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[Sunster]

Just read this article and wow...I had no idea how widespread this was. I think of Japan as so advanced as a society but in the way they treat this issue they might as well be in the middle ages.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/03/sexual-assault-japan-girl-victim-170307101413024.html

Sexual assault of schoolgirls is commonplace on Japan's public transportation, but now more girls are speaking out.

Tokyo, Japan - Tamaka Ogawa was about 10 years old when she was sexually assaulted for the first time. It was a public holiday and she was on the subway. A man standing behind her pulled down the band of her culottes and underwear, touched her bare bottom, then pressed himself against her. She recalls feeling shocked and physically sickened. When she reached home, she repeatedly washed the spot where he had pressed himself against her, although she was conscious of not spending too long in the toilet, in case her family noticed that something was wrong.

Some years later, on her first day of senior high school, she was groped on the commute home. After that, the groping and sexual assaults - men would often stick their hands inside her underwear - became a regular occurrence as she made her way to or from school in her uniform. Each time, she would run away, unsure of what to do.

"I thought of myself as a child," she reflects. "I could not understand that adults were excited by touching me."

"When I was in high school, every [girl] was a victim," says Ogawa. "[We] didn't think we could do anything about it."

"I hear many girls telling me that they have experienced men's hands under their skirt, and the groper's fingers in their vagina," Matsunaga says. "It is rape."

Men ejaculated on Ogawa's friends. Often, she says, the perpetrators put their hands inside her underwear. Many times, the abuse involved being penetrated by men's fingers

An intervention

Yayoi

Matsunaga began her Osaka-based organisation, Groping Prevention Activities Centre, in 2015 after her friend's daughter was regularly molested while taking the train to school.

In November 2015 she launched a crowdfunding campaign that attracted 334 donors and raised 2.12 million yen (about $19,000). Then, she ran a badge design crowdsourcing contest.

High school pupils, art school students, and freelance designers - many telling her it was the first time they'd thought about the issue - submitted 441 designs from which Matsunaga selected five. Her organisation gave away about 500 and three police stations handed out more. She now sells them online, for 410 yen ($3.70) each. From March, 11 department stores will stock them and she's aiming to secure more distributors near train stations.

The badges have had a direct effect. Data collected from 70 students at a high school in Saitama prefecture, just north of Tokyo, between April and December 2016, showed that 61.4 percent of respondents said they had not been touched since using the badges, while 4.3 percent reported no change.

'False accusations'

Convincing society that there's a problem is further complicated by a dominant narrative about men being falsely accused. Ogawa and others who write about sexual violence say much of the online backlash they receive comes from men who say this is the real problem.

"If we talk about sexual violence, especially if the topic is about groping, the main … concern is about false accusation," Ogawa says.

"The media always blames … the victims," explains Goto, who points to the fact that Japan's mainstream and social media is male-dominated.

Patriarchy

Many Japanese women say they stopped experiencing groping when they graduated from high school and no longer wore school uniforms.

"[It] never happened [again] since I took off my uniform," says 20-year-old Kotomi Araki, an economics undergraduate student and waitress, who says she was groped on crowded trains throughout high school.

When asked about the perception of schoolgirls, Araki and others refer to the archetype of "Lolita".

According to Goto, this idea is borrowed from the Russian American novelist Vladimir Nabokov, but in Japan is largely understood as a young girl who is "the image of obedience, subservience", and is reinforced in widely read manga.

Schoolgirls

This sexualisation of schoolgirls extends to themed bars in red-light districts and exploitative "JK cafes" (JK stands for joshi kosei or high school girl) where adult men pay to chat to teenage girls, have their fortunes told or have their ears cleaned. Manga pornography depicting schoolgirls is also widely and openly available. It was only in 2014 that Japan criminalised the possession of child pornography.

