International Forum of DV Elimination and
10th Annual National Shelter Symposium

Historically, Japanese women escaped to Buddhist temples (kakedera) for refuge when they were abused by their spouses, and even until recent times they stoically accepted their fate and remained silent about domestic violence (DV).

No longer. Tough new laws aimed at protecting women from DV have come into force, and high profile national educational campaigns are raising women's awareness about this problem.

These developments come as police registered a record number of DV complaints in 2006, a reported 18,236 reported cases. This is an increase of 8 percent over the previous year, according to the National Police Agency (NPA), and there is a growing tendency towards DV among teenagers.

These reported cases may be just the tip of the iceberg. At a recent international conference in Tokyo targeting DV, experts said far more unreported incidents are likely. Domestic violence is still largely hidden by the Japanese culture of shame, and individuals seldom talk outside of the home about a husband's violence against his wife, or violence within the family. A recently published magazine survey stated that one out of 20 Japanese women feel "life-threatening danger" in their relationships.

The NPA partially attributed last year's increased reports of DV to growing social condemnation of the problem, and the fact that recent legislation against domestic violence has encouraged women to go public and report violence and abuse to the police.

The police also cited the fact that 62 women were murdered due to DV in 2006, and the number of protection orders issued by courts for victims under the domestic violence prevention law rose 3 percent to 2,247. By age bracket, 38 percent of DV victims were in their 30s, 22 percent in their 20s and 20 percent in their 40s.