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Almost All Asian Women Have Been the Victims of Sexual Molestation
What stood out most this time was the considerable difference that could be seen between the answers from Japanese and Asian women and those from Western and African women. Whereas almost all the Japanese and Asian women have been the victims of sexual molestation in Japan, less than 20% of those women from Western countries and Africa, who have external appearances which are clearly different from the Japanese, ever have.
Well then, let us introduce some of the experiences had by those women who have been the victims of sexual molestation. First, let's take a look at the experiences of the non-Japanese women who answered. A 26-year-old woman who is a student from Malaysia wrote, "Whilst I was on a crowded train, soon after I first arrived in Japan, I felt someone's hand touch me around my thighs. At first, I didn't understand what was going on, but when the hand moved to my bottom, I knew that it was a molester. I brushed his hand away, but I still don't understand why a man would do such a thing." A 23-year-old French female office worker wrote, "Whilst I was on a crowded train, I had a situation where I felt the erection of the man directly behind me pressing up against my bottom. I didn't know whether he was a molester or whether it was merely a situation which couldn't be helped. I turned around and glared at the man. I could have raised my voice, but I didn't because I thought it might be embarrassing if I did and it turned out that he hadn't been doing that on purpose." A 23-year-old Chinese woman who is a student wrote, "Once, when I was crushed and couldn't move at all inside a crowded train, a man's hand went up under my skirt. I tried to brush his hand away, but I couldn't move because it was so crowded, so I stomped on his foot with my high heel."
Next, let's take a look at the experiences of the Japanese women. One woman, of unknown age or occupation, wrote, "Once when I was in high school (sometime around 1945 to 1955), I got off a crowded train and when I arrived at school, I found a condom full of semen inside the bag that I had been carrying. Instinctively, I felt disgusted, and I threw it away in a daze." A 24-year-old Japanese housewife wrote, "When I was in high school, I was sexually molested when I was riding a train. When I tried to warn the man and grabbed his hand, I couldn't believe it when it turned out to be a student who had been in the same grade as me at junior high school. I was so shocked I couldn't say anything, and I just got off the train. I think that such sexual molestation will probably not go away as long as there are both men and women in this world." A 23-year-old Japanese woman who is a student wrote, "When I became a high school student, I started to commute to school by train, and I had a run-in with a molester on the very first day I got on the train. Up until that time, every time I heard some news about sexual molesters on the television or somewhere, I thought that the person should've shouted out, "Chikan! [sexual molester]" so everyone could hear, but when it actually happened to me, I couldn't even speak. Ever since then, I always put a safety pin in my pocket, and if I come up against another molester, I intend to prick him with it." A 28-year-old Japanese female office worker wrote, "When I was on a crowded train, around the time I was in high school, a man next to me whispered into my ear, 'Let me touch you.' When I said, 'No way,' he said, 'I've got a knife,' and he started to touch me. I thought he was lying, and when I tried to brush his hand away, he really did bring out a knife and he thrust it up against my stomach. The group of people behind me were talking in loud voices and didn't notice what was going on at all. An older woman next to me just kept on staring in my direction. When I refused to cooperate, the man started pounding on the door of the train as if he was angry, and he stuck his knife into the gap between the doors on the train. When the people around me saw that, they moved away to avoid the situation. I moved away along with everyone else." A 20-year-old Japanese female student wrote, "Once when I was in a crowded train, when I was in high school, the middle-aged man right behind me put his hand up my skirt, so I tried to get away from the man, but it was so crowded that I couldn't move. I should've raised my voice and asked for help, but I didn't have the nerve to do that, so I asked the older woman beside me for help. Afterward, the woman told me that she used to be a female police officer. She grabbed the man's arm with great strength and dragged him over to a station official at the next station. Ever since then, I have been incredibly afraid to ride in a crowded train. When the molester was being questioned, he said, 'I've had a lot of stress building up lately...,' and when I heard that, I was really angry. I said, 'Why do you have to fondle my body just to relieve your stress! What do you think women are!!'"