Within walking distance of Ikebukuro train station, among the lanes of restaurants, are a number of mostly unsigned JK cafes. One innocuous-looking sandwich board with pink bubble font, lists, with blue heart bullet points, the range of available services. There are also themed bars for male-only customers who pay about $200 an hour to grope the women working there.

One 38-year-old man, who declined to give his name, explains that he has been to these bars in Ikebukuro - paying 15,000 yen ($133) to enter - including a bar furnished to look like the inside of a subway carriage. Customers choose what kind of woman they'd like to grope - often, the choice is between someone dressed up like a schoolgirl or an office worker. He says he believes the women working there are over the age of 18.

"They [Japanese men] love cute, pure, young; that's what [they] find sexually attractive," he says.

Dissuaded from reporting

For older women who've experienced sexual assault, speaking out is just as hard.

Last year, Japan's labour ministry released findings from an unprecedented study, in which, of nearly 10,000 female respondents aged 25 to 44, almost one-third of women said they had been sexually harassed at work, with inappropriate touching being one of the most common problems. Fewer than 40 percent of women took action.

A 52-year-old woman, who did not want to disclose her name or workplace, explained that she was recently sexually assaulted by someone, whose face she did not see, at her workplace in Tokyo. When she reported the incident to her employers, she says they were sympathetic but deterred her from going to the police, telling her to think about the company's reputation and the trauma she would have to relive. She felt they simply did not want any trouble for the company.

Speaking up

Tabusa, the manga artist, is heartened that the problem is increasingly being talked about, but says, "I don't think there's enough discussion yet."

It needs to be taken seriously and more people need to be aware because the "groping victims are often children", she says.

Women also make light of the issue, she reflects. "People just think this happens every day, so they have to laugh about it."

When it comes to groping and sexual assault, Ogawa and Tabusa believe a real cultural shift will only come when more victims speak out.

"First of all, women have to talk about their experience and speak up," Ogawa says.

But at every turn, society tries to stop them.

 

[Usobuko]

I feel filthy reading this.

 

[xkramz]

Yeah I never understood Japanese culture fetish with tentacles, and rape n stuff like on hentai.

A lil off topic but i was searching porn and bumped into a pornstar named hitomi tanaka and almost all her videos involved some sort of forced gropping and penetration. And then I searched for some jap porn and about 80% of the plot of these videos were all kinda forced intercourse.

With that said. I really felt bad for the girl after reading all of that

 

[Nudull]

The depressing part of all this is that most people will write this off as "silly japan stuff/just like my animes!".

 

[ponpo]

"Sexual assault of schoolgirls is commonplace on Japan's public transportation"

Oh is it.

 

[Megalosaro]

Can't read the article right now. Does it touch on enjo kousai?

 

[Moff]

I am glad this gets more attention, the fetishisation of young girls in Japanese culture is a huge problem

 

[Crayons]

Girls in Japan have to wear badges to prevent being molested?!

 

[Valkerionseven]

A 52-year-old woman, who did not want to disclose her name or workplace, explained that she was recently sexually assaulted by someone, whose face she did not see, at her workplace in Tokyo. When she reported the incident to her employers, she says they were sympathetic but deterred her from going to the police, telling her to think about the company's reputation and the trauma she would have to relive. She felt they simply did not want any trouble for the company.

Women also make light of the issue, she reflects. "People just think this happens every day, so they have to laugh about it."

These two right here area big problem. The casual "that's just how it is" get used for everything in this country and it really needs to change. Japan really has not helped the situation and if anything simply has made it worse over the years with apathetic cops not being able to be bothered with doing their job saying "its troublesome" and what not.

Either way. Needs to stop and people need to be straight up about it. It's definitely not just Japan, but they are the focus of this article and need to do more. Have heard my friends complaining about this as ladies when we go out to clubs and what not and getting groped by random Japanese men in some pretty heinous ways. Have not heard about any of the younger people I interact with being assaulted but it does cross my mind and make me a bit fearful for them.

