Japan: The Land of Absurd (13) – I feel safer already
Parts of this article may be disturbing for younger or more sensitive readers. Proceed at your own risk.
One of the things I really liked about my three-year stay in Japan was the fact that I was able to quite literally walk around the neighborhood at 2 AM, listen to my e-boda LiveBeat player at full volume, be completely oblivious about the outside world, and still feel perfectly safe. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that a large percentage of that was also due to the fact that I was (and am) confident that I am able to defend myself against any potential mugger, rapist or drunken ol’ chap. Still, there is no denying that Japan is, or at least appears to be, one of the safest countries in the world… or is it?
Some of you may be familiar with the word 痴漢, chikan (no, that’s not “Engrish” for “chicken”, even though it did have me confused for a while, too). I found out about chikan when my friends and I spotted this weird sign in a park we used to hang out at back in our Osaka days. The sign had an image of Little Red Riding Hood, with a menacing shadow in the background, and the words “Beware of chikan“. After many puzzled inquiries, one of our seniors kindly shed some light on the situation: chikan is the Japanese word for “groper” or “fondler”. Many “Ooh!”s and “Aah, I see!”s later, my friends and I decided to dub the park “Chikan park”, and that’s how it stayed to this day.
In my treks across the country — few as they were — I saw at least a dozen different signs warning young women to look out for gropers. Some signs, like this one (which says “Beware of gropers! Currently on the lookout for dangerous individuals”), were just what you’d expect of a sign portraying a serious sexual offense. Other signs, however, were just… well, hilarious (I know I’m probably going to hell for this, but what the ‘eck). Like this one or this one (oh yes, I’m pretty sure a chibi schoolgirl and a lil’ black devil (?) are going to work wonders in raising awareness). Or how about this sign, which appears to warn passer-bys to be on the lookout for gropers and bears, of all things? (I’ll take the bear, thank you.)
All sarcasm aside, groping is a real problem in Japan. If you take a look at the adult industry*, there seems to be a rash of lecherous men with a full-blown groping fetish, and there is a huge amount of movies, comics and video games catering to those men. What’s even more disturbing is that a fair few of those show girls who are either underage (if we’re talking anything drawn or programmed, like comics or anime) or dressed up to look underage otherwise. At some point in Osaka, I picked up a comic** titled “痴漢おとこ” (“Groper-man“) that showed, at some point, several of adult men having non-consensual sex with a 10-year-old. Another game I picked up from my ex centered around a virtual “you” having a threesome with an F-cup mother and her two underage girls. Shocked? You should be, especially since the Japanese government doesn’t seem interested in taking any steps to forbid such disgusting stuff from ever getting published***.
And here are some more interesting facts. In some prefectures, for groping is a meager 50.000 JPY (or about $500); for comparison, the fine for dumping your garbage in the wrong place or on the wrong day is 5.000.000 JPY ($5000, or ten times more, or the sum you need to get yourself a sports car in Japan). Women are instructed to discreetly move away from gropers or be prepared and avoid them using a set of very questionable tactics (for example, avoiding men who look around a lot, because they’re likely sex offenders on the prowl, or simply [attempting to] stare the groper down — as seen here). As for the gropers, they even have their very own online how-to network (note that the… person-of-questionable-mental-faculties**** who wrote the article and whose name is conveniently omitted advocates that “Freedom of speech, too, must be respected, even when it is offensive.” in a possible defense of this network).
Back to the topic at hand, you may wonder what else is being done to prevent groping, other than people putting up signs. Well, there are several public service announcements broadcast in trains (which seem to be one of the more frequent locations for such unfortunate incidents). Some railways have set up “women-only” carts, and even though I, personally, am against gender segregation, I can see their necessity — especially during the infamous morning rush (where you’re literally pressed up against five or six total strangers with about two millimeters of personal space left).
Furthermore, in some communities, PTA members are constantly “on patrol” (if the stickers on their bicycle baskets and windshields are anything to go by), even though an elderly couple doing their groceries in broad daylight can hardly be called a “patrol” and the purpose of these “patrols” is a bona fide mystery to most. Some whacked-out company is even selling a “chikan prevention glove” (or… something?). And finally, there are… even more signs (picture me sighing as I’m typing this), the likes of, “Be wary of dark streets and sweet words!” or even the infamous “Don’t talk to strangers!” (I’ve seen both).
“Hold on a… beat“, some readers might interject. “How come you knew all this, and you still managed to feel safe and keep sane?” Well… that’s the thing. For all the media hype and major signage, actual cases of public groping (and by ‘actual’ I mean discovered and published) seem to be very few and far-between… Or are they?
Some, if not most of the victims are allegedly too scared or embarrassed to cry for help. They quietly settle for being the victim and suffer the psychological aftershocks for some years afterwards, oftentimes out of embarrassment more than anything. It definitely isn’t fair to them, and it’s even more unfair in a society that tries to keep up the “safe and happy” act at the cost of the very “happiness” of some of its people.
This reminds me of that one memorable line from Paranoia (referenced in World of Warcraft as well): “Happiness is mandatory! Are you happy, citizen?”
Three guesses what a chikan victim might answer to that.
End note:
Back from hiatus and with a vengeance :) To be perfectly honest with you guys, I did not expect this article to turn out the way it did, but… there you go. Also, stay tuned for the debut of a brand new series about ye olde Romania sometime around the end of this month!
* Yes, I actually went into a couple of those adult video shops. No, I didn’t rent anything. What kind of an idiot pays for porn?! :)
** You’re probably wondering why I bought something like that. Let’s just say I was curious, and I threw it away as soon as I realized what it really was. Ew.
*** …And I will hear nothing of that ‘in the name of the freedom of speech’ crap.
Stare down? As seen in this movie!