Sexual molestation doesn't occur only in Japan. A 23-year-old Japanese female student wrote, "When I was in Hong Kong and I was trying my best to get onto a crowded train during the evening rush, someone inside the train took my hand and helped me onto the train. It was all part of a planned crime, however. Someone held me from behind, and I couldn't move. Even if I wanted to complain, there was a language barrier, so I was completely trapped." Women aren't the only ones who experience sexual molestation, either. A 42-year-old Japanese male practitioner of acupuncture and moxibustion wrote, "I am a man, but I was often the victim of sexual molestation when I was younger. Once when I went to see a 'pink movie' (porn movie), a man next to me felt my thigh with his fingers. No matter how much I protested and said, 'I'm not like that,' he wouldn't stop. Recently, too, when I was reading a book at the library, an older gentleman started talking to me. He slowly and deliberately drew a phallic symbol on a piece of paper and unfolded it in front of my eyes. The only thing I could do was pray, 'Please, don't solicit me.'"


How to Drive Away Sexual Molesters
What should you do to protect yourself from sexual molesters? A 23-year-old woman from Australia (a tourist) said, "A friend suggested that I carry a needle around with me. It's a bit extreme, but I think it's a very effective weapon. However, if the railroad companies are really serious about trying to stop sexual molesters, then they should bear the cost for these self-defense weapons." A 21-year-old half Japanese woman (university) said that women should be more cautious about what they wear. She wrote, "Sexual molesters target women who are wearing skirts. Especially in summer. The people around you will probably act as if they don't know what's going on anyway, so the only thing you can do is protect yourself." A 19-year-old female university student also wrote, "Women shouldn't wear provocative (highly revealing) clothing. That's the sort that has the bare midriff looking like a piece of cloth has just been wrapped around a naked body. Wearing that kind of clothing is almost the same thing as saying, 'Touch me.'" Several women, including a 31-year-old American woman and a 25-year-old Chinese woman, wrote, "Men are a problem, too, but the real problem is those women who keep silent even when they are sexually molested."
A 23-year-old Japanese, however, woman made the following counter-argument in regard to such statements. She wrote, "The problem is with those who say that 'women are sexually molested because they are careless.' It goes without saying that 100% of sexual molestations are wrong! Just the other day, I saw a woman in a train suddenly shout, 'What are you doing?! Molester! Pervert!' She grabbed the man's hand and dragged him off the train and took him over to the station officials' office. After that brave woman got off the train, people from all over the compartment said, 'What an extraordinary woman.' These kinds of reactions from the people make the other women shrink back, though, because they don't want to been seen to be like that." A 26-year-old woman explains the psychology of those women who do not speak up even when they experience sexual molestation. She wrote, "When I was in my early twenties and was often sexually molested, it was extremely embarrassing for a woman to raise her voice in public. Even if they're caught, the really hardened molesters think nothing of lying, saying things like, 'No one would touch an ugly woman like you' or 'Are you sure you're not just sexually frustrated?' They're beneath contempt."
People tend to take sexual molestation lighter when compared to cases of rape, but there are some women whose lives have changed completely after having been the victims of sexual molestation. A 35-year-old woman, a friend of the author's, confided her feelings, saying, "My younger sister was sexually molested every day when she was in high school. And by the same man, too. And not only one man, but 3 men. They waited for her every day on the train platform. Then they surrounded her on the train, and did whatever they wanted to her. Taking advantage of the fact that my younger sister could not raise her voice, they even pulled down her panties, touched her genitals directly, and went as far as trying to put their fingers inside her. My sister couldn't talk to anyone about it. I found out about it after she became an adult. She has now been married for 7 years, but is still a virgin. Her vagina remains shut due to the shock. She has become someone who is physically unable to have sex. When she consulted with a doctor, the doctor told her, 'Start by using your husband's little finger and gradually get used to that', but she can't even allow him to do that. Her body starts to shake the instant that the tip of her husband's little finger touches her genitals, and she screams, in an incredibly loud voice..... I sincerely hope that the railroad company people will not see sexual molestation as a light crime and that they will take firm measures."


Crowded Conditions Make Men Go Crazy
What causes sexual molestation to occur? Many men think, "It's the fault of the unusual conditions on the crowded trains."
