Japanese popular culture is saturated with violent images, and Tokyo has a population of over 13 million, yet women can walk alone at night, anywhere they want, and they are safe. Why?

A group ethic/value system prevails as opposed to the classicalWestern liberal tradition of individualism.... 'Communalism' was the feudal norm and still lingers...

But during WW2- the Japanese were taught to despise those who surrendered, dying in battle was a glory to be sought....and in the mid 1930's a brutally harsh training program for new military recruits was enacted, which inured soldiers to pain, making them devoid of any sympathies for 'enemies.'

But this does not fully explain the Rape of Nanking in 1937 - over 400,000 civilians were murdered, about 80,000 women were sexually abused.

The group ethic broke down bigtime.