Nick O. comments

A man who stab himself has no problems stabbing others...

This is absolutely NOT true. The vast majority of suicidal people pose absolutely no threat to anyone but themselves. Often, they will be so deeply depressed that they genuinely believe that killing themselves will make the people in their lives happy in the long run.

Stigmatizing people who need help as homicidal is toxic to society.

But murders are down, so how can it be rising?

If they believe that Japan is 'safe' and this is somehow proven by the fact it is national news, then let them believe that if it comforts them.

Sure they might be suffering from cognitive dissonance and confirmation bias, but that's human nature for ya.

I think for most people in this discourse, the issue is one of definitions. If "safe" means "nothing bad will happen", then "safe" is a purely philosophical concept and the word belongs only in academia or in theological discourse about the nature of the afterlife; there is no safe place in the entire world by that definition.

For me, "safe" means that I'm very unlikely to be harmed by another person (or animal for that matter). In that sense, I feel safe in Japan. But I still am very cautious when I go hiking, I look both ways before crossing the street, and I don't let my valuables leave my sight before long. I sometimes look over my shoulder on dark nights with mostly empty streets. I do these things because even though I feel safe by my definition, it is not safe by the first definition I gave (nor is any other place)

Japan is no longer that safe country as people think it is

"No longer" compared to when? Before life evolved? Or do you mean some particularly good year in the past decade?

What’s with all the knife crime?

There's more knife crime per capita in the US by a huge margin, even though guns are available there. It might seem like there's a lot in Japan simply because it's almost the only kind of weapon ever used by murderers, even then more people are killed with knives in other countries (such as the US)

Concerning claims of price gouging: Did Sharp make masks before this? If so, did they make masks in high volume?

If not, this is probably not price gouging. As someone working in manufacturing here in Japan, I can say that retooling to make a new product is extremely expensive. The big players have already long recouped their NRE costs and they likely have international supply chains that greatly reduce the cost of manufacturing and logistics. If Sharp is a new player in the mask game, then it's going to be really expensive for them.

It's like the difference between Made in America and Made in China, for my fellow American expats here.