In 2023, approximately 389 theft offenses were recognized by the police per 100,000 inhabitants in Japan, representing the crime type that most frequently occurred in Japanese society. Property damage followed, with the rate of about 45.8 cases among 100,000 of the population.

In 2023, the Japanese police recognized 565.5 Penal Code offenses among 100,000 inhabitants, reaching the 500 mark for the first time in the 2020s. After reaching its peak in 2002 at 2,238.5 per 100,000 of the population, the crime rate in Japan continuously declined until 2021.

The police in Japan cleared 814 homicide cases in 2023, excluding unfounded or unpunishable cases. 268 murder cases involved the use of kitchen knives, followed by 69 cases using other types of knives.

In 2023, Japan recorded no execution of death sentences. 15 executions were reported in 2018, the highest number in the last decade.

In 2023, 17 people received a final judgment of a life sentence in prison at a court in Japan. 28 people were sentenced to an indefinite prison term in 2014, the highest number in the last decade.

In 2023, approximately 0.7 homicide cases were recognized by the police per 100,000 inhabitants in Japan. The murder rate in the country did not fluctuate much in the observed period.

In 2023, the number of male prisoners sentenced to death in Japanese penal institutions amounted to 99 inmates. There were no execution during the year.

The police in Japan recorded 970 murder cases in 2024, a light increase from the previous year. A regional breakdown of murder cases showed that the majority of cases in 2024 occurred in Japan's Kanto region.

The police in Japan's Kanto region recorded 280 homicide cases in 2024. The Kanto region was followed by the the Kinki region, with more than 240 recognized murder cases. That year, the total number of murder cases recorded across Japan amounted to 970.

In 2023, approximately 183,270 suspects were cleared for theft offenses, of which about 21.5 percent were female. Compared to other charges, the share of women was highest among people suspected of theft, especially of shoplifting.

In 2023, the number of sentenced female inmates in Japanese penal institutions amounted to 2,917. The majority of which were sentenced to imprisonment without partial suspension of execution.

114 cases of human trafficking were cleared in Japan in 2023, representing three consecutive years of increase. This resulted in the arrest of 55 people in the same year.

In 2023, the total number of sentenced male inmates in Japanese penal institutions amounted to approximately 30,970. The majority of which were sentenced to imprisonment without partial suspension of execution.

In 2023, the Japanese police cleared around 32.5 percent of the recognized theft offenses in Japan, representing a decrease from the previous year. The clearance rate was lowest in 2001 at about 16 percent but recovered to over 30 percent in the last decade.

In 2023, approximately 11.53 thousand foreigners in Japan were arrested for criminal offenses or violations of law. The highest number of annually arrested foreigners within the past decade was reached in 2020 with close to 11.8 thousand arrests.

In 2022, approximately 30.28 thousand suspects in Japan aged 70 years and older were cleared for Penal Code offenses, representing the age cohort with the highest number of cleared offenders. The age group with the second-highest number that year were offenders between 40 and 49 years, with 26.83 thousand arrests.

In 2023, 36.7 percent of foreigners who were arrested in Japan for criminal offenses or law violations were Vietnamese. That year, Chinese nationals accounted for the second-largest share of arrests, at approximately 17.4 percent.

In 2023, approximately 9.6 thousand yakuza members were arrested in Japan, due to offenses such as drug crimes, assault, theft, fraud, injury, threatening, and robbery. The number of arrested crime syndicate members declined continuously throughout the surveyed period. This decline can be attributed to the decreasing number of yakuza members in Japan. The term yakuza refers to Japanese transnational criminal organizations and their members.

In 2023, the number of reported drug crime cases in Japan amounted to approximately 18.1 thousand cases. This marked a significant increase from the previous year, when close to 16.7 thousand drug related cases were reported.

In 2024, the police in Japan recognized almost over 501,500 theft offenses, a decrease from around 807,560 thousand cases in 2015. The number of clearances reached approximately 166,000 in 2024.