A 23-year-old Australian man (student) said, "Before I came to Japan, I heard that there are many sexual molesters on the trains in Japan, and I thought that there must be something wrong with Japanese men, but recently I've come to understand how the molesters feel. The crowded trains at rush hour are unusual places in that they make you lose your humanity. When you're on them, you lose your ability to think rationally. It's often said that people's characters change when they get behind the wheel of a car, but crowded trains have the same ability to make men go crazy." A 32-year-old male company employee also wrote, "I have never sexually molested anyone, but whenever I'm in some place like a crowded train and a woman's body is touching mine, I get a strange sort of feeling and I enjoy it when our bodies come into contact with each other. Any man would be the same, and it's only natural for a healthy man to feel that way, so I hope that women won't be upset at something like this. We cannot allow anyone to actually act on these feelings, however."
A middle-aged Japanese man who says that he has actually sexually molested a woman before wrote, "In the days when everyone went to see the movies, I've done things which seem like sexual molestation at movie theaters. I couldn't imagine doing such things now, but I got incredibly excited touching women while watching the pictures on the screen in an overcrowded theater. This is a good example of bad environments which make a person go strange in the head. Trains are nests of sexual molesters because they end up becoming bad environments."
Well, what should people do to change that sort of environment? A 27-year-old Japanese man recommends removing some of the functions of the metropolitan areas. He wrote, "The railroad companies and the government are well aware that an urban structure where everything is concentrated in the center has an effect on people's behavior. To reform this structure, some of the functions of the government and the metropolitan area should be removed to outlying areas." A 24-year-old Filipino woman called for a thorough system of train announcements as a measure which can be easily implemented. She wrote, "During rush hours, frequent announcements can be made inside the trains warning people about sexual molestation. Even every 30 seconds would be a good idea. If they do that, then everyone in the cars would be more aware of that sort of behavior, and it would become more difficult for anyone to commit sexual molestation." A 31-year-old Swedish woman wrote, "It's easy to get rid of sexual molesters. During rush hours only, separate the trains cars into those for men only and those for women only. Just the way they do for smoking and non-smoking cars. If you do this, then you can prevent sexual molestation. If sexual molestation has become such a problem, then why don't the railroad companies do this? It's because the executives of the railroad companies are all men, and they don't take this problem seriously. The Japanese railroad companies should implement my proposal right away. And all the politicians, too. If you've got time for corruption and time to sleep right in the middle of Diet sessions, then take this problem up in the Diet. The Diet member who solves this problem is sure to win at the next election. I guarantee it. Why? Because the women will certainly vote for him."
There are some countries which have actually instituted separate railroad cars for women. A 29-year-old Korean man said, "4 or 5 years ago, the Korean National Railroad and some subways made the first cars and the last cars of their trains into those for the special use of women and elderly persons, from 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. They had two reasons. One was in order to prevent sexual molestation. The other was to protect elderly persons from the crowded conditions. During the evening rush, there are some subways which implement this sort of practice and some subways which do not. On the special platform, there is a signboard which says 'For the special use of women and elderly persons.' Wherever they don't have signboards, they make announcements over the PA system."
This is certainly a good idea. We telephoned JR Higashi Nihon right away and suggested this method to them. The male JR official in charge replied as follows concerning their measures against sexual molesters, "At the present time, JR itself is not taking any measures against sexual molesters. We have instead adopted the position of assisting the police. However, we are making announcements on the trains during rush hours. We warn the passengers, saying, 'Sexual molestation is a criminal offense. We ask those persons who come across such molestaters to report the matter to the station officials or railroad police.' The idea of establishing separate cars for women is, in fact, impossible. The location of the stairways connecting to the platforms is different from station to station. They are either in the center or on either end of the platform. During the morning rush, everyone is in a hurry, and there is no time to choose which car to board. Also, for example, if a woman who was in a hurry accidentally ended up boarding a car especially for men, the men would end up thinking that it's all right to sexually molest that woman. And also, on the other hand, if a man boarded a car especially for women, he would end up being treated like a criminal. That's why it's impossible to institute special cars for women."
Is it really all that impossible? The Korean man previously mentioned continued by saying, "When they instituted separate cars for women and elderly persons, some Korean men voiced their displeasure, saying, 'How can you choose which car to board during the busiest times such as rush hours?' When the system was actually put into practice, however, they understood that it helped to protect women and elderly persons, and before long, the voices of protest dwindled, and special separate cars became a fixed practice."

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