There are lots of male rights activists who are actually against those women only carts
there is a molester insurance
Now how is that for you how is that gonna affect you when you come to Japan?
TRIGGER WARNING: SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND VIOLENCE
Hey guys and girls on ask Japanese it's CathyCat greetings from Tokyo
That Japan has a groping problem is not news to people abroad by now, by now people have heard
about the women's only carts and certain problems that Japan is trying to tackle
only last year a video went viral about two high school girls that were chasing down an older man
dressed in his business suit down the platform at the train station and it got resolved by
another man putting on his leg making him fall over and the police captured him...
To understand the issue of train groping in Japan and the issues surrounding it we have to go back in time to 1988.
1988 a incident on the Midosuji line in Osaka drew the attention to the issue that had been
going on until then for years... 1988 what happened on the Midosuji line a woman
saw men attacking and molesting a young girl. So the woman called them out ... they became
more aggressive, dragged her out on the platform and raped her. And that drew the attention of the
media to it and that actually set things in motion so we have the women's only carts now
Japanese trained molesters have a word for it they're called "Chikan" and actually the word khan
by now is so known abroad that some people even just put the word Chikan into the search terms
instead of Japanese trained molesters and it's become such an issue if you think about it the
trains are crowded. These things happen every day and especially in big cities like Tokyo Osaka or
in areas where the train is very crowded and packed for a long time like for example the Saikyo
line that takes you from Tokyo out to Saitama ... it has only a few stops and a long train ride
those train lines are very very known to have the groping problem some of them are even
referred to as "that's the groping train line" so yeah... the woman's only cart became a necessity
unfortunately here in Japan... now if you go in the mornings in Tokyo and you look
down in front of your shoes there might be a little sign, pink, that says "women's only cart"
No are women's only carts, a "woman's only" cart for the whole day? No they're actually not
they're only there for a few hours in the morning during rush hour depending on which train line you're
riding and can be the first cart or the last cart it generally has a sign in front of your
feet that you can check out and during certain times, for example seven to nine or something for
two or three hours those carts are "women's only carts" just during the squishy squishy rush hour times.
And even though it's only for a few hours a day there are lots of male rights activists
who are actually against those women only carts so for example
in 2018 a group of those flooded the women's only cart, they did not want to leave
on the Chiyoda line and were like "we're not leaving! This OUR right! We have a right to be on this train cart!"
and the staff told them to gently to please go, they wouldn't go
one of them pushed the emergency brakes the train got late
stuff like that
With the rise of social media these protests have become more frequent and a little bit more coordinated
than before there were also incidents of like some weird white liquid spilled all over the seats
so no one can sit on it and things like that... but all of this takes away from the fact that
these women-only carts are not there to take away someone's rights
they're there to protect young girls and women from molesting getting molested ... I mean seriously
Until the mid 90s, chikan or molesting was actually more referred to as
"shobouryoku, meiwaku" like "it's a nuisance" ... "don't do it" while ever since 2017 with
the passing of stricter laws it's actually referred to "hanzai desu" this "it's a crime"
to draw the attention more to it being more serious and taken away the
making it more benign before. Now since 2017 we have a couple of different laws here to protect people in place
Before 2017 women or young girls had to actually formally press charges
and if you know anything about Japanese culture that's a bit of a tricky one
ever since 2017 things have changed up
so chikan crime can be divided into two categories the anti-nuisance ordinance law or the indecent assault law
two different ways so let's find out about those
(again, trigger warning)
The molesting can fall into two categories the anti-nuisance ordinance law is seen for
"light crimes" so if a man is charged and found guilty of touching a woman's breasts or her butt or
something on top of her clothes, that will get him charged into that one... so if he does that
during the whole train ride it comes up to less than half a year imprisonment or less than
five thousand dollars in charges... so that's for the "light ones" but that depends on the prefecture and
the area where you are so this for example would maybe count for Tokyo but maybe not for other other prefectures
It can also be classified as number two "indecent assault"
that's when they directly go and touch the skin, flip up the skirt
put their hand into the girl's clothes and similar things like that
"indecent assault" is giving more than half a year imprisonment
but less than 10 years of imprisonment that's the kind of thing
and that can actually go further... the... like the crime then and then once it gets to actually hurting someone
physically then we have a different classification all over again
so Japan is trying to tackle the issue and they still haven't quite been there
and what they're doing right now there are certain risks that can happen to the molesters now
because the attention of the media is drawn more to it
it can actually result in people getting fired if they are found guilty
and if it's been proven that they're guilty companies might not want to associate with them
because their picture is probably all over the media Japanese media is generally
if you've done any kind of crime, even if you cheated on your wife,
it will be all over the media... so getting fired and having your face
maybe your name all over the media is one part of it
In 2009 a band member of a actually popular Japanese band got found guilty and arrested
under the anti-nuisance law for touching a young girl on the train... what happened after that is
they had to cancel all their tours their image was everywhere and the stories will never be forgotten
Yet over the years the media seems to be favoring stories in which it actually turns out that the
woman has falsely accused a man... those kind of things are actually dramatized as well in movies
and in normal afternoon dramas where it's always like "No I didn't do it I didn't do it... this woman
has falsely accused me"... those kind of things are getting pushed more by the media than the story of
the daily harassment that happens on the train in Japan...
It is actually said that less than 10 percent
of the molesting cases in Japan actually get reported by women, many don't even dare to say
anything, they don't dare to speak up many are scared of the side effects that it might have so
many many many of those cases never come to light...
