Yamagami’s mother was in dire poverty and went bankrupt around 2002 (Photo: Kei Kato) “IT education for the unemployed. Transforming the industrial structure and eliminating poverty will eliminate crime.” Why were they left with no choice but to commit crimes? If we don’t think from this perspective, says Komiya, suicide bombing-type crimes will continue to increase. “The suicide bomber is a person who despairs of his or her future and wants to end up fighting back against society. The suspect in this case, even if he had a grudge against a religious group, would not have committed the crime if he was satisfied with his current life.” “Poverty in Japan is now getting worse. Its GDP per capita ranks 28th, and it is no longer a developed country. So the most critical situation is for people in their 30s and 40s. If you lose your job in your 40s, you are in trouble.” “On the other hand, people with IT skills are needed in various industries. We should provide unemployed people with proper IT training and support them in finding employment. Until they find a job, we should introduce a basic income to provide them with a minimum level of security. This will prevent poverty, reduce the number of suicide bomber-type crimes, and change the industrial structure.” Digitalization also needs to be promoted as soon as possible, he said. “The reason Japan’s economy is not growing is that digitalization is lagging behind. Productivity is not increasing because we are forever relying on stamps and faxes to do our work. Because productivity is low, wages remain low.” “I feel that the current press is ‘seeing the trees and not the forest.’ Instead of repeating tongue-wagging about the motives behind individual incidents, it is time to turn our attention to the backgrounds that are common to all of these incidents.” “If we do not go beyond symptomatic treatment to curative treatment, Japan will not improve economically and suicide bombing-type crimes will increase.”   Nobuo Komiya Professor of Criminology at Rissho University. Doctor in Sociology. He was the first Japanese to graduate from the Graduate School of Criminology at the University of Cambridge. He worked in the Information Systems Division of Honda Motor Co. He is a second-class information processing engineer (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry). Inventor of the “Community Safety Map.” He has served as the chairman of the National Police Agency’s Research and Study Group on Safe and Secure Community Development and as the chairman of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s Delinquency Prevention and Victimization Prevention Education Committee.   His representative publications include “Crime Prevention in the World through Photographs: Ruins, Design, and Community Planning” (Shogakukan, selected book by the National School Library Association), “Crime Can Be Predicted” (Shincho Shinsho), NHK “Close-up Today”, Nippon Television “Sekaiichi Uketai Jugyou”, etc. He has appeared on television, been interviewed by newspapers, and given numerous lectures throughout Japan.