I would say when blame does go around its easy for them to say worry about the whole and not yourself which is sickening. There was a guy in my city (a foreigner) who was accused to groping some lady on the bus which was very VERY likely a mistake (he was gay) and they dragged him through the mud and made comments like "people from that country are like that" bs.

And then I searched for some jap porn and about 80% of the plot of these videos were all kinda forced intercourse.

I think that says more about what is uploaded and people click on than anything. There is definitely more than that thankfully, and most isnt this. Its like thinking that most people are into weird feet stuff because there are tons of videos for it lol... (I almost thought I was the crazy one for not being into feet stuff at the amount there is sometimes haha) but yes. Porn does not d a good job of deturing this ... fantasy. Then again no porn does, it reinforces a lot of bad stereotypes no matter what country its from.

 

[Sunster]

Can't read the article right now. Does it touch on enjo kousai?

No, it's strictly about sexual assault

 

[Arjayes]

I was just talking about this yesterday. Japanese porn is like 90% rape. Love in anime and in dramas are usually about one person liking the other and through persistence they get together, and lastly, middle-aged people aren't dancing with their wives like they used to (and some people aren't dancing at all). I think this all leads to exuding pinned up, nasty sexual desire even if the other party is unwilling. I wish it was economically feasible to not cram little girls into train cars with deviants who can't control themselves.
side note
Japan should enforce school busses for kids up to high school.

 

[Tagyhag]

When you have to have trains separated by gender, then yes, it's a huge problem.

 

[Marmaladefire]

Glad to read this. Opinons outside of Japanese news on the subject almost always come down to "is it okay for men to fap to schoolgirls or not!!!" without even considering the consequence, statistics, and experiences of real women who deal with this everyday.

Even in a different country, as a younger American woman I'll say it is common to be targeted by men who see markers of youth.So I'm not shocked abotu girls saying that their uniform drew even more attention, especially with the school girl fetishes. I'm in my early 20's but look young even for that, and I've been groped, grabbed, pulled on and accosted by men just existing. Even while not wearing makeup to try to "hide". One man even came up to me and pulled on a hairbow I was wearing, saying "look at this, how cute are you"

 

[Ray Down]

Yeah I never understood Japanese culture fetish with tentacles, and rape n stuff like on hentai.

A lil off topic but i was searching porn and bumped into a pornstar named hitomi tanaka and almost all her videos involved some sort of forced gropping and penetration. And then I searched for some jap porn and about 80% of the plot of these videos were all kinda forced intercourse.

With that said. I really felt bad for the girl after reading all of that

II swear that the tentacle stuff is sometimes do to censorship laws about not showing dicks and that they are able to get away with it with tentacles.

Japan is really fucked up when it comes to stuff like this and I really hope they can start to make impact on it.

 

[xkramz]

I think that says more about what is uploaded and people click on than anything. There is definitely more than that thankfully, and most isnt this. Its like thinking that most people are into weird feet stuff because there are tons of videos for it lol... (I almost thought I was the crazy one for not being into feet stuff at the amount there is sometimes haha) but yes. Porn does not d a good job of deturing this ... fantasy. Then again no porn does, it reinforces a lot of bad stereotypes no matter what country its from.

I mean I guess ur right just like if it's a Latina in the porn video, they assume that the girl is Mexican and shit..

But yeah i guess It just showed relevant porn videos when I experienced jap porn.

 

[lvl99 Pixel]

is this "kawaii culture" thing really the best approach?

 

[Stinkles]

"Sexual assault of schoolgirls is commonplace on Japan's public transportation"

Oh is it.

Could you please expand upon this post? I'm genuinely not sure what you're getting at.

 

[killer rin]

I feel filthy reading this.

Same. Every time these news articles come out its always the same feeling too. Its just absolutely wrong in every way how the greater society just treats it

The depressing part of all this is that most people will write this off as "silly japan stuff/just like my animes!".

