Sep
03

Japanese Upskirt Chikan – Sexual Harassment on Japanese Trains

In the last week, there have been 3 major chikan cases to hit the news related to upskirt photos and upskirt videos here in Japan. The Ex-IBM Japan president, an Osaka assistant-judge, and a Tokyo Metro employee.
In answer to your question: Yes. Japanese men are perverts. And while I would have loved to include the word “some” in that sentence, the more I look into this issue and reflect on my own experiences, the harder it is to consider including that word.

The really scary part is that a) Upskirt Chikan is a common issue/news story in Japan, and b) The Japanese man in question (a.k.a. the “chikan” or pervert) usually shows little-to-no regret. In fact, unless their company goes under scrutiny for it, they usually act like taking pictures up women’s skirts is as natural as asking for her phone number…

When I sit down to write things like this, it’s really difficult to figure out where to start…
The Japanese upskirt issue is one of great magnitude and so I will humbly offer little more than the basic facts along with my thoughts and experiences.

Let’s start simply with only the cases within the last week.

Ex-IBM Japan President Turned Chikan
Takuya Otoshi, the ex-president of IBM Japan used an iPod as his camera of choice when filming an upskirt video of a Japanese woman on an escalator in Tokyo station. And while Tokyo police, in all their useful glory, have (at this point) refused to confirm any allegations, the man’s statement that he was interested in voyeurism, pretty much speaks for itself.

Osaka Assistant Judge Takes His Pervert Oath
When Toshiki Hanai (who even as an assistant judge is surprisingly only 27-years-young) was arrested for squatting and attempting to get upskirt photos with his cellphone, he told police that he was wondering what kind of underwear the woman was wearing. Examination of his cellphone found that he was a curious little chikan judge who seemed to wonder what MANY women’s underwear looked like!

Perverted Tokyo Metro Employee Wants In On The Fun
This one doesn’t really surprise me. Have you ever met a Tokyo Metro Employee? They often remind me of the seedy looking stock-boys that you might find working through the night at a discount super market.
This particular winner was a 38-year-old electrician who fancied long walks on the beach and upskirt photography in Shibuya crossing. And surprise, surprise…. An investigation quickly uncovered more photos and videos taken at various stations and within various train cars.

And keep in mind, this has all just been in the last week…
Welcome to chikan.
…oops.. Sorry. Misspelled that.
I mean, Welcome to Japan.

The lines are starting to get fuzzy and it’s getting hard to differentiate. In the same way that many Japanese believe that the word 和 “wa” or “Harmony” means Japan, I am beginning to feel that the word “Chikan” means Japan.

The case of the IBM president doesn’t really surprise or concern me all that much. Middle-aged Japanese salary man with more money than common sense looking for a little excitement in his daily life. Seems unfortunately standard. If anything it reminds me of an upskirt chikan case from a while back that actually made me laugh.

Back in September of 2011, a Hosei University student in his early 20′s was arrested for taking an upskirt video of an 18-year-old girl on an escalator. His weapon of choice: An iPod Nano tied to his shoe.
I remember sitting and watching the news the night that this story broke loose. The school-aged chikan had apparently thought it a good idea to simply work the iPod Nano into his shoelaces. When the newscast showed a picture of his shoe with the iPod tied into it, it was so incredibly obvious that I couldn’t help but break into laughter at the half-assed approach of this up-and-coming pervert.

The police report said that when they searched his home computer, they found over 250 videos, of up to 200 different girls.

Wait.
Let’s take a moment to analyze that last statement: they found over 250 videos, of up to 200 different girls.

So do you mean to tell me that they actually watched through more than 250 upskirt videos and attempted to identify how many of these were different girls? Is that really a necessary point of information?! Or did these police simply want to create a seemingly legitimate reason to watch over 250 upskirt chikan videos?
Kinda sounds like a cop taking away weed, and going back to the station to smoke it and test if it is really medical or not…

And if you are doubting for a single second that this is the case, don’t allow yourself to be fooled into a false sense of security. It is not uncommon whatsoever for even the police in Japan to be caught taking upskirt videos. Almost yearly there are stories on the news of this. And if we  do not conservatively assume that the police manage to successfully hide even half of these police chikan cases, the number of stories still too daunting.

