some careful planning.

Good one, @sillygirl! I really don't think Japan is at any serious risk of terrorist attacks, except those that are home-grown. Islamists don't have the access to Japan they enjoy with other countries. This is when we should stop complaining about being finger-printed or eye-scanned at airports and other points of ingress. Sometimes I have to give my head a shake about the nonsense Abe and others like him throw out to impress the rest of the fearmongers. Pfft!

Just political propaganda. Are there good Japanese politicians with "honest" background ?

"...have highlighted the vulnerability of Japanese people abroad."

Citizens of which countries are NOT vulnerable? So what the Americans have the mightiest military in the world, their citizens get beheaded by ISIS just the same.

The unit is made up of about 20 personnel in Tokyo with about another 20 based in Japanese diplomatic missions abroad and concentrated on four areas: Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and North and West Africa.

20 people spread over 4 massive areas....Seems like enough to do the job. lol

Political flummery at its very best. A vow, like the vow to have more women in positions of power, influence etc? Forgive me if I don't hold my breathe.

Nothing more than grand standing BS.

Little doubt this vow bodes ill for the resident non-Japanese population...

Abe is RUINING this country, at least for all the gaijin living here. He is creating division, fear-mongering, taking away rights, raising taxes which will partially fund a larger military, and most likely install several thousand more cameras. Abe will create a police state - far from the most pleasant country to live in.

Abe has tried his 3 arrows, moneynomics failed, taxnomics failed, reformnomic failed big time, womenomics failed...that makes 4, he even failed maths at school. So now, he tries less ambitious ones, more adapted to Japanese tradition : anzenomics (let's make Japan safe between wars and between nuke desasters). Expect hearing about midorinomics (let's make Japan green around the concrete build ups), four-seasonomics (Let's Japan have 4 seasons beside the fifth one...)...

I agree the government should try to make the 202o Olympics as safe as possible. All Olympics and World Cups are huge target for terrorist

But Abe and the government should try to make a Japan a safer country for its most vulnerable.. its children. A day doesn't go by without reading something terrible that happens to children by their parents.. A good start is try to get rid of the stigma of adoption...

trevorpeace:

This is when we should stop complaining about being finger-printed or eye-scanned at airports and other points of ingress.

I'd complain a lot less about this if Japanese immigration did this to EVERYONE returning to Japan. I've watched crime report programmes on TV where they've talked about Japanese criminals fleeing the country and possibly returning at a later date. If Japanese had their fingerprints scanned too, there'd be a lot fewer criminals moving about. Hell, these Japanese criminals can freely go to and are welcomed in the EU while all EU citizens are treated as potential threats when visiting Japan. In fact, I'd complain a lot less if EU started fingerprinting and facial-scanning all Japanese (and American) visitors.

How grim things are that terrorism will still be here in 2020. "Why can't we all just…get along?" JN

@strangerland, plenty of info about worlds safest country rankings, and its calculated by many factors including crime rates etc, search "Global Peace Index" Iceland, Denmark also lower number of violent crimes per 100,000 people.

Japan will never be the 'safest' country in the world with China and North Korea as neighbors, a sizable organised crime community and financial support for ISIS's enemies. Can be made safer, but safest, no chance; don't set up promises you can;t keep Abe.

I will sleep well tonight! Now there's absolutely nothing to fear. Abe, dearest Abe, will protect and save us all.

With an expected 20million or so visitors, chances are some of the IS fellows will be spending their annual vacation in Japan. Hence the possibility of any mischief from their side could reasonably eliminated. They would not have the Onsen tranquility disturbed. At the same time the latest Toyota pick up version could be inspected. Would not worry too much folks.

Japan was one of the world's safest countries when the middle class was strong and there was much more equality. Now two decades of neo-liberal policies and a class warfare have created the kind of inequality that leads to increased social insecurity. The answer is fair redistribution, not corporate welfare for the anti-democratic security industries.

gokai_wo_manekuDEC. 09, 2015 - 07:16AM JST Japan is already the safest country in the world . Or, that does he mean by "safe"? Safe for him and his nationalist front?

How many countries are there in the world ? Your world can be very small ? I wonder how it can be the safest with all the killings here. It is safe compared to a number of countries.

So Abe decided it was time to set a goal he can achieve for a change.

To paraphrase FDR: We have nothing to fear but safety itself.