I would hope people could separate their enjoyment of Japanese media from some of the issues of Japanese society.

 

[SephLuis]

Girls in Japan have to wear badges to prevent being molested?!

In trains, there are some cars that are woman only because of this issue.

I just noticed this special car in Tokyo after a friend pulled me from one because I entered the train in a rush and didn't realized that it was a special car. It was then that I thought this problem must be much more widespread than we can imagine

 

[Magus1234]

is this "kawaii culture" thing really the best approach?

Seriously wtf?

What is weird is you see women passed out wasted all over the place in Japan yet I doubt(idk) there is an epidemic like this taking place to them.

 

[Brakke]

"Sexual assault of schoolgirls is commonplace on Japan's public transportation"

Oh is it.

It's really unclear if you're rolling eyes at the accusations from the women and girls or if you're rolling eyes at this being surprising.

 

[Gentleman Jack]

Girls in Japan have to wear badges to prevent being molested?!

My female students all got whistles on their first day to use when they needed help. I see Japan really hasn't gotten much better (and in some cases like those creeptastic JK cafes, much much worse) wrt the fetishization of subservient, underage girls.

 

[Ratrat]

They should just separate trains by gender or have limits on how many people can hoard

 

[Earthbound64]

Just read this article and wow...I had no idea how widespread this was. I think of Japan as so advanced as a society but in the way they treat this issue they might as well be in the middle ages.

I mean... The issue of the World War II "Comfort Women" continue to largely be brushed aside...

 

[HotHamBoy]

I would hope people could separate their enjoyment of Japanese media from some of the issues of Japanese society.

The two are intrinsically linked.

Japanese media treats women as sexual objects, period, regardless of age.

Btw, i take issue with how localizations change underage girls to 18 or "age unknown" like that somehow makes it okay. Author's intent.

So if I sexualize a character who looks like a little girl it's okay as long as I say she's 18? Is it double okay if she's actually a 1,000 year old dragon spirit?

 

[Slackbladder]

Hmm. A little different but covers some similar ground. There was a report on the BBC about sex and kids/young girls etc. Stacey Dooley Investigates - Young Sex for Sale in Japan Now I'm not the biggest fan of these kind of investigative shows. But still it is never-the-less disturbing and eye-opening. However not at all surprising.

 

[Rhaknar]

It's really unclear if you're rolling eyes at the accusations from the women and girls or if you're rolling eyes at this being surprising.

I think (hope?) its the second one, as unfortunately its not shocking or surprising at all.

 

[The Technomancer]

I mean...it sounds like a cultural problem. I'm not sure how else to put that. And the people who live in Japan in this piece certainly think media isn't innocent

 

[hirokazu]

Yeah, they should probably ban JK hentai and porn if it will reduce the incidence of schoolgirls being assaulted. Or all rape themed hentai and porn in general, maybe. There'll be a ton of backlash though.

 

[David H Wong]

Who could have guessed that turning schoolgirls into a national fetish would result in such behavior? Step one: Change those goddamned uniforms.

 

[Gentleman Jack]

They should just separate trains by gender or have limits on how many people can hoard

There are 'women only' cars

Groping in crowded commuter trains has been a problem in Japan: according to a survey conducted by Tokyo Metropolitan Police and East Japan Railway Company, two-thirds of female passengers in their 20s and 30s reported that they had been groped on trains, and the majority had been victimized frequently. Authorities have been unable to stop groping, as trains are too crowded to identify and catch the perpetrators, which would later escape; courts have traditionally been lenient, and victims are often too ashamed to come forward.[4] The police and railway companies responded with poster campaigns to raise awareness and with tougher sentences, but have been unable to reverse the trend.[5] In 2004, the Tokyo police reported a threefold increase in reported cases of groping on public transportation over eight years.[6]

However, from what I recall not every line has them, and they are restricted to certain hours of the day. That might have changed in the meantime, but they're not a complete solution.