In 2011 the National Police Agency reported a 23% rise in Japanese police misconduct leading to disciplinary action. And unfortunately, police misconduct in Japan doesn’t stop at upskirt photography or chikan. Japanese police have been known to start fights on trains while off-duty, or even go as far as rape.
Once again, I wish I could say that all of these were rare cases.

It’s just so incredibly common. And is may be happening around us at any given time.

A year or so ago, I was on the Chiyoda Line in Tokyo and was watching a Japanese man fall asleep on the train bench across from the one on which I was sitting. It was winter at the time and he had his jacket draped over his shoulders like a blanket. And as he fell asleep, he leaned lower and lower to the right. I couldn’t help but watch, as there was no-one beside him and I was sure he was just going to end up laying out flat on the bench.
And if I hadn’t watched him with the enthusiasm and intensity that I did, I might have missed it.

Something was odd. Although he seemed to be nodding off, his face seemed to have an unusual amount of focus in it. And that’s when I noticed that his eyelids were partially open and his eyes were moving. Not 2 seconds after, I noticed a little red light from inside his jacket. He was filming with his cellphone. I looked a few seats away from me and there was a girl in a school uniform who couldn’t have been older than 15.

I was surprised at first, and the surprise quickly turned to anger. And before I knew it, I was furious. I got out of my seat and stood right in front of him, blocking his view and the view of the camera. As the train was nearly empty, this action stood out. He “woke up” right away and I re-positioned myself in-between him and the girl again. This upset him.

He tried to move seats, but I once again, very directly positioned myself between him and the girl. He looked up and yelled at me in Japanese,  “WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!?!” to which I could only reply “What the hell is wrong with YOU?!?”
He started at me shocked and irritated.
I unloaded on him (verbally) and he tried to get off at the next station. All I could do was follow him. And I did so… With volume. When I threatened to drag him to the koban, he finally gave in and said “FINE. I’ll delete the video“, to which I said “Ok. But I am going to stand here and watch you do it.”

He opened up his keitai and went to the videos section. The idiot pervert opens up the file to show me that it is the one he is deleting, and I take my chance. I grab the phone (which was attached to a lanyard around his neck) and scream out to a nearby Tokyo Metro station staff, who in all his glory sauntered over as if he was on his way to the bathroom. The entire time the man beside me was struggling to get back his phone.

I disconnected the phone from the lanyard, handed it to the staff and told him that the first video in it had just been taken by this man on the train. As he opened up the video, his face was that of pure shock and horror. By this time a security guard who had been alerted to the ruckus I had caused, had made his way over and the man was taken to the police. Luckily for me, the idiot Tokyo Metro staff didn’t have the sense to keep me around and he let me go.

The part of this that really made me think was the fact that the train wasn’t even crowded. It was near empty and this amateur upskirt videographer still had the nerve to try and get a shot.
Which begs the question, how common is this really?

I have searched and searched and not been able to find any solid, useable statistics.

But the simple fact that many trains have (time-designated) “Woman Only” cars, many stations and trains are constantly adding more and more cameras, and the fact that there are actual, specially trained under-cover chikan/upskirt video searching officers in many stations around Tokyo, should tell you that this is an alarmingly common issue.

So much that it can cause problems that don’t even exist. Some women end up becoming so incredibly paranoid and sensitive due to the sheer volume and presence of chikan that it is not uncommon for a woman to think that a perverted act has taken place even when it hasn’t. And while it’s easy to say that some of these Japanese women might just enjoy crying wolf, it’s also just as easy to see how the lines of sexual harassment and reality can be blurred when you are constantly surrounded by it.
And unfortunately, from time to time innocent men become the victims of these misunderstandings and some suffer greatly.

I remember being on the Yamanote line and watching two Japanese men in their 40′s facing each other, talking near the door. They seemed like friendly guys, and their conversation was one of quality. They were talking about their children and praising each others’ wives for the hard work they do.

