Chikan (Train groping)

Jun 23, 2004

In Japan, more than 4000 men are arrested each year for groping on public transport.
In 2001, a survey of two private high-schools in Tokyo revealed that more than 70% had been groped on the train.
A recent survey of Japanese companies suggested that at least 17% of Japanese women have been groped in public.

Police crackdown

The mid-1990s brought a nationwide police crackdown on train gropers. Plain-clothes police officers were assigned to the worst affected trains during rushhour. Advertising campaigns gave advice to women who thought they were being molested: to thrust the offending hand in the air and yell “Chikan!” (“Groper!”).

Unfortunately, this hasn’t emboldened many Japanese women. Surrounded by strangers, most women would rather pretend nothing unusual is happening than create a scene. Gropers exploit this, and pick their victims carefully.

Some of the “victims” aren’t so innocent, and false accusations of groping are increasing. The shame associated with chikan makes it possible for especially enterprising young women to blackmail fellow train users.

Faced with a hysterically shrieking woman, most men are willing to be led to the nearest ATM and part with large sums of money (US$3000 isn’t uncommon).

Women Only Carriages

An obvious solution to the problem is to introduce a “Gropers Only” carriage, and then the randy little tykes might fondle each other to death.

Instead, “Women Only” carriages have been introduced at peak times on the most crowded lines. A guard is usually present to enforce this, politely telling any man who fails to read the pink sign to get in a different carriage with all the other perverts.

Generally, this has alleviated the problem, but there has been an unexpected side- effect. Any woman who finds herself outside the rosy sanctum of the “Women Only” car is viewed as fair game. After all, if she didn’t want her intimate parts mauled, she wouldn’t be there!

The behaviour of women in the safe zone has also drawn complaints. Momentarily freed from the rigid sexist expectations of Japanese society, a carriage of OLs can adjust their make-up and prattle away on their phones as much as they like, drawing complaints from other passengers.

The Groper’s Brotherhood

Meanwhile, what of the gropers? Who’s thinking about the degenerates? All they ever wanted was to reach out and touch another human being. On the buttocks, or maybe on the breasts. Is that a crime?

Fortunately, help is at hand. You need look no further than Shigeru Oohori: “elite salariman”, loving husband/father, and head of “Chikan Tomo-No-Kai” (“The Groper’s Brotherhood”). He has assembled a 40-strong group of deviants from all walks of life, including teachers, government officials and a Buddhist priest (Buddhism seems to have an ambiguous attitude to molesting strangers in public places). Not just any horny freak can join though: a black belt 5th dan groper is expected to cop 100 sleazy feels a month.

According to Oohori, gropers come in two main categories. “Orthodox” gropers, about 80% of the fondling population, get their kicks from the girl’s look of disgust and embarrassment. The “Technician” is a rarer and far more admirable breed. With practiced technique, they subtly titillate their gropees into a state of subconscious arousal.

This chikan elite meet once a month in a Tokyo café to touch base and play with some new ideas. Over the internet, they warn each other of police crack-downs on certain train-lines. They even run practical mauling workshops, hiring girls to be bothered by them on crowded commuter trains, and offering criticism and tips.

There are special ” image clubs” (imekura) catering for chikan, with tailor-made rooms built to look like subway carriages, and prostitutes paid extra to act like unsuspecting commuters.

In the words of their sensei: “Groping was once a solitary activity, but now thanks to the Internet it’s become easy to link up with people who share the same kind of sexual interests.”

‘Japanese man publicly fights grope charge’ (The Christian Science Monitor)
‘Tokyo trains tackle groping problem’ (BBC News)
How to Protect Yourself from Chikan
‘Minimising molestation’
‘Japan Tries Women-Only Train Cars to Stop Groping’ (ABC News)
The His and Hers Subway
‘Women-Only Cars on Commuter Trains Cause Controversy in Japan’ (Kansas City Star)
‘Chikan-ery’ (ConbiniBento.com)
‘Grope-free commute’ (Salon.com)
‘Japan Out To Catch Train Gropers’ (AP)
Molested girls pay back perverts (MDN WaiWai)
“When Sunday Mainichi interviewed 30 high school girls in Shibuya, every single one admitted to being attacked by these predatory perverts”

Popularity: 100% [?]

46 Comments, Comment or Ping

Kurow

WTF? Groper brotherhood? Damn this japs are organized for EVERYTHING… Lucky them, ja ja j a

Mar 13th, 2008
@college

My god… Isn’t groping bloody wrong? How the hell do they have the guts to do it, organize clubs, coordinate events and thereby extend their fetish further?

