Concerns About Sexual Assault Possibilities on Trains

9 comments

1. Yes its a real issue, and very common unfortunately. Particularly in Japan. Thats why they even have male and female train cabins separate in many trains im told. there’s no use worrying about what you should or shouldnt have done. Its too late now. Whether she is fine or not is unknown but what can you do? Tell the police? nothing will happen. its hard to track her down aswell to ask if shes okay.

   its really shit. But theres no much protection/prevention out there.

   ​

   ive been in similar situations. So what you CAN do, is for next time you see it happen you can sit/stand in between them or even speak up or make small talk with her. That usually discourages the creeps because they see she isnt alone. Oh another great thing is to write her a note warning her about the creepy guy and pass it to her. That helps alot.

   Its important to look out for women in those situations when creeps are around. its a fucked up world

   ​

   Also your comment about how he didnt look “aggressive or drunk” they NEVER do. They are wolfs in sheep’s clothing. You cant tell what someones thinking even if they look fine.

2. People in that part of Japan are also really cold, in my very limited experience

   SO yeah I agree with what the other person said, just go up and make small talk, say something like hi im foreign can you help me find this or that, just become an annoynace.

   ​

   When I was there a few weeks ago I saw a girl who was fucking HAMMMERED lilterally walking face first into the walls and shit, and everyone just rolling on past her like welp, nothing to see here…..where I live in Japan if someone like that is in the station someone gets the police to help immediately, which i tried to do but I couldnt find the koban, and then I went back and she was gone

3. It’s hard to say. What I have done in that situation is make sure the man knows I am watching him, make some noise so he looks at me, make sure my phone camera is pointed at him so he thinks I am recording (actually recording is another ball of wax). But I am a dude and can safely be a bit aggressive towards guys like these, it’s different for sure if you are a woman.

   I stopped an obvious chikan a few years ago in a similar situation – she was sitting down wearing a short skirt, he squeezed next to her with many other seats available. Could see him glancing at her, then his hand made it to the seat next to her. She wasn’t paying attention, was on her phone, but I got her attention and pointed at the guy next to her and shook my head. Her eyes got big and she moved seats – I just gave chikan boy the stare of death until he got frustrated and exited a station later.

   I don’t know that telling the staff would do any good if the guy isn’t actually doing anything yet – being a creepy staring dude isn’t actually illegal, so I think all you can do is warn the woman and let the guy know he’s being watched.

4. Install the [Digi Police](https://www.keishicho.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/kurashi/tokushu/furikome/digipolice.html) app and next time you see someone being touched or harassed by a weirdo in a train or bus, open the app and push the molester warning button. Creeps are running like crazy when they hear that sound. It always works. Standing between him and the victim also helps.

5. Do you speak Japanese? Next time, sit down next to her and pretend she’s someone you met before trough work or something. Give him a hard stare while you talk to her. Many creeps here are from what I think opportunistic predators and by letting them know they’re being watched, there’s a big chance of making them change their mind. I’ve also experienced standing in an extremely crowded last train from Shinjuku and the only other woman in a sea of men moved in my direction so we stood literally with our backs against each other. I immediately understood the assignment: we literally have each others back so we only need to worry about chikan trying to grope the side or the front. So women sticking together is definitely an unspoken thing here.

6. I can see why your “friend” has low karma. How the hell would you know that this guy wasn’t gonna get off at that stop anyway? 0 evidence for it. He could have been looking at her due to how she was dressed (may have been bad) but conveniently that was left out the story for some reason. If you’re concerned for the girl, sure, tell someone. But don’t accuse someone else of something.

7. **Since modern trains have security cameras, I think the station staff will be able to investigate if you ask them.**

8. > Curious as to whether this is a regularly seen occurence? Obviously nothing had explicitly happened, but it seems like the possibility was there.

   Every day you can ride the train in tokyo and see both women and men in suits.

   You can also see guys taking glances up from their phone, whether at girls, to glance out the window, or at the display over the door. Looking frequently at the person sitting beside you is a bit weird yes.

   You also see multiple people get off at the same stop a lot, and after getting off, they often do in fact stand near each other waiting for a local train, or waiting in line for the escalator, or such.

   > He didn’t look like a particularly aggressive or drunk man, but his staring was extreme and his positioning was quite unnatural).

   Your friend clearly thought something might be wrong, but she did not give much info here at all. From what she said (staring, got off at the same stop), it’s nothing, there’s nothing to report, no reason to get involved.

   If the girl being stared at gave some sign she was uncomfortable, then trying to help in some way is nice. From the description, we don’t get that the girl did give such a sign.

9. My friend just straight up said “What are you doing?” to the guy in a similar situation and that spooked him off.