I was enjoying some casual eavesdropping when a woman who had litterally just stepped off the train, turned around and in a move that she could only have learned in a billy blanks tae bo exercise video, swung at one of the men who not seconds before had been laughing while telling a story of something his child had done.

She screamed frantically for some reason accusing him of grabbing her ass. He looked terrified. Both him and his co-worker tried to reason with her and explain that no such event had taken place, but she wouldn’t hear anything of it. she grabbed the mans dress shirt by the button area and started trying to pull him off the train. As she pulled, his shirt ripped. More and more.
The entire time she was screaming for someone to help her. Within seconds, 2 guys stood up, grabbed the man and forced him off the train along with her. The station staff were already nearby on the platform, and his co-worker rushed out of the train with a very concerned look in his eyes. The door closed.

It all happened so incredibly fast. As the train pulled away, I had barely processed the events of the last 10-30 seconds and felt confused, scared, worried, and so many other things…
He hadn’t done anything. I know because I was standing right there. Listening and staring as if I were a Japanese person looking at a foreigner. But even knowing first-hand that he was innocent, after watching this woman’s reaction and the whole situation, I began to feel doubt for him. A completely illogical doubt. But she had been convincing. She genuinely seemed to believe that he had touched her on the train…
As I said, reality starts to blur, and it becomes tough to tell what has actually happened when these occurrences are so common.

A Japanese friend later told me that if this man was convicted of chikan, then he was basically finished. His life would be essentially over. That night, I hoped for this mans safe return to his wife and child.
It scared me to think that this simple family-man on his way home, could potentially have his life ruined by a misunderstanding caused by fear and clouded lines of reality.

This type of situation is something that many Japanese men fear. In my first couple weeks in Tokyo, I was on the train with a Japanese friend. One of my hands was on the handle and the other hand was by my side. He suddenly reached down, grabbed my wrist and held it up.

“Both hands up on trains. Imagine a gun is pointed at you. Both hands up or both hands busy”

These were the words of wisdom he passed on to me that day. He pointed out all of the other men around us, and to my surprise, almost every man standing, had both hands up in some form. Whether it be handle and book, handle and keitai, or just both hands up on handles and bars, almost every man (especially those standing near women) had 2 hands up.
I learned something valuable that day.

So really, these perverts taking upskirt pictures and videos or feeling chicks up on the train are making things harder for everyone. These chikan are a poison to Japan, and if you read my piece about the 14-year-old pervert, you will be able to see that things are only getting worse.

Why do these people think they can get away with chikan? Because they think nobody is looking. And I hate to say it, but most of the time they are right…

So Japan… It’s time to open your eyes. It’s time to reclaim Japan from the perverts.

Please take a minute and share this piece in any way you can.

For more reading on the Japanese Chikan situation please check out this document.

 

 

Jun
15

Japanese Police and the Last of the Aum Fugitives

On the morning of March 20th, 1995, Japans capital city of Tokyo fell into panic and terror as members of a cult known as the Aum Shinrikyo released sarin nerve gas into the Tokyo Metro subway system.
13 people died, 50 were severely injured, and 1000′s of others were left with temporary vision difficulties. It was the worst terrorist attack in modern Japanese history and is talked about to this day.

As details about the events of this attack are readily available from a wide range of sources, I will say no more of the attack. Rather, I will focus on a single point… The fugitives, or rather the police’s “role” in bringing them in.

Today, June 15th, 2012, marks a significant moment in history, as the final remaining member of the Aum cult involved in the attack, Katsuya Takahashi, has finally been taken into police custody. And for all of Tokyo’s technology, security cameras, and police efforts, it was a comic book cafe (employee) that brought this fugitives 17-year-run to an end.
A comic book cafe.

Really?

If little else, this has served as a shining example to budding criminals in Japan: It is possible to evade police custody, no matter how serious your crime is.

And what is worse, is that reports show that the police were at first unwilling to even go and check out the comic book cafe after receiving the tip. They only did so after the tipster repeatedly and strongly persisted on the matter.