 

[Cyanity]

This is the type of story that you need to show to anyone casually "okay" with fanservice in anime. Japan is far too obsessed with the subservient woman archetype, especially in the context of rape fantasy. It's disgusting and makes me hate watching otherwise good shows that include fanservice.

 

[frontovik]

The behaviour of the assailants are despicable .. but it's my understanding that Japan's population density is incredibly high and most people reply to public transportation to get around .. therefore it's not surprising that you have perverts who take advantage of the situation in a crowd. Encouraging the public to look out for each other & increased police or security presence would be effective deterrents.

With regards to the cultural problems that contributes to the image ...especially the whole 'cute' factor. I think Japan certainly need to works on it... it's quite disgusting.

 

[HotHamBoy]

They should just separate trains by gender or have limits on how many people can hoard

Yeah, they definitely shouldn't try to change the way men see women and the rape culture pervading their society.

Segregation will fix it!

This is the type of story that you need to show to anyone casually "okay" with fanservice in anime. Japan is far too obsessed with the subservient woman archetype, especially in the context of rape fantasy. It's disgusting and makes me hate watching otherwise good shows that include fanservice.

It's purile shit. A lot of it is aimed at young male audiences, warping their views of women at an impressionsble time.

And it certainly affects western kids who grow up watching anime, too.

 

[Sunster]

is this "kawaii culture" thing really the best approach?

I don't think so. I think the badges help individual girls who wear them but to me, a complete change in the way police handle this is what's needed. Men need jail time. PSAs need to be broadcast nationwide that this won't be tolerated.

 

[Llyranor]

They should just separate trains by gender or have limits on how many people can hoard

They do have women-only wagons during rush hour. I ran into one accidently once with friends while rushing to catch the subway, and we awkwardly walked to the next one over.

 

[hirokazu]

Who could have guessed that turning schoolgirls into a national fetish would result in such behavior? Step one: Change those goddamned uniforms.

Change the uniform and they'll probably just fetishsize whatever they replace it with. You'd have to get rid of school uniforms altogether. The country needs to stop the bullshit and crackdown on the assaults instead of blaming the victims.

 

[SephLuis]

However, from what I recall not every line has them, and they are restricted to certain hours of the day. That might have changed in the meantime, but they're not a complete solution.

I traveled a lot in Japan and I only remember seeing cars in Tokyo at peak hours and the last train. It wasn't something I was paying attention to so my impression is that these aren't something frequent or common.

 

[HotHamBoy]

Change the uniform and they'll probably just fetishsize whatever they replace it with. You'd have to get rid of school uniforms altogether. The country needs to stop the bullshit and crackdown on the assaults instead of blaming the victims.

Catholic School Girls is a fetish in the West, too.

Skirts might be the main issue. Just have all the kids wear slacks, they should be gender-neutral, anyway.

I've seen school uniforms of slacks and tucked-in polos and oh boy are they unflattering.

 

[Tudor]

I lived in Japan for a few months during Senior High School, and being a guy I felt reasonably safe riding the Yamanote line to and from school each day. Hearing stories such as these on a daily basis seemed rather disconnected until an older businessman felt me of all people up on a train. The carriages were packed during rush hour so being packed in like sardines was not uncommon nor anything to be concerned about, usually, however this guy just reached out and grabbed me and just held on, looking me right in the eyes as he did.
Needless to say being 16 at the time I had no clue how to respond so I simply stood there frozen for about 20 seconds before getting off at Ikebukuro.

There is a serious cultural disconnect over there between what is and is not acceptable behaviour and it seems so many locals are simply willing to ignore the issue hoping it disappears with the older generations.

Anyway, just felt I should add it isn't simply school girls as the articles always suggest, minors of both Enders are victimised with infuriating regularity.

