TOKYO (AP) -- The number of women seeking help for domestic violence in Japan rose last year for a fourth straight year, partly because there are more shelter facilities for victims to turn to, an official said Thursday.

Nationwide consultations for domestic violence rose to 58,528 cases in the fiscal year ending in March, up 12 percent from a year earlier, according to the most recent count by the Cabinet Office's Gender Equality Bureau.

The results mark the fourth straight year of increase, and a 63 percent jump over the 35,943 cases reported in the fiscal year ending in March 2002, the first year records were kept.

The latest report was released late last month.

Gender Equality Bureau official Gakuyo Yagi attributed the increase in reported cases to a rise in the number of facilities run by regional governments where women can seek help. The number has more than doubled to 117 centers, from 87 in 2002.

"I think the increase in the number of consultations means domestic violence is being more recognized," he said Thursday.

"But this reflects only part of the reality," Yagi said, noting that some women still refrain from seeking outside help because they fear revenge from abusive partners.

A group of lawmakers is preparing legislation to revise Japan's domestic violence law, Yagi said.

The current law took effect in 2001 and punishes cases of physical abuse. Under the revised plan, those who verbally threaten their partners would also be subject to punishment.

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