Japan to Consider GPS Tracking to Prevent Stalking Crimes

Tokyo, July 28 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government Tuesday drew up a package of emergency measures for crime prevention, including a proposal to consider attaching GPS equipment to stalkers to prevent them from approaching victims. Authorities such as the National Police Agency aim to implement the measures early after holding hearings with experts and conducting case studies. The number of arrests and other enforcement actions for alleged violations of the antistalking law reached a record high of 1,546 cases in 2025. More than 3,000 prohibition orders were issued against stalkers. In March this year, a woman was stabbed to death at a commercial building in the Higashi-Ikebukuro district in Tokyo’s Toshima Ward by a former boyfriend under such an order. In the package of emergency measures, drawn up at a ministerial meeting on crime prevention, the government emphasized the need for steps to block contact between stalkers and victims in order to prevent serious crimes by obsessed assailants who do not follow prohibition orders. The package included a proposal that the government swiftly begin discussions on the idea of having stalking perpetrators wear GPS devices to alert victims and urge them to evacuate when offenders approach them. The NPA started research into similar systems in other countries and actual examples after the Higashi-Ikebukuro incident. The agency is studying the conditions for having perpetrators wear GPS devices, methods to assess levels of threats and problems that need to be resolved regarding human rights and technology. The NPA will consider whether it is necessary to revise laws. The package included a proposal to introduce mandatory counseling and medical consultations for offenders who may cause serious incidents, given low participation rates for such services, considered effective in helping prevent stalking cases from escalating. Also proposed was an early establishment of a correctional program for stalkers. Another key measure is the establishment of a public-private center to combat financial crimes where investigators and employees at financial institutions will jointly track stolen money and freeze bank accounts. The agency hopes that the center will operate on a larger scale and more swiftly than the current system run by the agency and nine major banks to investigate suspicious money transfers. The package also said that the government should consider the idea of deepening cooperation with foreign authorities by providing analysis equipment and of building a system to warn of possible fraud based on the analysis of telephone calls and emails using artificial intelligence technology. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]