In the wake of a fatal stabbing carried out by a man already bound by a legal prohibition order, Japan is confronting a truth that many societies have faced before: that a law's existence does not guarantee its protection. Tokyo's emergency proposal to equip stalkers with GPS tracking devices reflects a government weighing the gravity of surveillance against the gravity of preventable death — a reckoning that places individual liberty and collective safety on the same uneasy scale.
Japan proposes GPS tracking for stalkers amid record crime surge
A woman was stabbed to death in March 2026 by a former boyfriend who was under a stalking prohibition order, prompting the emergency measures.