When the Japanese police have time to put innocent people in jail, harass people for turning in wallets, track and make “ground-breaking” arrests for cyber-crimes, and stand around in offices and kobans smoking and talking about who can piss the farthest, how is it possible that it took 17 years to catch one of Japans most wanted men?!

It brings to question how much effort was actually put into the search in the first place. And as many have already said, it wouldn’t be a shocking surprise to find out that the police were simply hoping for him to eventually turn himself in.
Seem unlikely? To most people it would. But this tried and tested Japanese police technique of ‘put the faith in the murderer and them turn themselves in‘ proved to produce results when one of the other Aum fugitives, Makoto Hirata turned himself in late at night on December 31st, 2011.

It would seem that it was this event that woke the Japanese police up enough to put appropriate priority back onto the case. Overnight, it became a media obsession. You couldn’t turn on a TV, or walk by a major transportation hub in Japan without seeing fresh posters featuring 17 year old photos of these fugitives being displayed. But despite the outdated photos, ripping off the band-aid seemed to have some effect. Within 5 months, Naoko Kikuchi was spotted by a woman who called police. This phone call lead to her arrest.

And with this arrest, the police went into high gear. Progress reports could be heard nightly on Japanese news. There was only one remaining suspect, and they were finally determined to catch him.
Or at the very least to have him handed over to them.

The police boasted their efforts as they poured money and manpower into search and surveillance. They found themselves hot on the trail again and again after finding footage of him on security cameras in the Tokyo area. They posted officers at every single major transportation hub, and worked themselves into a frenzy of excitement.

And in the end, for all of their efforts, an employee at a comic book cafe is the one who takes the glory.
I think I’ve heard this story somewhere before….

It took 17 years, one guilty conscience, overworked media outlets, and two good Samaritans, and finally Aum is behind bars.

And albeit an inarguable fact that the end result is incredible news, perhaps we should look at how we got here…

And maybe its time to ask , if this is the degree of seriousness and urgency that the Japanese police take the most severe crime in Japanese history with, what hope do we really have for… well… any injustice in this country?

May
13

Sleepy Japanese People – Dont Sleep on Me

The Japanese sleep everywhere. It’s actually quite amazing and it was something I didn’t expect when I first came to Japan.

If I were to ask you what Japan is famous for, what would you say?

If you ask most people outside of Japan this question, you will most likely get answers like samurai, ninja, geisha, sumo, hello kitty, etc… If you ask people living in the country, someone is bound to bring up the incredible and undeniable ability that Japanese people have to sleep anywhere and in any position.

Japanese people seem to have no qualms with sleeping in public, and with even the most minimal amount of research, one can pull up countless blogs, articles, youtube videos and more….

In fact just for good measure, here is a list of a few of my favorite posts:

LoneleePlanet.com

http://www.loneleeplanet.com/2010/01/publicly-sleeping-salarymen/

A great post that not only features some very interesting photos,
but also breaks them down into interestingly named categories!

Kirainet.com
http://www.kirainet.com/english/japanese-sleeping/
An interesting post with some really good shots of J-Sleepers

JapanTalk.com
http://www.japan-talk.com/jt/new/how-to-sleep-in-japan
A great set of photos with an opener that would almost encourage giving it a try~

OneInchPunch.net
http://www.oneinchpunch.net/2007/09/08/sleeping-japanese-people-in-public/
Another decent photo post of Japanese people sleeping in public
*Spoiler Alert* – Last pic is not for the weak-of-stomach…

All of these illustrate the point pretty well. And I have quite the collection of my own photos that I may get around to adding to this post in the near future.
As you can see, Japanese people have managed to do what they have done with so many other simple daily tasks and actions and get the whole sleeping in public skill down to an incomparable art form. We can try to mimic it, but we will never do it quite as well, or in such impressive numbers.

So a fair question to be asking at this point is, ‘if you’re so for Japanese people passing out in public, then where’s the problem?’
The problem lies in that while I may get a hoot out of seeing Japanese people passed out on the streets, trains, toilets, temples, and whatever other locations they choose for their one-man slumber parties, I have no patience for that ever so infamous moment when the person sitting beside me on the train passes out and figures it a good idea to utilize me as their pillow…

Simply put, I do not like when people fall asleep on me on the train.

