Countermeasures Against Terrorism in Japan

• In Event: Strategically Countering Terrorism

Abstract

In Japan, the Tokyo Subway Sarin Attack, an indiscriminate terrorist attack using sarin as a chemical weapon, occurred in 1995. In the United States, the September 11 terrorist attack occurred in 2001. These days, ISIL is suggesting that they will make a terrorist attack on Japan. In July 2016, seven Japanese were killed in a terrorist attack in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Now the threat of terrorism has become a reality in Japan.

The Japanese Government has been strengthening countermeasures against terrorism, including the establishment of the Action Plan for Prevention of Terrorism, and this forms the basis of terrorism countermeasures. After a Japanese people are murdered in a Syria or Tunisia terrorist attack, the International Counter-Terrorism Intelligence Collection Unit was established in December 2015 in order to reinforce information gathering regarding international terrorist conditions as well as reinforcing border control and security guarding of key facilities and soft targets.

As regards police action, the NPA is reinforcing its collaboration with private entities, including management measures for companies selling chemical substances that can be raw materials for explosives. The NPA is promoting Japanese-type counterterrorism measures as an integrated approach by national and private organizations.

Author

• Masaharu Hataya, Police Policy Research Center