Apr 20th, 2008
asdfafsdaf

Japanese man publicly fights grope charge’ (The Christian Science Monitor) that should read ‘The Garbage Science Monitor’, a news website filled with fannatical two – faced imbeciles.

Apr 22nd, 2008
XD

sick!, 4000 men arrested a year!

according to a firend of mine… this doesn’t happen only trains, but also in buses, libraries, public bathhouses, parking lots, buddhist shrines(during festivals when its so crowded)

what’s japan becoming?

2-5yrs from now?

there’s something definitely wrong with their social morality

Apr 22nd, 2008
tom

thare was 1 article that called for a groppers only carriage now i think this carriage or 2 more likely but we would have no females in thare to grope or a load of promiscuous jail bait so that idea will not work if you ask me but it even with a load of promiscuous jail bait it might be a step forward cause they will not solve this problem with out makeing an even worse problem a new mob outfit trust me the Japaneses do not want to fund organized crime so any wiling participants who get into the groppers only carriage would be doing everyone else a favor as they the gropers wont go to jail for thare deeds and encourage them to do only partake in this dirty pleasure on the groppers only carriage and save all orther females the trauma

but what if we have no willing females then we have a load of foreigners coming to japan for this dirty pleasure and no will females it would only increase the problem so if this is the only solution to this problem they will have analyze the the effects carefully and i say use this solution as a last resort cause it is somewhat of a step backwards acceptance of the problem not a solution in my view it is better to accept a problem as is than to solve it by creating a far more serious problem

May 15th, 2008
dman

i say they are bold to grop girls in public i want to go to japan i ride the train to see if some1 will get groped in public and see is the pasengers on the train will say anny thing

Jul 24th, 2008
Grace

Some Japanese dude tried to grope me when I was walking up from a subway in Shinjiku. I told him to F*** Off so loudly, he ran off like a little schoolboy.

Oct 3rd, 2008
loonbohol

Speaking of “gropers only carriage”. we’ll that statement actually destroys i’ts own purpose. You see there are no women who would wan’t to ride in the first place. Oh! Yeah we’ll I can agree that that could be the place where the Groper’s Brotherhood can meet.

I would also agree that the Japanese substation in one of the 1000 places that you have to see before you die.

Nov 20th, 2008
BLZ

loonbohol : “I would also agree that the Japanese substation in one of the 1000 places that you have to see before you die.”
Me : I’ll make it on the top 5

Nov 27th, 2008
SCRT

LOL, the “chikan” sounds like “chicken”
anyway, i also feel angry to the men what have they done

Dec 17th, 2008
lol

whatever, this is my fetish.

Dec 19th, 2008
...hairyballsack

lol same i wish i lived in japan i seen a vid on youtube with ppl getin jamed in the train u couldn’t even move an inch what kind of desperate person wouldn’t grab sum ass i would BANZAI TO PERVERTS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA

Jan 31st, 2009
danen

im only 13 but this is sick it’s my dream to go to japan but i dont think want to go now also., im a dude

Feb 3rd, 2009
Love Japanese's pussies

I pretty much have seem a lots of this. But in Japan Society, men are pretty much a sicko.
they are PERVERTED OR “Hentai” in japanese. Chikan are used mostly for the molester bastard. ok back to the hentai part.
These guys fucking love raping. when they see some chick walking alone at night or anywhere. they will just pull the girl in the car or move them to a small hole between the building and rape them. I have seen bunch of these shit. they seem like a fucking scavenger. if u are a girl don’t go to Japan!! if u wanna go, go with a guy or a group of girls with atlease 2 guys. cuz there are always some troublesome people who will just force you to go with them and give you a gang bang. Also forgot to mention “DONT WEAR SKIRT!!” i’ll show you an example. just go to Youtube and type in “Japanese panty raider” just hear the sound of it is quite a chilly already. lol just check it out. i hate Japanese men.

Feb 10th, 2009
Emily

14, female here. I still want to go to Japan… And give any gropers what they deserve.

Feb 23rd, 2009
dfgfdfd

Someone tried to grope me before. Gave him hell but he still kept trying so I punched him hard making him run away since other passengers were telling him to Foff

Feb 27th, 2009
vaxetihirr

if you get some perverted little hentai grabbing your ass on the subway then all you need to do is grab his balls and squeeze really hard. they’ll stop really quickly I think!

Mar 2nd, 2009
John

Despite the groping on crowded trains women in Japan are much safer than in most other countries. My wife is Japanese and I wouldn’t like her to be alone late at night in many places but in Japan it’s generally okay. And at least the crazies in Japan can’t go to the corner store and buy automatic weapons then kill a dozen random people like in some other ‘civilised’ and ‘God fearing’ societies. Now that really is sick!