 

[The Technomancer]

Yeah, they should probably ban JK hentai and porn if it will reduce the incidence of schoolgirls being assaulted. Or all rape themed hentai and porn in general, maybe. There'll be a ton of backlash though.

I don't think that that would actually solve it. I think there's a cultural attitude towards certain forms of sexual assault though, and those types of media absolutely seem like they are part of the loop that reinforces those norms

 

[The Technomancer]

Catholic School Girls is a fetish in the West, too.

Yeah I think its important to recognize: no-one should think that America or Europe or anywhere else should think their sexual assault problems "aren't that bad" compared to this or any of that nonsense. But this specific...perspective on sexual assault sounds like its pervasive, and it sounds like its a huge problem

 

[neurosisxeno]

Yeah, they should probably ban JK hentai and porn if it will reduce the incidence of schoolgirls being assaulted. Or all rape themed hentai and porn in general, maybe. There'll be a ton of backlash though.

I would say the issue is an already sexually repressed society. Those things rose to popularity because they managed to get around the pre-existing censorship laws. If anything stop acting like a graphic rape scene with tentacles is morally superior to 2 consenting adults having sex. The fact that Japan censors its adult media so harshly has had a snowball effect that results in a sexually repressed society that things all women want to be groped and taken advantage of. That's obviously not true, but when the only exposure you have to human sexuality is through the lens of an adult entertainment industry that keeps pushing that narrative, it's bound to cause problems.

 

[.JayZii]

I was pretty shocked when I first started talking to Japanese people about how much chikan (molester/groper/perverts) were such a thing, especially on trains. I knew they had women-only train cars, but that's clearly not enough. It's pretty sad when the cultural norms of not wanting to make a fuss or bother other people (or worse, being shamed for being a victim) extend so far as to not even make a scene when being molested in public.

Just stop censoring your porn, Japan. It's creating monsters.

 

[Aquavelvaman]

I saw this article around on Women's Day. Pretty disturbing.

The fact that there are bars set up to look like train cars where you pay to grope waitresses...it's pretty rotten.

"I wish groping bars would say: 'This is something you can't do outside'," Ogawa says.

I wonder if those public shaming websites work? I remember seeing a website a few years ago where women posted pictures of men who were harassing them on trains.

Either way I like the badges idea, along with encouraging students to speak up when something happens. Need to start teaching men not to be dirtbags as well.

 

[Corpekata]

I feel like I've seen more than a few people cite Japan's supposedly good/clean official stats regarding this as an example of why SUBJECT REGARDING YOUNG WOMEN X is actually not a big deal because the country doesn't act on anything.

 

[hirokazu]

However, from what I recall not every line has them, and they are restricted to certain hours of the day. That might have changed in the meantime, but they're not a complete solution.

Yeah, I got on one once and almost panicked when I noticed the signs on the windows saying "women's carriage" but then I saw other men on it and realised it was only on weekdays, not weekends.

 

[Sunster]

I feel like I've seen more than a few people cite Japan's supposedly good/clean official stats regarding this as an example of why SUBJECT REGARDING YOUNG WOMEN X is actually not a big deal because the country doesn't act on anything.

They have good stats because nothing is reported

 

[TickleMeElbow]

Change the uniform and they'll probably just fetishsize whatever they replace it with. You'd have to get rid of school uniforms altogether. The country needs to stop the bullshit and crackdown on the assaults instead of blaming the victims.

Yeah changing the uniforms won't do shit. At the middle school I went to they had a strict "long skirt" policy, where the skirts had to be at knee level or longer. But then a lot of the girls would subtly keep making them shorter and shorter like folding them up at the waist lol.

There needs to be harsher consequences for the people who perpetrate the crimes.

 

[Corpekata]

They have good stats because nothing is reported

Yeah, that's what I mean. In previous topics like say, about idol culture or sexualization of kids, it would commonly be a defense. Like Japan (and thus the media that's popular there) was a model to follow (and of course ignoring the fact that women only trains had to exist for a reason).