But since the false accusations seem to generally be the ones that get drawn into light how do they
actually happen? Now the reason for that being is ...the trains are sometimes so crowded you cannot
tell ... and you might think "Ah can't be THAT crowded!" ... it really is like that. Like you cannot tell what
is where. Sometimes you can try if you go onto the train to assess where everyone's hands are
but sometimes it's really hard... and those molesters they're clever. They have the internet, they have
their own tips and pages how they get away with it... it's crazy... so they also know how to put the
blame on someone else, in case they feel like they're gonna get called out
so they know... they know their tricks and cases and how to get away with it
and that might lead to false accusations of someone who was just standing nearby
In 2009 and in 2017 two cases of false accusations got put out in the media
because the men got so shocked or surprised or just so depressed that they decided to commit suicide and
actually jumped in front of the train now those are the really sad examples
and it sometimes even turns out that for example another man that was in the car
would put the blame on them, who might actually have been the actual predator
As hard as it is for a young girl, a woman to actually press formal charges,
as hard is it also for the men to prove that they are innocent
so how do you prove that? With like fiber on your jacket or the way you were standing?
All that kind of things are kind of hard to prove so ...
the director for example said he's kind of worried that someone will call him out for molesting someone in the train
even though he didn't do it... so what do men do?
There is a molester insurance ...and it doesn't ensure women against molesting it ensures men
against false accusations of being a molester and that's probably a Japan only thing
they're like what 590 yen a month and it helps you via an app to quickly call a lawyer
who will then come and help you... so yeah that's a thing in Japan... it exists...
These kind of things and the attention of the media and featuring these kind of cases even more
leads to the society thinking it's scarier to be falsely than to be molested on a daily basis in Japanese culture
So how is Japan eradicating this problem? Specialists say it's gonna be
very hard if not impossible for a while... this kind of sector hasn't been studied enough yet
but it's not taken as seriously in Japan... is what some specialists say and they say it's
because there's still a deep-seated belief or a thought that the man is kind of superior to
the woman and it makes it easier to trivialize these issues of the train thing but don't forget
it's young girls (and boys) we're talking about... underage girls we're talking about too
but Japan's sex education doesn't seem to address those gender dynamics enough
you need to think .... it's not
generally it doesn't even have to be a sexual thing ...for many it's just the power
and "having gotten away with it" and then we also have popular media kind of ...
making it look "glorious" in certain kind of "adult movies" and stuff like that...
(A lot of hentai anime and manga features this)
Now how is that for you? How's that gonna affect you? When you come
to Japan? Now it happens less to foreigners is a thing I need to say straight up but it's not
like it's not happening to foreigners... it seems to be happening a lot to Japanese school girls
a friend of mine was on the train one day three times... and she got molested
all three times... she was underage she was crying and her friend had just passed away...
worst day ever so
Never forget that there are people behind that who are gonna get affected
by it... if you're an underage girl and you get regularly like molested on the train to school
in an environment where you should be safe and you're not ... it's gonna affect you so what can we do
So if you're a girl and you come to Japan and you might be worried generally if you come in (to the train)
and you have your back turned to any of the walls that might be there it helps, it helps
you know protect your booty and some women also put bags in front of them to protect them
all the girls avoid actually the area right next to the door... I know the story of a foreign girl who
was standing right next to the door and while a guy was leaving he just full on groped her
and then ran out of the train... one of my friends swears by giving everyone a menacing look when she
steps onto the train make sure to make eye contact with everyone going like "no funny business"
when she steps onto a very crowded train and has the feeling some funny business might be happening
while before it seemed to be that many women were suffering in silence and that was seen as
"the right thing" because a woman who speaks up is "causing a nuisance" to everyone these days people
are trying in campaigns and agendas to push that it's okay to speak out when it's happening to you
many have been saying it's okay to say something, it's okay to ask someone for help
and also what they've been saying is if you can grab the hand or the finger try and lift it up
because then you know who it is... it's literally it's really hard to tell in
the crowded train... so if you can grab that hand make out who it is and pull
it up... you're already pretty well off there... because they'll be scared to death... hopefully
And if you're a guy and you're coming to Japan there's also stuff you can do
I will never forget the face of another exchange student when I went as a student to Japan
he came from Germany and one morning he was so upset...
because he'd seen a girl cry on the train and he knew like something funny was going on there
but he couldn't reach her, he couldn't help her, at the time he didn't call out,
the door were opening, things floated out and that feeling of helplessness
of knowing "Something bad just happened here and I was unable to help" stayed with him for a long time
and that's the same thing... so if you guys feel or see that something's going on
that's some funny business happening... don't look away, don't turn the other way
but actually go "Hey are you okay? Can I help you?"
and you might be able to stop someone from doing what they're doing
and help someone in need who needs your support at that time
A video went viral in Japan with the hashtag Activebystander which kind of talks to the men of the generation saying
you can help we actually need your help so please don't look away and
just the word of saying "Are you okay?" can make all the change
This privately made AD gained over 2 million views in only 5 days here in Japan
and the main actor ,the Japanese guy turns to the camera in the end
and says "What would you do if you were me?"
But what the Active Bystander video shows that it's not men against women
girls against boys
It is to help the victims and to create a society
in which sexual harassment and sexual violence is less tolerated. Just don't look the other way
To be honest that was a really hard topic for us to do, it's pretty serious but I hope I got some of
the points across to you, you learned a little bit about it and maybe check out the active bystander
video as well, that's been made here in Japan. Thank you so much for tuning in, we tried to tackle a
little bit of a serious topic this time, I hope I came across okay and I hope i'll see you soon
for another video here from sunny Tokyo right now please be careful stay healthy stay safe
Luv...
I'll see you soon for another video here from Tokyo stay healthy stay safe
don't forget to like and subscribe and maybe share this with someone who needs to see this. Bye.