Accidents, incidents of Japanese abroad hit record high in 2016

December 12, 2017

Tokyo- The number of accidents and incidents involving Japanese people overseas in 2016 and handled by the Foreign Ministry increased 3.1 percent from the previous year to 18,566, the highest since statistics started in 1986, the ministry said Monday.

The number of people involved went up 0.3 percent to 20,437, hitting the third-highest level.

The increase was mainly because the number of requests for investigations of the whereabouts of Japanese nationals abroad, chiefly from family members, surged 22 percent to 6,179.

By region, 6,573 cases occurred in North America, accounting for the largest share of the total. Until 2015, the number of accidents and incidents involving Japanese people had been the highest in Asia.

The number of Japanese nationals who fell victim to terrorist attacks in 2016 stood at 10. In the terrorist bombings in Brussels in March 2016, two Japanese were injured, while seven people were killed and one person was hurt in the terrorist siege in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka in July. Jiji Press