Hello all. I’ve (25M) been living in Japan for almost 8 months currently and I lived in a different area of Japan for a year during a study abroad. I like Japan, and it definitely does a lot of things right in my eyes, but one area that is a damn near unforgivable problem for me is sexual harassment. It’s a problem everywhere, but I’ve had so many more encounters and stories from the relatively short time I’ve lived in Japan compared to all my years in the US. Maybe it’s because I’m actually living as an adult (going to bars and such) and it might also be because I have a girlfriend now, so I actually have a small window into life as a young woman in Japan. But my girlfriend (22F) has told me numerous occasions of random people attempting to cop a feel or take advantage of her over the past year alone. I was also sexually harassed for the first time in my life a few months ago. In broad daylight, no less.
Does anyone else feel the same way? I know that Japan scores pretty bad in this regard in general. Personally, I feel like it’s more of a societal consensus of “boys will be boys” or “that’s just what happens when you’re young” as opposed to the government turning a blind eye. I’ve also heard people say that officers are incredibly skeptical when a woman accuses a guy of sexual assault, so much so that it’s not worth pursuing legal action.
Also, if anyone can share some good news (if there is any) regarding the improvement of this or something, it would be greatly appreciated. I wanna try and find something positive, if possible.
TL;DR: I feel that sexual harassment in Japan is a problem because I’ve learned of many instances of it occurring through people in my life and through my own experiences. Does anyone feel the same way? How is this issue in your country of origin? Also, good news is appreciated.
17 comments
Lol sexual harassment is a problem for women everywhere and at all times. Welcome to the world.
This sort of thing happens basically anywhere you’ve got a bunch of people in a small space. Not really unique to Japan. If you’ve not noticed it before it’s probably because you haven’t really been riding public transit much in your home country or have been sheltered from the rougher elements of society.
Entirely a crime of opportunity. You’ve got loads of people about so some minority of people figure out they can get away with it and they’ll get their rocks off. Japanese people don’t like to cause public scenes so most of the time the person gets away with it.
In the west besides the opportunities to randomly grope strangers and get away with it being rarer, you’re also more likely to get the shit beat out of you if you try it.
Course the joke here is getting concerned about the groping as being a huge problem here when the chance of getting murdered is so much higher in the west. I’ll take the occasional weird pervert wanting to cop a feel and running off the like little coward that he is over getting shot or stabbed to death by some guy strung out on coke or god knows what.
Good news: They just raised the age of consent from 13 to 16 in japan
Bad News: Japan’s sexual harassment seems really really bad because there aren’t as many other crimes. In reality, the issue here is just as bad as in any other country I’ve ever been to. I’m a woman and have traveled to over 15 countries, and have been sexually harassed in every single one, even though I started traveling internationally at the age of 9. I’m from the States, and the biggest difference I’ve noticed is that when I get harassed here I don’t feel like my life is in danger. In the US, if I’m too forceful with how I say no and stop, I could get into a serious life-threatening situation. Here, it’s better to forcefully say no because most Japanese guys will get intimidated when you tell them to fuck off. There are some exceptions to this rule (a guy followed me and tried grabbing my arm to keep me from going up the escalator in broad daylight), but generally, I’d say I don’t feel like my life is in danger. Which I guess is good, but still not great. Also it helps that I’m 177 cm. It helps the intimidation factor
The issue with “boys will be boys” is that some Japanese boys who do that don’t mature and don’t stop doing it. When a 10 year old boy flips their girl classmates’ skirts or pats their butt, no one cares. When a 35 year old man runs their hands on a 19 or 17 year old female or takes up-skirt photos or worse, it’s fucked up. I don’t know if the same boys doing it at 10 are the men doing it at 35, but at some point, males have to realize that it’s not a gentlemanly, respectful, or chivalrous thing to do. I’m not gonna put women on a pedestal but men have to learn to protect women and make them feel comfortable. You literally are more attractive that way. Whether it’s a married man or single man doing it to young girl or an older woman, it’s insane that this issue seems so well-known yet still happens.
In my city, a guy literally raped a woman on the subway train in front of people and no one stopped him for whatever reason (fear, don’t want to get involved, don’t want to get sued, whatever), yet recorded it. It’s not common, that’s the only time I ever heard it happen on the news, but it’s crazy that it’s possible when there are so many bystanders who could help.
I’m a man and personally have never experienced catcalling or sexual harassment and have never seen my sisters or mom experience it but I know it does happen to women in the U.S. and I think it’s wrong. I’ve not seen any (physical) sexual assault happen but I’ve seen plenty of ladies getting harassed. I think it’s fine to tell a woman she’s beautiful or her hair looks great and attempt to get to exchange contacts, but unwanted touching, continuously asking or pestering when they say no thanks or are try to leave is wrong.
Girl here. So far I have not suffered harassment but the first time I left home wearing a dress a little above my knees I received looks that made me very uncomfortable… Harassment will always exist, no matter where you are. It’s just that Japan handles it very poorly in my opinion. We always hear about groping on the trains… And nothing is ever done.
>I was also sexually harassed for the first time in my life a few months ago. In broad daylight, no less.
What form did this take?
Depending on what organization she belongs to, many companies these days have sexual harassment countermeasures. They train their employees not to say things like “Do you have a boyfriend?” or “Your clothes look nice today.”
