Chikan: Groping on Japanese trains
September 16th, 2009 by James
Japanese police and railway companies have teamed up and launched a week-long “Let’s prevent groping” campaign. Here’s a subtitled news clip from Fuji TV that introduces the campaign and shows us some video of undercover police officers arresting gropers on the Saikyo Line:
At the end of the report, they mention a Tokyo Shimbun employee who was arrested for groping on the first day of the campaign. You can read more about him in this Yomiuri article. You can also find an English language write-up about the problem of chikan websites here. [via JapanSoc]
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I try to keep my hands in plain sight most of the time, so that standing next to a foreigner is only a little less awkward.
This is sick, I never heard of this “gang-groping”.
On the other hand, write the name of this Tokyo Shimbun guy on TV, that is a death sentence. And the guy was not even judged, only arrested.
That’s all needed in Japan. There’s no such thing as innocent until proven guilty in Japan lol
Or anywhere else, especially for sex crimes.
How do some people think?
A=Japan is different
B=This happens in Japan
C-Actual thought/knowledge
A+B-C=This would never happen at home!!
Overthinker,
Actually, the problem of assumption of guilt is worse here than in many countries. In Japan, you not only get convicted by the media, the justice system pays nothing but lip service to the idea of “innocent until proven guilty.”
What’s the name of the movie about the falsely accused chikan, But I Didn’t Do It, or something like that?
Soredemo, boku ha yattenai.
A nice documentary movie well worth seeing to learn how the Japanese justice works in practice.
However if you have been to western courts, you will soon notice that they are equally corrupt.
I love the movie, and what it entails, however it is only loosely based on a true story, not a documentary. It does show the lack of important concepts of justice, such as a mistrial, a jury, and again, “innocent until proven guilty.”
I’m just glad a foreigner wasn’t caught.
We wouldn’t hear the end of that…
That’s an awesome sting operation!
A little too convienent to just randomly go out AND find gropers that day? These can’t be THAT common. What are the odds?
They’re probably targeting trains/areas that have high incidence rates. Don’t know how many times they brought the camera along before they caught this shot, but if it was just once then I would agree that such timing would seem rather convenient.
It’s not uncommon for police and security to carry cameras in order to gather evidence.
There are organised Chikan gangs working through websites. It would be easy to scan the sites and get information about when and where attacks are planned.
Also, the reports mentions that attacks are concentrated in certain places and times, for example, the express run between two stations 9 minutes apart which is the scene depicted in this report.
So the answer to your question is that the police didn’t randomly happen across some gropers, they did research and organised a proper hunt.
The Saikyo line is notorious. I used to have a student who rode it every day to go to highschool. She and her friends always tried to avoid standing anywhere near the doors, especially in the corners, because those were the areas the chikan prefered.
She said that one morning, she saw girls being molested in all four corners near the doors of the carraige she was on.
That was some funny shit. I wonder if they will report on the creeps who try taking pics up girls skirts in hidden compartments. Frankly I think the cops have wayy too much free time on their hands. I mean come on, these chicks need to get whistles and learn how to voice concern.
Or…..
Just go along for the ride!
(Obviously I’m kidding on the last part)
Here’s an idea, why don’t the victims yell “Get Your Grubby Fucking Hands Off Me” really really loud like they do in every other country, and then knee them in the balls?
Some do. A lot of times these people are caught when the girl yells “CHIKAN!” and either grabs the guy or others grab him.
Most large cities have this problem, and it’s a lot harder to scream “help” than you think. Just look up “groping on New York subways” if you would like some evidence.
Not an similar comparison. In NewYork, the perv might have a gun or knife, in Japan, they don’t.
Um, gun maybe not. Knives don’t seem to be hard to come by in Japan.
There are a few countries where people cook stuff. Japan is one of them.
I imagine if you are a high school girl it can be pretty intimidating to be surrounded by half a dozen older men preying on you.
My wife used to carry a hat pin and stab guys’ hands who groped her; she was never gang groped, though.
The police man was so cool, i applaud what they’re trying to do. I think everyone should be involve in stopping this sickening trend. All the woman and girls have to be brave to fight back, this kind of thing not only happen in Japan i believe it also happen in other countries. i’ve been groped previously and the experience was traumatising and scary however i’ve learn to be more careful of my surrounding and fight back.
in argentina, a girl i knew got off the subway with cum on her purse….
hows that for ya.
oh wow..HAHAHA..sad but quite funny.
WOW!
But how can she be sure?
It might have been hair gel or something.
Yeah, her name is Mary.
Groping is absolutely normal, it’s in the womans nature to want such things, it’s in their genes.
Nice troll attempt, “Torben”, but it was pretty obvious. Try a little more subtlety next time.
No, the chikan’s hand is in their genes….
No, it’s not in the chikan’s genes, either. That only serves as an excuse for them. These men are taking knowing advantage of the cultural acceptance that ‘boys will be boys’. How many men get on that train and are able to keep their hands to themselves? Barring some psychological condition that effects impulse control, or something of that ilk, the only explanation is that these men are purposefully molesting women and know full-well that what they’re doing is malicious and harmful. That’s why they do it. Whether their motives are specifically misogynistic, or more broadly, misanthropic. They are choosing to cause unnecessary and cruelly personal suffering for primarily sadistic gain.
If this is in response to my comment, you have missed the point entirely. Try again, keeping in mind that it is obviously a response to Torben’s comment. Might help if you read it aloud….
As reprehensible as the subject matter is, I still thought your comment was kind of funny. I guess that person was not looking for a joke.
I get the joke but it’s true, I’m not much in the mood for a laugh when I see this kind of thing.
The sad thing is that some people in Japan do seems to see it that way (from what I’ve seen and heard), hence the “healthy young man” saying that seems so prevalent. It really seems to breed that sense of irresponsibility. Furthermore I’m angry at the Japanese women for not just throwing a well-aimed and adrenaline-fuelled punch right into the bastard’s nose. They’re so passive it disgusts me. I know it’s a cultural matter but I can’t help my gut reaction.
I hope the gropers get the same kind of treatment from some big burly guys in prison.
It would suck for the guys if girls started there own group. It would involve kneeing all surrounding men on the train in the crotch. I just don’t understand why these girls don’t scream at the top of there lungs. I know I can break ear drums maybe even glass when I scream. It really sucks being groped. I’am sure most girls have experienced it before. It is very frightening.