Record number of groping cases on Tokyo commuter trains

[BespinReactorShaft]

Record number of groping cases on Tokyo commuter trains

TOKYO (AP) - A record 2,201 cases of groping on Tokyo trains were reported to police last year, with more than half committed during the jam-packed morning rush hour, police said Tuesday.

The complaints, the largest figure since the Tokyo Metropolitan Police started the survey in 1962, led to 1,897 arrests for alleged groping in 2004, including some 300 cases of more serious charges of sexual molestation, a police spokesman said on condition of anonymity.

Groping has long been a problem on Tokyo's crowded commuter trains and subways, particularly during the morning and late-night rush hours.

Passengers are often tightly pressed against each other, an inviting environment for potential offenders.

Teenage girls, many of them in mini-skirt school uniforms, were the most frequent targets, and accounted for about a third of the victims, the police spokesman said.

The suspects' ages ranged from 14 to 80, with men in their 30s accounting for more than one-third, according to news reports.

Gropers can be imprisoned for up to seven years or fined up to 50,000 yen (US$485; euro371).

This year, police released the names of train lines notorious for fondling incidents, urging female passengers to take caution.

The spokesman said police planned to increase patrolling on trains and platforms, and urge train operators to step up measures, including using more single-sex train cars.

In recent years, some train operators have introduced "women only'' cars, but the number of cars and service hours are limited.

The number of reports from victims tripled from about 680 in 1996, in part because of growing awareness and willingness among victims to file complaints to the police.

Still, many authorities call groping a "nuisance'' rather than a crime and most women are unwilling to report such incidents, either because of shame or because of the belief that they won't be taken seriously.

A recent survey showed nearly 64 percent of Japanese women in their 20s and 30s said they have been groped on trains, subways or at transit stations in Tokyo.

In most cases, women fled or tried to stop the groper.

Some said they endured the unwanted fondling. - AP

 

[bradruth]

I guess this means I can't go to Tokyo anymore.

 

[Specop 007]

DEAR GOD!!
7 YEARS in jail for grabbing some ass?! :Q

 

[dudeman007]

Well what do you expect. They hire people to shove you into theses trains. When it's packed like that you just gota sit through the ride...and pray no one calls saftey.

 

[cerebusPu]

if any of you guys have seen the pervertedness of japanese TV and adult films, you can understand why this happens so many times a day.

Ive accidentally bumped into poeple butts on the train. i dont see how i can get away with grabbing a handful.

 

[NakaNaka]

Originally posted by: dudeman007
Well what do you expect. They hire people to shove you into theses trains. When it's packed like that you just gota sit through the ride...and pray no one calls saftey.

Yeah, a teacher of mine in high school told me about this when he went to Asia. Crazy. (haha, i know, least insightful post ever)

 

[HardcoreRobot]

its true

the trains can get so crowded, its so easy to get away with this (not that I would know)

men also read pornography on the trains

 

[thirdlegstump]

I've been groped so many times it's not funny. Front panel of course.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Specop 007
DEAR GOD!!
7 YEARS in jail for grabbing some ass?! :Q

But only $485. :roll:

 

[DurocShark]

Originally posted by: deathkoba
I've been groped so many times it's not funny. Front panel of course.

The groper is just trying to figure out why you got no bulge.

 

[vood0g]

Originally posted by: ming2020

The suspects' ages ranged from 14 to 80, with men in their 30s accounting for more than one-third, according to news reports.

wtf?

 

[thirdlegstump]

Originally posted by: DurocShark

Originally posted by: deathkoba
I've been groped so many times it's not funny. Front panel of course.

The groper is just trying to figure out why you got no bulge.

PWNED!!!!!!

oh.....wait.....that was me......BASTARD!!!!

 

[dabuddha]

I say knife em in the gut in "self defense"

 

[StrangerGuy]

Originally posted by: vood0g

Originally posted by: ming2020

The suspects' ages ranged from 14 to 80, with men in their 30s accounting for more than one-third, according to news reports.

wtf?

LOL no wonder Japanese have the highest life expectancy among all nations, its the hands that are doing the trick!

 

[kami333]

I think it happens pretty often in any country that has very crowded trains. I was talking to our tour guide in Moscow when we were on the subway there and she said it happened fairly often there as well.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

the whole miniskirt school uniform is what I don't understand....

 

[vood0g]

Originally posted by: HomeBrewerDude
the whole miniskirt school uniform is what I don't understand....

heh, whats there to understand? the teachers like to see the girls in them. like the article says, "he suspects' ages ranged from 14 to 80."

 

[Kev]

That's hot.

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: HomeBrewerDude
the whole miniskirt school uniform is what I don't understand....

When one of my Japanese American friends went to Tokyo, she got asked numerous times by random males in their 30s - 40s to go home with them and "put on a mini skirt."

 

[PingSpike]

All aboard the Gropexpress out of tokyo.

 

[phreakah]

i remember when i went to taiwan and got on the MRT during rush hour... it was a friday night, too.... jeez, i'll never forget how many people i saw getting on/off the subway