Most Japanese people will tell you there are 3 common ways of reacting to this situation.
People either:
a) Act as if nothing is happening at all (or even accommodate the sleeper in some way)
b) Get uncomfortable and discreetly try and either get away, or move the sleeper
c) Move or wake-up the sleeper with little-to-no hesitation

I would safely fall under category (c).
Now don’t get me wrong… It’s not that I don’t appreciate the warm sentiment or that I hate human contact, but rather that I find it unbelievably rude and inconsiderate. I am shocked that in a country where it is custom that while riding a train, you speak in a quiet voice, and never use your cellphone, that people find it A-OK to just pass out on the people around them.

Actually, there was an exact moment that triggered this post.
It was a short while ago, and I was on the morning train with one of my Japanese co-workers. We had been on the train for about 10 minutes when the girl beside me started to lean my way. She was a young girl, probably in her mid-20′s. She had the big hair, the fake eyelashes, the platform heels, and that smell that usually only comes from someone who has been out all-night and is making an early-morning return to their 1-room apartment after.
As she started to slowly lean my way, I knew I was in an undesirable position…

In any normal situation, I would have just nudged her and woken her up. Or maybe even changed seats. But this day was different.
I had a Japanese co-worker with me, and if you have read my post about working with Japanese people, you can understand that the last thing I wanted was to lose face.
And so… I let her sleep.

But at what cost? Really… What could the danger be… right?
Well, it turns out that the danger was that this wonderful young lady, was kind enough to share some of her make-up. With my suit.

But it’s ok right? Because I managed to save face with this Japanese co-worker.
Or at least that’s how I tried to view it.
Until we got to work and the rest of the Japanese staff spent the day staring at the make-up stain…
Did anyone say anything to me about it? – No.
Did my morning comrade have the decency to explain about it? – No.
So I’m pretty sure we can all guess what they were thinking….

All of this undue stress combined with the cleaning bill for my jacket, and you have to wonder,

How has this become a social norm in a country where people typically go out of their way to avoid bothering others?!

You have to stop and wonder at some point whether or not it is all really an accident.

I watched to strangers fall asleep on each other just the other night, and as the train ride went on, they seemed to be getting more and more comfortable with each other. It was a Tuesday night, it was fairly early, and neither one of them seemed to be intoxicated…
The girl fell asleep first. Her head slowly fell to the guys shoulder. And then, magically the guy started to fall asleep as well. Within seconds, her head was on his shoulder, and his head was resting on hers.
They stayed like this for a good 20 minutes or more, and the longer they stayed in that position, the more suspicious the whole thing became…

If you think about it. Even when people do fall asleep on the train, they usually wake up (or at least half wake up) at each station. Right?

So how is it that neither one of these 2 woke up even once in the span of over 10 stations…?

When I first released this post, there was a lot of comments by people who said that they didn’t mind as long as the person who fell asleep on them in the train was both, of the opposite gender, and attractive. So I talked to a few of my friends and co-workers and found that a large majority of people here in Japan feel this way.

“it’s not crazy to imagine that some people might actually enjoy the physical contact. Even if it IS from a stranger“, Said one of my co-workers.

But in the end, it’s still not for me. So Dear Japan, please don’t sleep on me.

 

Apr
15

Pushy Japanese Oba-sans

We have all seen it at one point or another. You are getting on (or off) of a train, and a woman ranging from anywhere between her mid forty’s to her sixties, shoves by every single person just to get on the train and sit down.

These older women (or Oba-sans) can seem sweet and harmless, but it is there that the danger lies. Japanese people are known for being passive. They typically don’t show emotion, and they are more likely to walk away from any form of confrontation than to get into an argument, spat, or power struggle (especially in public).
These women have lived in this culture their entire lives and know this. And exploit it.
They are more than well aware that nobody is going to fight them. After all… it’s Japan… and … they’re women.

