I’ve fallen into a heavy depression after discovering that Japanese women and girls are constantly groped on Japanese subways, the behavior known as “Chikan”. I’ve always adored Japanese ladies, and finding out that sick men molest them very commonly in their own country just made me sick. And this is coming from the so-called “Safest Country in the World”… Japanese women are just too innocent to have to endure this Hell. Shouldn’t over 90% of men know better?? Why do they feel the need to actually touch them without their consent?! And this is coming from Japan, a place where everyone around you are polite and respectful. As well as the “Safest Country in the World”.
I’m aware they made that app that alerts them and everyone around them of molesters touching them, but no other country in the world had to make an app like this, because clearly groping on subways is nowhere as severe as in Japan. The fact that they had to make an app like that actually bothers me, because it really shows just how much of a problem groping is in Japan. The fact that Japanese women taking the subways always have to worry about perverts just makes me sick.
Now I know what you may be thinking, “Groping happens everywhere, not just in Japan”. Sure it happens frequently in countries like the US etc, but I never hear American stories of women and girls getting groped everyday, or every single time they take the subway. And whenever groping does occur in the US, it like never involves men sticking their hands under their skirts, or panties… In the US and other countries, women tend to fight back if touched by perverts, why can’t Japanese women?? If Japan really holds the record as the safest country in the world, then shouldn’t all crime be extremely rare there? Including this one?
But perhaps the thing that bothers me the most here, is the fact that Japanese women don’t say anything when being groped, and just let the molesters finish what they’re doing, all because of what they’re taught in Japan about “not making a scene”… Schoolgirls are left crying at school (because this happened on their way to school), and then it happens to them every single day, which results in them crying at home… All of this is just heartbreaking, these girls are clearly traumatized. Why can’t those men control themselves??
I apologize for going overboard, but it’s just to let you know just how much this bothers me. Women in Japan shouldn’t have to worry about perverts, they just don’t deserve feeling vulnerable. Don’t be afraid to talk, don’t be afraid to fight back, I support you with all my heart, I’m at your side.
by [deleted]
5 comments
r/japan
>women and girls getting groped everyday, or every single time they take the subway.
My dude, you’re very much listening to an exaggerated account of things.
To be clear, this is a thing that happens, and it’s a problem, but it’s not something that happens ‘every single time they take the subway’. That’s absurd.
To put things into perspective, the number of arrests made for groping (because that’s the only statistic that can be somewhat trusted in this situation) in 2019 was 2.79k (according to [Statista](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1036110/japan-number-arrests-molester-chikan/)). Divide by a female population of 64 million and you get about 4.36 incidents per 100k.
The ***murder*** rate for the US in the same year was 5.07. The rate of *child abuse* was *195.76*. And seeing how I got that by dividing by the general population, rather than under 18s, the actual per capita rate is going to be much higher.
In other words, yeah, in the grand scheme of things, chikan is not overly pervasive; it’s just one of the worst overt crimes Japan has, so it’s one they try to tackle. This gets reinterpreted by people on the internet, most of whom have never even been here, to be ‘everyone molests women in Japan and people just accept it’.
Acting like every single woman is a consistent victim of it, or that Japanese women are ‘too innocent’ (intended or not, this is a common form of fetishization of Japanese women) or that ‘90% of men’ are responsible for this and need to ‘know better’, is neither truthful nor helpful.
There was a case a few years back of some foreigners getting arrested because they believed this stuff and tried to put it into practice. Didn’t turn out well for them. But that’s why you shouldn’t just believe everything you see on the internet.
Japanese girls gotta start carrying mace or something.
It’s troublingly common, but even then what you’ve “discovered” is exaggerated.
Almost every female friend “knows of” someone who’s been groped on the train.
But none of them has been groped themselves.
Also, population density in Japan is nothing like in the US. You get more personal space in the busiest parts of NYC than in outskirts of Tokyo.
I get that its a serious situation but you’re being overly dramatic and exaggerating. You sound like a neck beard that fantasizes about Japan way too much.