Shocked by a recent spate of pedophile crimes, Japan's elementary schoolchildren are responding by forming their own vigilante groups, according to Weekly Playboy (1/17-24).
Killings of little girls in Hiroshima, Ibaraki and Kyoto prefectures late last year has scared Japan's children.
Crime stats don't give them a great deal to be pleased about, either.
"It's true, according to the National Police Agency, that the number of children falling victim to violent crimes like murder, robbery and assault have dropped since their peak in 2002," the desk editor of a local news section on a national daily tells Weekly Playboy. "But, when you look closer at the figures, they show that the number of children attending elementary or junior high school who have been the victims of kidnappings, abductions or illegal confinement over the same period has skyrocketed by about 25 percent."
Iori, a fifth grader at a Tokyo elementary school, says kids are taking matters into their own hands.
"Boys in our class said they're going to go on patrols of the streets near our school," Iori tells Weekly Playboy. "They're really strong, so the pedophiles better watch out!"
Though the idea of grade school vigilantes seems to be stretching it more than a little bit, the men's weekly claims that experts back up claims being made by children like Iori.
"Violence is a matter of course at schools and in schoolyards nowadays," the desk editor says. "Look at last year, when you had four elementary schoolboys arrested for counterfeiting cash on a color copier, then another 9 fourth graders in Aichi taken into custody because they had a gang that specialized in stealing motorbikes. Elementary school pupils have recently been in trouble for blackmailing high school children and for hacking."
Nobuto Hosaka, a former education beat reporter and currently a member of the House of Representatives, has mixed feelings about elementary school pupils tackling pedophiles.
"I really welcome elementary schoolchildren's raised awareness and togetherness, but they have to make sure they don't step over the line and start persecuting pedophiles," the Diet member tells Weekly Playboy. "I think it would be best for the children not to go to extremes and do what they can to cooperate with teachers and parents to prevent crime." (By Ryann Connell)