Is this the same photo from his other impassioned announcement or is this just his go to impassioned pose?

Is it a creepy comedy pesentation?

@Noliving"Nothing more than grand standing BS".

He looks like Japanese alter ego of Obama.

Ah yes - xenophobia and fear. The ugly twins politicians have used since the ancients.

The unit is made up of about 20 personnel in Tokyo with about another 20 based in Japanese diplomatic missions abroad and concentrated on four areas: Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and North and West Africa.

What unit? There's nothing mentioned about any unit in the story previously. Was this story copied and pasted?

Just what do their duties involve? Intelligence regarding terrorist activities? Hostage negotiation?

Uhm, as far as advanced industrial nations over 30 million, Japan is the safest.

So,.... I guess Abe is right...?

actually Iceland Denmark Austria all have been voted safer places to live than Japan

What do votes have to do with it? Safety isn't a measure of opinion, it's a quantifiable value supported by numbers. Who cares what people voted, what I want to know is actual numbers.

Japan may very well not be the safest country in the world, but I'd like to see some numbers that show where it ranks, not just some people's opinions on the matter.

Well, Japanese citizens are at risk from terrorism if they get caught by jihadists in areas of the world controlled by Islamic State, but not if they stay at home and avoid such places. Japan is a very safe country, all terrorist acts here have been committed by Japanese people and they already have stricter immigration than almost anywhere on earth and fewer refugees. Japan is not at high risk of an Islamic terrorist assault, but should remain vigilant of course.

sillygirl: You forgot the pillars that stop short of bedrock.

I wonder whether this is related to the bomb in the Yasukuni Shrine in any way... Would like to see an article on that one.

Give the people something they already have, and look better for doing it?

On another note, don't foolishly boast of something you already have. It will encourage cowards to try harder.

Like some of the contributors commented above ... I feel that Japan is already the safest country in the world. I feel safer here than when anywhere else in the world. And my wife feels safe here, too. And my friends here in Japan who have small children say they feel their family is as safe as safe can be.

And when Japan won the bid to hold the 2020 Olympics ... it was said at that time by the Olympic Committee that perhaps the biggest reason Japan got it is because it is a safe place to be ...

Just hope Abe-san knows what he's doing ....

Abe vows to make Japan world's safest country

As Arthur Dent used to say, "This must be some new meaning of the word 'safe', of which I was not previously aware."

Because, you know, I thought "safe" meant being able to save my money for the future, secure in the knowledge that it would not lose value.

I thought "safe" meant living in a nation that had permanently renounced war and was committed to its pacifist constitution.

I didn't think "safe" meant having multiple government agencies, my employer, my doctor, and who knows who else (perhaps even supermarket cashiers!) all sharing all kinds of info about me using one convenient 12-digit number.

Aizo Yurei is correct: if Abe wanted this country to be safe, the first thing he should do is resign his post.

Step 5 in: How to make a soft North Korea by Abe and co.

Is he talking about climate dangers?

No, he is scaring the natives into believing that he is some kind of messiah, he will protect mere mortals from all the world's evils. Even though most corruption and terrorism is, in fact, local. They will pay more tax to protect themselves, from a threat that does not exist.

One of many ways to keep Japan safe is to continue to have tight restrictions on gun ownership.

North Korea is probably the world's safest country, as long as you don't offend anyone in the Party.

Maybe. But you might starve to death unless you're a Comminist Party member.

If Japanese had their fingerprints scanned too, there'd be a lot fewer criminals moving about.

Tell me what nation in the world fingerprints their own citizens upon entry or leaving the country?

Unless there's a spike in the murder rate in Antarctica he's gonna have an uphill battle on his hands.

Is there a safer Country in the World?

I don't understand his point. Japan is safe enough. Is he talking about climate dangers?

Hope he will run for US Presidential race for gun control. I guess I am dreaming.

gaijin6000DEC. 09, 2015 - 03:52PM JST Give the people something they already have, and look better for doing it? On another note, don't foolishly boast of something you already have. It will encourage cowards to try harder.

And what is 'it' that 'they' already have?

Doing a good job, don't follow the path of Europe and the USA. keep a tight wrap on immigration and don't take refuges in. Good common sense policy in these dangerous times. You have my full support Mr. Abe.

Japan is already one of the safest countries in the world. Of course you can easily change this fact via immigration.