Apr 16th, 2009
Johnzkee92

godfcking otaku’s who jack off to anime’s are responsible for this, can’t believe it, they can’t control their urge for flesh and even having that brotherhood bullsh!t

May 16th, 2009
LOl15

OMFG I want to so beat the fuck out of those gropers. If you a girl and someone tries to grope just hit in the nut sack REAL HARD and his going to be on his knee begging for his life lol.

Jun 13th, 2009
Stormchild

FYI “chikan” does not specifically mean “train groping”. The word means “molester” or “pervert” in a general sense.

Jun 25th, 2009
Mike J

This isn’t limited to Japan. A young guy from Cairo told me a while back that it is SOP on trains there, which are overcrowded. Hearsay to be sure, but he said the “women only” cars were discontinued because women didn’t like them,i.e., they wanted to be groped.

Jul 7th, 2009
ten

Even though the message posted by JOHN is a little out of context, it is more than 100% right. Getting groped is atleast 1% better than ending up dead with a revolver bought from a store in your neighborhood. But then each country has its own pros and cons just like every coin.

Jul 9th, 2009
InvisibleGaijin

Recent news on train gropers:

http://invisiblegaijin.com/2009/09/15/train-groper-campaign-nets-second-arrest/

Oct 12th, 2009
Claire

Haha. I love how this is like the WORST thing a guy can do on a train. Not stabbing you, raping you, hitting you, spitting at you, just groping you. And all you have to do is scream and he’s so embarrassed or scared of being embarrassed that you can actually BLACKMAIL him.

Wow.

And people are complaining about this? Have you ever thought about how the Japanese see Western society? I can’t ride a train in the UK at night for fear of what may happen to me (I’m a chick). The train STINK of urine, there is always a smack addict passed out in the corner, I’ve been spat at, leered at, groped, chased, sworn at, had my hair pulled. I don’t feel safe on the trains at any time of the day – and it’s not just the guys either.

Give me a groper any day, especially one that I can embarrass so easily! Some of you guys commenting really need to wake up and look around you.

Oct 21st, 2009
Chasing

I’ve gotta go with Claire on this. If the worst things that happen on Japanese trains in that some highly-embarrassable guy will grab at your ass and boobs and all you’ve gotta do is yell at him to chase him away, I’ll take Japanese trains over the NYC subway any day.

Although I do think some ballsy women need to get on the non-women-only cars regularly to embarrass the eff out of all the men doing it there; if they’re really so ashamed of their actions, being called out a few times should dissuade them from continuing it.

It’s kinda sad that there are so many people there who don’t object enough to it to take action themselves, but there are problems everywhere that could be solved by people just giving a damn. Mebbe someday we all will.

Oct 26th, 2009
Gaijinass

Claire and Chasing: true true and true

16 years ago in London on the tube I had to watch my father literally tackle and pull off the train 3 drunk thugs that had tried to grab my mother. Then I got to watch my old man fighting these three punks on the platform as our train pulled away. We met him 45 minutes later and he had a broken nose, his knuckles were split on both hands but he still had his wallet. Great fucking vacation that was.
Then just before I left California 6 years ago my friend was stabbed on the Metro. Lovely.
Yeah bring on the groping.

Anyway, this is a horrible gray zone. I have been on packed train cars before and I will move some way, naturally just because of the motion of the train or to get my cell phone and my elbow, back of my hand or even my bag might brush against some girls ass and I dont even realize it untill she suddenly stands bolt upright and stays stiff at attention till the train stops and she jumps off and hurries to another car POSSIBLY shooting me a mean hateful sideways glance. Great now she can tell all her friends how some big gaijin tried to rape her. Its ridiculous. In addition…I am a healthy and white man and when its 0800 and some women gets onto a train and compresses her backside against the front of my crotch…dear god…I can onyl summon up images of baseball and highschool wrestling for so long. Especially with the warmth, natural blood flow and the rocking motion of the train. For gods sake, put your BAG between my body and yours. HELP ME HELP YOU.

I have even met women who have told me about their intense fantasies about being groped on the train. I know one attractive girl who met her boyfriend of 2.5 years on the train WHILE he was groping her. That was how they met.

Its such a stupid issue yet it needs attention but all this? New Campaigns and video cameras wont help. Low Murder rate, No dirty needles in the high school bathrooms…No gun shots on the street at midnight…fuck it…let them keep the groping. Small price to pay.

Oct 31st, 2009
Ninja Waffles

as for what Johnzkee92 it’s not just Otaku who do this, it’s a general societal problem. So before you go spouting off at the mouth with BS again take a look at the facts.