In fact, shortly after first arriving in Japan I was at a supermarket shopping for my dinner. I was young, working freelance, and pinching every penny that I could, so I always waited until around 7pm when the local supermarket discounted the meat! As I arrived in the meat section, I noticed that there was only one package of meat left and that it had been discounted by 50%!! I picked it up and went to put it in my shopping basket as I looked forward to the dinner that would follow, but magically, it never made it to the basket…

I got my first real taste of culture shock on this day as a Japanese woman well into her 40′s pulled the pack of meat right out from my hand and put it in her cart. Without so much as a look, she simply walked away. It was as if nothing happened…
Still in shock, I purchased the contents of my shopping basket and went home to eat a meat-less dinner.

But what happens when someone protests? What happens when someone finally stands up and says “Hey lady! I’m not gonna take that S#@&!” ? What happens when somebody shoves back??

Well… that’s where this post truly begins.
It all started with a seemingly quiet trip to Ikebukuro, a large and somewhat crowded shopping area in Tokyo, on a Saturday morning. I boarded the Yamanote line and managed to get myself a seat near the door. All was well and good until us Ikebukuro-b0und commuters went to get off the train….

As the doors opened, people waited to either side to allow for those exiting the train to do so with at least some ease. With the exception of just one woman. She was in her 50′s and had that crazy look in her eyes!

As people poured out of the train, she did everything she could to fight her way in. Looking like a salmon pushing its way upstream, she shoved past a man who was clearly having a bad day, and that’s when the unimaginable happened.
He shoved back.
It was a gentle shove, barely carrying the scent of frustration and even more barely noticeable to those not looking directly at the two, but what followed was something that will remain in my memory for years to come.

It started with a noise. A noise which at first resembled a grunt but quickly turned into a full and terrifying scream. Followed by what can only be described as nearly-profane language and a quick swing of her purse to the side of his head…

Everyone around stopped. Stunned. None of us could believe what just transpired. But more amazing was the fact that in the brief moment that it took us to recover, this woman had managed to get herself a seat. And not just any seat… my seat, right by the door. A cold shiver went down my spine and the train was gone. The moment had passed and would be remembered by all.

Now… It’s not every day that we get to see such incredible events in the gentle land of Japan, but its for exactly that reason that when they happen, they stand out.

The most dangerous part of it, is that you never know when its coming. Something as small as a sneeze could end up having you harassed by one of these Japanese middle-aged women, or even end up having you dragged to the police box (which if you read the post about what happened when I turned in a wallet, you will realize that as a foreigner, you don’t want to go to a police box for any reason other than perhaps asking directions)

After a quick search on youtube, I was able to find this video of middle-aged Japanese woman who was quite upset at an elderly woman simply for sneezing on her jacket:

I think one of the most common points that comes up when talking to Japanese friends about Japanese culture, is this point about pushy middle-aged Japanese women.
As I write this section, I am sitting in a JAL lounge in Narita Airport and right in front of me there is a Japanese woman in her early 60′s who just pushed her way to the front of the snack counter, and is currently filling her purse with “complimentary” snacks.

Now… I could spend another 500+ words talking about how this pattern could possibly relate to a Japanese female “mid-life crisis”, or how it could be a release or overcompensation for a lifetime of ‘gamman‘ (the Japanese practice of holding back or self control), or even how it could potentially be a back-lash from decades of taking crap…

I could get more into this… But I won’t!

Instead, I am going to open up the floor to all of you~
If you have a story or two, share them in the comments section below!!

Apr
02

The Little Pervert

It was that hour of the day where the sun is painting everything in the city a beautiful shade of orange as I boarded the train. All of the seats were taken, but the train wasn’t what I would call crowded.  I stood in the middle of the area where the doors were, and put in my headphones. I had just finished an interview with a fairly famous musician about an hour before, and was looking forward to getting home.
Standing 2 or 3 steps away from me to my right was a girl of about 23 in a short skirt and tall boots. Deadly combo. She had a sweet face, but I guessed she probably worked as a hostess somewhere. I shifted my focus off of her and onto the recording of my interview.

At the next station, a young boy of about 14 years old wearing a school uniform boarded the train.
And this… is where things started.

