kerkko.fi

Why is there so little looting in Japan? The explanation is a robust system of laws that reinforce honesty, a strong police presence, and, ironically, active crime organizations. The Japanese legal structure rewards honesty more than most. The high rates of recovery have less to do with altruism than with the system of carrots and sticks that incentivizes people to return property they find rather than keep it. If you find an umbrella and turn it in to the cops, you get a finder's fee of 5-20% of its value if the owner picks it up.

If they do not pick it up within six months, the finder gets to keep the umbrella. Japanese learn about this system from a young age, and a child's first trip to the nearest police station after finding a small coin, say, is a rite of passage that both children and police officers take seriously. At the same time, police enforce small crimes like petty theft, which contributes to an overall sense of security and order. Failure to return a found wallet can result in hours of interrogation at best, and up to 10 years in prison at worst.

Japan has an active and visible police force of nearly 300,000 officers across the country. Cops walk their beats and chat up local residents and shopkeepers. Police are posted at ubiquitous kobans, police boxes manned by one or two officers, and in cities there is almost always a koban within walking distance of another koban. A survey in 1992 found that 95% of residents knew where the nearest koban was. Police are good at their jobs: The clearance rate for murder in 2010 was an unbelievable 98.2%.

At the same time, members of the Yakuza are also enforcing order. All three major crime groups -- Yamaguchi-gumi, Sumiyoshi-kai, and Inagawa-kai -- patrol the streets to make sure looting and robbery does not occur. The Sumiyoshi-kai claims to have shipped over 40 tons of humanitarian aid supplies nationwide and that is probably a conservative estimate. One group has even opened its Tokyo offices to displaced Japanese and foreigners who were stranded after the first tremors disabled public transportation.