ha, read that on another forum in a thread about gun debate, a real interesting read that goes into detail about the cultural differences and why one type of law or restriction might not work in a vastly different culture. also interesting was the suicide #'s, as even though japan has almost no firearms, the suicide numbers are still significantly higher as compared to the us. expanding on the cultural differences, it was also a real eye opener to see that there is almost a 100% conviction rate when it comes to arrests over there, and the powers of the police to basically come into your home whenever they want to talk/question you. while i'm a big admirer of the japanese, i would much rather take my chances with the occasional tragedy and live in a society with much more privacy and focus on individual rights!

edit, although that article was similar to the one i was reffering to, they are different. here is the one i was originally talking about, kinda long but a great read nonetheless !
http://www.davekopel.com/2A/Foreign/Japan-Gun-Control-and-People-Control.htm