[1] Victims and perpetrators include Japanese citizens, residents, and foreign nationals from a wide range of backgrounds and every social class.
[14] The extent of rape in the nation is unknown because of the lack of reporting and other factors, but there have been incidents that reached the public's attention.
During the Meiji, Taishō, and early Shōwa eras, rapes committed by Genzo Kurita,[17] Ryuun Daimai,[18] Satarō Fukiage,[19] Seisaku Nakamura,[20] and Yoshio Kodaira[21] received media attention.
Rape was committed by Imperial Japanese Armed Forces personnel throughout the Empire of Japan during the Asia–Pacific War.
Comfort women from Japan and other nations were sex trafficked and sexually assaulted throughout the Japanese mainland and Japanese-occupied territories.
[29] Juvenile and adult rapes in the country's post-war included, but were not limited to, the rape, torture, and murder of Junko Furuta,[15] the Super Free incidents,[30] Johnny Kitagawa sexual abuse scandal,[31] and crimes committed by Joji Obara,[32] Kiyoshi Ōkubo, Koichi Shoji,[33] Mamoru Takuma, Masato Uchishiba,[34] Noriyuki Yamaguchi,[35] Yasunori Suzuki,[33] and Yukio Yamaji.
[40] Because the terminology used is so broad, this category includes everything from groping (chikan, 痴漢), to more serious sexual assaults such as rape by men etc.
The Japanese rape statistics are 20 times lower than the US,[41] and the country has a very strong judicial system where over 99% of all criminal cases in court end in a conviction.
[10] Child pornography laws in Japan have been passed in an attempt to reduce the rape of adolescents for commercial purpose.