A number of Western assumptions about Japanese crime control are based on notions of a specific Japanese "shame culture," in which social pressures force all individuals to conform. Another common view is that a causal relationship exists between the policing system and low crime rates in Japan. According to these views, subcultures ought to be of minimal significance in Japan. However, numerous, visible, and significant subcultural formations exist. These include groupings of street youths, bosozoku (hot-rodder) groups, and yakuza (networks of male adult criminal organizations). Youth groups appear to be largely the result of the pressures of the Japanese education system and of the expectations of conformity and compliance that are at the basis of Japanese everyday life. Adult groupings appear to originate from forces in the Japanese system of social stratification, providing a respected form of organized and controlled deviance for adult members of Japan's minority populations. Both types of groupings are at the core of the efforts of control agencies, but they will probably continue unless effective actions take place against structural discrimination and toward democratic political reform. 48 references (Author abstract modified)