Surveillance in urban Japan: A critical introduction

Abstract

This paper provides a critical introduction to the development of surveillance in the Japanese city. Adapting the analytical scheme of understanding, intensifying, automating, integrating, globalising and resisting surveillance, it considers whether the historical and contemporary development of Japanese urban surveillance fits the narrative of Western surveillance studies. It shows that there are many interlinked and parallel evolutions, particularly in the context of shared global fears of urban terrorism and crime. However, Japan's history, governance, urban morphology and sociocultural evolution provide a particular context, which means that surveillance in urban Japan must be considered not just in comparison with the West, but in its own right.