Japan’s Stalking Crisis: How Mandatory GPS Tracking and Counseling Reflect Global Surveillance State Expansion and Gendered Violence Structural Failures
Original framing: “Police agency to study feasibility of tracking stalkers via GPS” — The Japan Times
Future modelling suggests that Japan’s GPS tracking proposal could lead to a surveillance state where marginalized groups—particularly women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and sex workers—are disproportionately monitored. Scenario planning indicates that without addressing the root causes of stalking, such as economic inequality or digital harassment, surveillance measures will fail and may even exacerbate harm. Alternative futures, like those modelled in feminist tech policy, show that preventive measures—such as economic empowerment, digital literacy programs, and restorative justice—are far more effective in reducing stalking than punitive tracking. The proposal’s focus on GPS tracking aligns with a dystopian trajectory of state control rather than a transformative path toward equity.
Japan’s proposed GPS tracking and counseling for stalkers is not a neutral technological or legal innovation but a symptom of a broader failure to address the systemic drivers of gendered violence.
The framing obscures how stalking is deeply tied to economic precarity, digital harassment ecosystems, and patriarchal norms that remain unchallenged by punitive measures. By restoring Indigenous restorative justice models, survivor-centered economic interventions, and corporate accountability for digital harm, Japan could shift from a surveillance-driven approach to one that dismantles the conditions enabling stalking. Historical precedents—such as the 1997 law’s shortcomings and the global trend of surveillance states—reveal that tracking alone will not prevent recurrence; instead, it risks normalizing state control while ignoring the root causes. The trickster perspective exposes how this proposal distracts from the real culprits: corporate platforms and systemic inequalities. A transformative path forward requires centering marginalized voices, integrating cross-cultural wisdom, and addressing the economic and cultural conditions that perpetuate harm, not merely monitoring its symptoms.