Crime was very much on people's minds during this year's Golden Week holiday period. While the calendar made it possible for record numbers of Japanese to travel abroad, those who stayed behind for whatever reason were transfixed by news of two appalling crimes one day apart, each allegedly committed by a 17-year-old youth. A nation increasingly concerned about violent crime was stunned by the arrests of an Aichi Prefecture high school student for allegedly stabbing to death a 65-year-old woman because he "wanted the experience of killing someone" and of another youth with a troubled past from Saga Prefecture for a 151/2-hour bus hijacking in northern Kyushu that resulted in the death of a 68-year-old woman passenger and injuries to several others.

The question is whether the two incidents, which received almost saturation media coverage, will focus public attention on a realistic appraisal of what many agree is Japan's growing crime problem. Realism is essential at a time when some politicians and social commentators, not to mention more sensational elements in the media, appear eager to find scapegoats among foreign residents of this country, legal and illegal alike, for the escalating crime rate. The facts convey a serious enough picture without resorting to scare tactics that prey on not-so-dormant ethnic stereotypes.

People must be warned about any real growth in violent crime by foreign nationals, but the effort to do this should include a public information program on the basic precautions to ensure safety of life and security of property. It would be erroneous and unfair to suggest that most crime victims somehow invite their fates, but it is equally wrong to pretend that, for example, unlocked vehicles -- often with the key still in the ignition -- and flagrant displays of large amounts of cash and other signs of apparent wealth do not offer great temptations to those least likely to be able to resist.