Also, both the national and local governments have call centers and other consultation services. There are also laws that local governments have established on their own. (The age of sexual consent was 13 years old in the country until a while ago, but each municipality has previously set it at 16 or 18 years old.)
However, it takes time to change the mindset of the elderly, and unless you go to areas like Shibuya and Shinjuku where mischievous people gather, you won’t experience much.
As with the refugee issue, young people are dissatisfied with the fact that closed old people continue to take the initiative.
I’m sorry to hear that you’ve had some problems during your stay.
I think the experience that you met a really weird guy in Yoshinoya was a rare case. I have many friends from abroad but they’ve not met a guy like that IN PUBLIC.
You might have ignored him when a guy like him talked to you in the USA.
When someone is abroad, he/she usually tries to be as kind as possible and tends to have a conversation even with ridiculous people because he/she cannot guess who’s weird and who’s not.
Like, when you’re in the USA, it must be much easier to assume it(checking his behaviour, way of speak/act, appearance).
Tbh, it’s extremely weird to be talked in Yoshinoya(or any other fast food restaurants). If I were you, I would ignore him completely.
Weird people are everywhere in the world. As you said, you are an adult here and go to a place where many drunk people or shady people are, which might be the reason.
On the other hand, I’ve been to the USA several times. Some random people had told me something weird in the USA while I’ve not been yelled by random people in Japan.
It’s not even a discussion, Japan is torrentially misogynistic and disrespectful towards women compared to the western world. Yes, it’s worse in other countries, but Japan is absolutely miles behind the countries it wants to be compared to.
Sexual harassment happens everywhere in the world. I would be more surprised if you came here and there was no sexual harassment at all whatsoever.
Some of it could just be where you’re hanging out and the types of people that you surround yourself with. You mentioned that you go to bars and clubs. If you’re a pervert, a semi-crowded place where everyone is at least slightly intoxicated is heaven. Of course sexual harassment will happen more often there. In fact, I would go as far as to argue that it’s probably more common there than anywhere else. People talk about the trains a lot but what they don’t talk about is that it also happens in happens other countries where commuting by train is common. The UK had some problems with rapes on their train system, at least we don’t have to deal with that.
I’m sorry you got harassed.
For women anywhere in the world sexual harassment is always a constant problem. Imo you’re just now realizing it because you’re just starting to listen. I’m sure lots of women in the US are being harassed all the time too, it’s just you weren’t exposed to it, because you’re not close enough to hear about it from them. Or you’re not in spaces where women talk about it openly. But might be different types of harassment happening. I.e. harassment can often happen in trains here, because it’s very crowded and perpetrators take advantage of that. In other places where people aren’t as reliant on public transport, the case might be different and they are being harassed in other spaces.
In my personal experience, coming from a “3rd world country”, I feel safer as a woman in Japan. Random men aren’t catcalling me in the streets even at night. In my country it feels like catcallers are everywhere all the time. But for the treatment harassment… idk. I feel like my country people would be able to openly shame harassers in public when it happens, but at the same time, reporting stuff like rape and sexual assault to the police is probably useless as hell. Victim blaming is also still very strong.
This is the second or third time ive seen a post on this sub where someone is addressing sexual harassment or misogyny met with 50 comments and no upvotes. Y’all don’t listen, just talk.
It is a problem and a problem worth talking about
Sorry this happened to you. Japanlife is the wrong place to complain (Though it shouldn’t be). The moment you say anything bad about about Japan here, a crowd of self hating foreigner weaboos flood in to go against you.
“It’s probably because you can’t speak Japanese, it was just a misunderstanding!”
“Japan is safer than the whole world”
“I’ve lived here for 26 years and never had a problem”
This kind of stuff. You’d genuinely get a better response complaining to actual Japanese people than foreigners living in Japan, and unsurprisingly this is a pro-Japan circle jerk community.
I’ve started taking the women’s only car now.. 🙁
While I agree with everyone commenting here that Japan is incredibly safe, I also cannot forget how sickening some of the more famous stories are handled by media, government and general public. Just Google the case of shiori ito, as an example.
As I get older, my view on the Lolita complex also shifted a lot from “lol crazy Japan” to “don’t let them near to kids why is nobody doing something?”.
There are a lot of beautiful things in Japan but nothing is perfect and gender equality, openness and the general treatment of women are most likely the worst parts of this country.
It happens everywhere. Even in my so called sooo progressive country where men and women are supposed to be equal I can tell you an awful lot of tales, from being harassed for sex as I was cycling near a forest road on my way to school at 17 to drunk coworkers lifting up my skirt as an adult working in a company. Japan is nothing different, the only difference here is that you actually expect it more and you’re more on your guard here because there’s so much blatant sexism. In my home country you expect it less because of all of this equality blabla that makes you *think* you are safe. Just my take on it.
Yeah um it happens everywhere. Happened in my small town in the US. Happened in Tokyo. The form of the harassment/assault may be different, but it still exists.
In the US, it’s groping, catcalling, mansplaining, stalking, guys thinking you owe them something, and direct comments about women being lesser than men.
In Japan, it’s groping, stalking, guys thinking you owe them something, and inappropriate flirting.
In the US, guys just wait till the girl is drunk or prowl through crowded clubs and take their opportunity to assault you. If there were more crowded situations across the country, I don’t think there’d be much of a difference in groping tbh.
I do have to say though that if you are groped, please try to report your groper. Take all his settlement money and leave a scar on his record. That’s all we’ve got against these losers.