Most Japanese people as a society will put there own discomfort aside as to not bother or ruin someone else day. yes the Gropers Brotherhood is a little far out there but there are things in this world that are far worse than that.

To everyone who is complaining about how sick this is. Think about it as what a few people have said, getting groped is going to be the least of your worries when someone has a knife or a gun drawn on you, which I have had happen 3 times, stabbed once. I’m a guy BTW. But still I agree these people need to control them selves a bit more but then what would you rather it be you can only choose one. Someone groping your butt/breast, or someone raping you? Personally if I was a woman, I’d go with the groping, a few minutes or so of someone coping a feel wouldn’t be as bad as the possibility of contracting an STD or getting pregnant.

It’s all how you look at it, I’m an Otaku I want to go to Japan, I have a thing for Japanese women, and it’s very tempting to actually feel one up when you are near them. Hell I’d pay money to do so.

But in all honesty train groping is the least of Japans perverted nature, when you look ta it, this country is notorious for prostitution, love hotels, and there is a sperm donation program that pays the donor to have sex with the intended reviving party.

This has been a rant by the one known as Ninja Waffles.

Nov 2nd, 2009
CountryPlus

Okay, Groping should not be acceptable ANYWHERE. OMG! This is an uninvited invasion of a woman’s body. This IS a form of rape. Would any of you commenting, want your wife, daughter, mother, girlfriend, or friend to go through an ordeal like that? If you are truthful, I think not. This experience could cause them to have problems for the rest of their lives dealing with society.

This problem could be easily taken care of if the people on the train that are watching this happen would step up an STOP IT as soon as it starts.

Where I come from(the mid-west USA), people do not allow women to be treated that way.

Bottom line…This is happening because the people are allowing it.

That’s my “Two Cents Worth”.

Nov 24th, 2009
Josh

Pshh, In do that shit in school. While you’re waiting to buy lunch and everyone is in line touch the chick in front of yous ass and pretend like you’re bumping in to them ‘accidentally’

Nov 24th, 2009
Freedom

WTF? I heard of groping and touching…but some of these private film collections I’ve seen is ridiculous! It looks like people nearby were just sitting their playing blind and NOT doing a damn thing about it!! Everyone was just standing around and MINDING THEIR OWN BUSINESS..Unless those videos are fake…porno productions? But it doesn’t seem like it though…IT SEEMS VERY REAL!!!

LOOK..

http://xhamster.com/movies/177543/new_business_girl_bus_chikan_part_1.html

Dec 5th, 2009
Freedom

What’s wrong with Japanese morals????? If it’s a porno production that’s one thing….but sex and bj are outrageous!!!

Dec 5th, 2009
Cookie

I am Dutch but im adopted form china so i look really asian…Now im in a exchange program in Tokyo.
Im a highschool girl and my uniform incl small skirt etc…….
Okay, so i was riding the train and my train happens to be very f*kin crowded in the morning…. i suddenly feel some hand under my frickin skirt….groping my underwear…. He did it from the back, I turn aroudn… and because i look very asian…. he was scared like shit when i started ranting in dutch (witch sound VERY EVILISH )

…he ran out and stuff <3!

i agree on the fact that its better to be groped thatn stabbed….but still it sucks…. in my class… 34 people…only 4 girls were never groped…. one girl has actually been heavily asaulted (dragged in the bushes and bra taken off and shit…………..)
…So it IT sick…. but better then being shot..or anything…

Dec 10th, 2009
Cookie

Oh ps…

The women only cart…It works..Ok…But i dont think we woman SHOULD be hiding.. It just has to stop…
And if people telll me to not wear a skirt or what ever… because then “i am asking” to be groped or what ever…
nobody has the right to touch my body…for NO reason and i dont think it is right to hide in a woman only cart…

i understand and think its good that theyre her…. but still…

Dec 10th, 2009
lol

To “Freedom”, yes those are fake. Porn productions.

Dec 22nd, 2009
Japan Sick

THIS IS NOT JUST GROPING THIS STUFF IS FULL-BLOWN RAPE.

THEY ARE RAPING WOMEN IN PUBLIC ON THESE TRAINS.

JAPAN MUST BE THE MOST SEXIST, DISGUSTING COUNTRY ON EARTH.

Dec 25th, 2009
Chicken Chikan

When women were not allowed to work men had balanced power with women’s pussies.

Now that women can earn their own income they have half the wealth and ALL the pussy.

Men no longer have any bargaining power.

This is why there is so much perversion in Japan.

Dec 28th, 2009