Many people seem a little bit confused about the female-only carriages in Japan.
Some people assume that it is to keep female passengers away from drunk businessmen and some people even think it is reverse racism.
The real reason is because of a problem called chikan.
Chikan means groping and it occurs on overly crowded train carriages as it is difficult to track where arms and hands are coming from and there is almost zero personal space.
Although it is getting better, this is a difficult issue to police as it is not always easy to determine who is committing the crime and, also, many women do know feel able to speak out while it is happening or after the fact.
To be really honest, I used to judge the women for not screaming or shouting out at the time.
But then it happened to me.
Lucy Dayman interviewed chikan victims a while back for Savvy Tokyo and I told my story.
You can see the full Savvy Tokyo article here.
This is my story.
The chikan issue is now being talked about more than ever after the development of a new app called Digi Police that helps women speak out by giving them a screen to hold up on the train or show to someone else. * Unfortunately, there is no English version of the app at this point.
The screen says ” Chikan. Please help.”
So what can you do if someone shows you this screen or is in the middle of a chikan situation?
You can:
– put your bag or somewhat use your body to make space between the victim and the person groping them ( if that is possible.)
– move to make sure that person has even the tiniest space to move further away or gives them space to get off at the next station
– ask them if they would like to get off with you at the next station ( the simplest Japanese for this is ” tsugi no eki ni orimasho ” ( this not only helps the victim with an exit strategy but it also shows the perpetrator that you are on this person’s team.
– you can take the pressure off the victim ( as they, clearly, are not comfortable, able to, speak out) and YOU loudly scream ” chikan!” It WILL make everyone most definitely pay attention and move to keep their hands to themselves. Mainly because it has caught their attention. Everyone will also start looking at one another.
And what can you do about the person committing the crime?
This is a tricky one because I don’t like the idea of giving out advice that may get someone in personal danger.
For me, I wouldn’t go about confronting anyone more than screaming “chikan” and assisting the victim as much as possible. I would be afraid that I was yelling at the wrong person or that someone could get violent or follow me.
You could take a photo of the person on your phone but, once again, I would be scared about the person turning on you so I wouldn’t recommend.
Can children ride on the women only carriages?
Yes. As long as they are elementary school aged or younger.
Is Chikan unique to Japan?
Not necessarily.
It is a known problem in Brazil, for example. It is just that the crowded trains provide the perfect environment for this kind of abuse to occur. Which is very sad. I’m very happy that Japan has introduced these female only carriages for this reason.
