A posting from my friend Derek:
This is old, but I found this news blurb at Mainichi
I only wish this sort of thing wasn’t so exceptional that it actually made the news. Even my own wife Ryoko, though she kicks my butt 3 times a week at Aikido class, can certainly take care of herself, she’s told me that the 3 or 4 times that someone tried to fondle her on the train that she didn’t do anything confrontational. She either elbowed the guy and pushed his hand away, or just moved herself away from him. (not necessarily an easy task on a crowded train…) That’s better than just enduring it, I suppose.
Of course the men that do these malicious things are the real perpetrators and are completely at fault, but I can’t help but thinking that if women in Japan weren’t so afraid of creating a scene this never would have escalated to the problem that it is today. In a similar way, if a burglar enters your house and steals your valuables he is at fault and will go to jail, but if you never lock your house when you leave or at night you’re just ‘asking for it’.
The problem is bad enough that several train lines are adding ‘women only’ cars to be used during rush hour. I think it’s a wonderful idea, I’m only sad that it has come to the point where this sort of thing is necessary.
Derek