A number of Western assumptions about Japanese crime control are based on notions of a specific Japanese “shame culture” and/or a causal relationship between the policing system and low crime rates in Japan. According to these views, subcultures ought to be of minimal significance in Japan. In contrast to such beliefs, this article describes the size and the characteristics of subcultural formations, such as groupings of street youths, bosozoku (hot-rodder) groups, and yakuza (networks of male adult criminal organizations), as numerically significant and culturally visible phenomena. In a comparative perspective, features of Japanese subcultural groupings are interpreted in their relation to masculinity and to culture-specific problems of contemporary Japanese society.
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