The number of felonies perpetrated by minors involving the use of knives jumped 35 percent in 1997 compared with the previous year, the National Police Agency announced Thursday.
The NPA reported that minors over 14 were involved in 162 cases of murder, robbery, rape and other serious crimes involving knives last year. It said 199 cases of extortion, assault and other violent crimes were also perpetrated by youths in the same age group, up 18.5 percent from the year before.
The number of sexual assaults also jumped by more than 50 percent from the previous year, to 46 cases, the NPA said.
Police across the country took 489 teenagers into custody for carrying illegal knives, a violation of the Firearm and Sword Control Law. The figure soared 33.6 percent from five years ago, it said.
The sharp increase in the number of teenage crimes involving knives is attributed to the popularity of butterfly knives, apparently triggered by last year's television drama "Gift," which starred pop idol Takuya Kimura, whose character uses a butterfly knife.
In a related development, Sendai Television Broadcasting Corp. in Miyagi Prefecture decided Thursday to cancel a rerun of the television drama, of which the first of 11 episodes had been scheduled to air at 5 p.m. Thursday. A spokesman for the broadcaster said, "We decided to withdraw the program in the wake of the series of juvenile violence incidents involving butterfly knives."
Tokai Television Broadcasting Co. in Nagoya canceled a rerun of the program on Wednesday. Saga Television Broadcasting Co. aired the last episode of the drama Thursday. During the rerun, the broadcaster inserted a closed caption at the end of the show which stated that "Carrying a blade without a legitimate reason is against the law."