Data were collected from two like-sized cities in late 1995 and early 1996: Charlotte, N.C. (U.S.), and Mito, Ibaraki, Japan. An additional sample from metropolitan Tokyo was added to the Japanese sample. When no differences between Tokyo and Mito were found, the data sets were combined as an aggregate Japanese sample. The U.S. sample size was 442, and the total Japanese sample was 908, totaling 1,350 respondents. Both the American and Japanese sample were representative of their respective population census data. The research focused on perceptions of risk of victimization among respondents. Findings show an increased perception of the risk of gun victimization in both countries. Surprisingly, this perception is greater in Japan, in spite of much greater knife use. Americans had much higher fear levels for each specific violent crime than the Japanese. In the last 3 years, the fear of crime victimization has increased more for the Japanese than for Americans. This may be related to the rash of recent dramatic crime events, such as the sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway system by a religious cult, the assassination attempt on the director of the Japanese National Police, or the murder of a child and his mother by a respected Tokyo doctor. In both countries, the fear of crime is not related to actual victimization rates, since it is clear that Japan has a lower rate of violent crime than the United States. This suggests the need for initiatives that offer "symbolic reassurances" regarding the actual victimization rate as well as educational efforts that can help citizens understand the basis for unreasonable fear of victimization. 9 tables and 23 references