Japanese Domestic Violence Statistics
Last Updae: 17 Mar 2021
1 in 3 Women and 1 in 5 Men are Subjected to Domestic Violence.
Japanese Cabinet Office conducted survey on violence between men and women and the two bar charts below indicate around 30% women and 20% men have experienced spousal violence. And 60% of the women asks for help, while only 25% of the men do.
Men are Away from Help.
For those who have experienced domestic violence, there are mainly two places they can ask for help in Japan. The one is Spousal Violence Counseling and Support Center (SVCSC) established by Cabinet Office, and the other one is Police. The two charts below show the trends in the number of inquiry cases from men and women to SVCSC and Police. You can see there are almost no men who reach out SVCSC (green part), besides Police acquires inquires from women with around 90% (blue part) and from men with around 10% (green part).
Considering around 30% women and 20% men have experienced spousal violence, we can conclude that men less likely ask SVCSC and Police for help.
Is Domestic Violence Protection Act Effective?
The chart below shows the trends in the case number of spousal violence penal code offenses (blue line), total inquiries to SVCSC and Police (orange bar), and sheltered persons to SVCSC (green bar). In 2019, the number of inquiry cases to Spousal Violence Counseling and Support Center was 119,276, and the number of police’s consultation on spousal violence was 82,207.
In 2001, Act on the Prevention of Spousal Violence and the Protection of Victims (the Domestic Violence Protection Act) became effective, then the penal code offenses have rapidly increased. So, it can be assumed that the act has not really contributed to the prevention and decrease on violence.
While the increase of the offenses and inquiries has seen, sheltered persons to SVCSC have been decreased. Thus, it can be said that the SVCSC shelter system does not work in an appropriate way.
Homicide Happens in Family.
Lastly, the below chart shows the trends in homicide reported cases in Japan (green bar) and the cases which the homicide suspect type is the relatives of the victim (blue bar). While the overall homicide reported cases has been decreased, the cases which homicide suspect type is the relatives keep stable. In 2019, its ratio exceeds 50%.
Source Link URLs
Survey on Violence between Men and Women, Cabinet Office (2017) *Japanese only https://www.gender.go.jp/policy/no_violence/e-vaw/chousa/h11_top.html
Inquiry Cases to Spousal Violence Counseling and Support Center,
Cabinet Office (2019) *Japanese only https://www.gender.go.jp/policy/no_violence/e-vaw/data/01.html
Statistics on Ensuring Safety in Daily Life (Stalking, Domestic Violence, etc.),
National Police Agency *Japanese only https://www.npa.go.jp/publications/statistics/safetylife/dv.html
White Paper on Crime, Ministry of Justice http://hakusyo1.moj.go.jp/en/68/nfm/n_68_2_4_6_2_0.html