I had heard that Japan was famous for perverts especially on the trains. Their word for pervert, chikan, is a lot more widely used then ours; Japan even has posters to warn people to watch out for them.
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| "Chikan" lower left picture |
Luckily, I don't have to take the train everyday to school bc my host mom lives close enough for a bus to take me, but most of the other American students here at KCP do. At the school's orientation we were told what do to if we got felt up on the train. Girls are supposed to grab the offending hand, hold it up, and yell "chikan!" Guys are supposed to hold the handrails with both hands to avoid being called a chikan.
Of course this doesn't work out so well in real life. My second week in Japan one of my new friends came to school in tears. She got felt up on an over crowded train on the way to school. She couldn't tell who the offender was and she couldn't even move enough to grab his hand. It left her feeling powerless and disillusioned about Japan. And no she wasn't wearing a mini skirt like the girl in the poster, she was just wearing jeans and T-shirt.
Only a few days later another one of my friends came to school with an even more shocking story. She had been on the train late at night on a line that was relatively unknown because had been built recently and she thought she was getting on to an empty car. After she sat down in the car, though, she felt someone staring at her. She turned to look and realized that not only was there a man in the car, he had his pant around his knees and he was going after it, staring at her! Of course she ran to the next car and got off the train at the next station, but I bet she had nightmares. There are so many ways that could have gone bad fast!
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