last year my wife and i rented a campervan in japan
we spent 3 weeks touring the main island of honshu and the smaller island of shikoku

the one thing that stood out... the absence of graffiti
in the entire 20 days, we used their hotbaths and expressway toilets
there were only TWO cases of vandalism
in fact the scratches were so small anyone would have missed them
their public toilets are as clean, if not cleaner than our toilets at home !

now, back home in first world, beautiful australia
developed and advance and gracious
good in processes of law, freedom of speech etc etc

you do not get a prize for guessing what i am about to write

YES...graffiti ALL OVER the place
you can barely find one public toilet not vandalized

anyone care to tell me why?

we are less clean?
we love graffiti?
we are tolerant?
we do not discipline out children and youths for such trifle matters?

There are commonly two types of 'graffiti' that people see in public spaces. One could be called genuine art; the artists are creative and only differ from other artists in the medium them choose, spray cans.

More common and what most of us hate is tagging. Mindless scrawls spray painted or scratched on public and private property.

The simplest way of determining between graffiti and art is permission. Rarely would anyone invite taggers to do their fence but there are public and private buildings that graffiti artists have be commissioned to do a large scale piece.

Taggers are cowardly middle of the night vandals that deserve to be thrown in jail as well as pay compensation if they get caught. Yes, do gooders, I said they should go to jail and be held accountable for their actions.

@hippie

i am referring to the bad guys

the other day i saw a council sign that says

"if vandalism continues, the council will remove the remaining benches and tables from this park"

wow... australia has gone communist
we have decided to go down to the lowest level ... levelling downwards?

has this something to do with our education and the bringing up of our next generation?

platypus1900

largely our young people are taught to loave our history. Strangely enough I suggest it stacks up well against Japan in many if not most cases. It certainly has got a lot to do with education and not lack of funds as is often the rhetoric. It is simply the ideology and idiotic notion that people who have been here for generations stole land. Instead of some sort of balance being taught as well as the fact that every other human wants to come here and live due to the hard work of the pioneers we teach myths. Could you imagine the Japanese reached Australia before the British. I suggest their would be no more first people as we know it.

Street art is worthwhile and should be encouraged. Tagging is an eyesore and should be discouraged. How? That is the $64,000 question. Punitive penalties in themselves seems not to be the answer as the people involved, mostly juveniles, but not all, are acting out of a desire for social recognition from a society which in many ways has failed them. Living in inner Sydney where graffiti is rife I have asked many "kids" why do you do it, and the short answer is, "To piss people off", the catalysis in the first instance might be boredom, but I think the problem goes deeper than simply this, and is more the desire for some perverse recognition from society, than anything else.
In societies where people have gained a feeling of self worth at an early age and respect for themselves and others, this type of graffiti and other antisocial behavior is generally not a problem, the case in question, Japan, is a good example, I have also seen this in a mostly European society as well, the South Island of New Zealand, and other places.

The Hip Hop culture is a major contributor to the negative behaviour of our youth. Graffiti is one of the three foundation tenets of Hip Hop. Taggers get a bit of an adrenalin rush from sneaking around in the night. Some taggers are not actually bad kids, they are just stupidly going along with something they ignorantly think is cool. Once they are caught, in many cases its the first time (and the last) they have been in trouble with the police.

The hard core taggers seek maximum exposure and they don't care what they deface as long as they get their tag up. They will even tag graffiti art walls with no respect for the artist. Hard core taggers are criminal vandals and literally a public menace.

In a professional role I've dealt with a lot of taggers and graffiti artists. In Auckland we used to offer walls for graffiti artists on the basis they sign a pledge not to tag. Its surprising how many refused our offer, seeing it as a sell out. Of the many taggers we caught and successfully fined through the court system, very few paid their fines or even showed remorse. My experience left me with the distinct impression 90% of taggers are misfit idiots that will probably be losers their whole life.