As the kid boarded the train, he stood behind her at a distance that couldn’t have been more than a few centimeters. This stood out. The train wasn’t all that crowded and he was in plain view of everyone. And everyone noticed. But this is Japan, which means that just as quickly as they noticed, they switched to pretending that they saw nothing.
You know what they say… Ignorance is bliss.
But the girl noticed and she took about 2 steps closer to the door. It would seem that she couldn’t maintain the same blissful state as the other passengers. And if this had been any normal day, or any normal 14 year old Japanese kid, the story might have stopped there.
But instead, the young guy waited about 10 seconds and reached up to grab the handle near the do0r. As he did this he ever-so-slyly moved himself back into position, almost pressed up against this girl.
Much to my surprise, she did nothing. For almost a full minute she remained exactly where she was with this little Japanese boy pressed up against her. But as we arrived at the next station, she took this as an opportunity to maneuver herself into the corner space created by the intersection of the doors and the seats.
As soon as the door closed, he moved in again. Just as sly as last time. But this time, pressed right up against her.

Now… From the moment this started, everyone on the train noticed. And yet nobody reacted. Nobody said a thing, and nobody did a thing.  In fact, I started to wonder if I was going crazy or completely misreading the situation. In fact the little f***er even had the balls to not only make, but hold eye contact with me several times in the reflection of the glass.  His face and eyes carrying an expression that would imply that nothing out of the ordinary was going on.
I was confused.
Was I really seeing this?! Should I say something?! Do something?!

And that’s when the situation changed a little. He started to bend his knees and actually rub up against her, and this was when I caught a glimpse of her face. It was no longer sweet, but instead she looked furious, and was pouring sweat.

Now, I have a standing promise with myself to not get involved in other peoples issues here in Japan. In Japan (especially in Tokyo) making an attempt to help someone out, can often turn around on you and make for a very long and stressful day. (See “Why I No Longer Help People in Tokyo“). But this was a little more than I was willing to take.

I lightly grabbed him by his back pack and only meant to pull him backwards, but when I noticed, I had partially lifted him off the ground to the point where his toes were barely touching. I thought to myself that I should stop, but for some reason I just didn’t care in that moment. There I stood in front of everybody holding this boy who now looked like a cat being held by the scruff of its neck, and I just couldn’t care less that they were all staring. I remember myself thinking “A girl is getting felt up on the train, and you all do nothing, but NOW you stare?!?“.

With him still in the air, I leaned forward and whispered in his ear. I gave him 2 options, neither one particularly attractive, but the later of the 2 at least allowed him to escape without any real damage being done.
He froze and said nothing. People were still staring and I was becoming increasingly more aware of my situation and the number of people watching me.
And then, he finally gave in (and I let go). He went with the second option (which was a very public-style apology). Right there in front of everyone in the train, he dropped down on his hands and knees and apologized to the girl (which in retrospect was not as good of an idea as I had originally hoped considering this only served to embarrass her further >_<). After his apology, he remained in his bow for what felt like an eternity (but in reality was probably less than 15 seconds)

As the doors opened at the next station, the young boy got off and disappeared at a speed that I can only describe as impressive considering his size.
He was gone, but I was still stuck on the train with this girl and all the witnesses. I really should have gotten off with him. Hindsight is always 20/20…

As the train finally arrived at its last stop the girl turned to me over her shoulder and took a moment to thank me. We are friends to this day, and it turns out that I was right about her job (^_-). (I still think her choice of outfit that day was… well… problematic to say the least. But that’s for another post).

At the end of this I was left feeling shocked, flabbergasted, and having a lot less faith in humans than I did when I left home that day (which is pretty bad considering that those numbers are already running pretty low…).
I found myself truly concerned with this country and what it’s coming to.
Honestly, what does it say when a kid of that age is already taking part in these type of activities?!

This incident was actually one of the main moments that inspired this website.
I wonder what that little 14 year old is doing now… On second thought, probably better not to think about it.

Apr
02

Japanese People and Spatial Awareness

I’ll start by admitting that the name for this post technically should read “Japanese People and Their Complete and Absolute Lack of Spatial Awareness”.
And if Japan (especially Tokyo) were a place filled with wide open spaces and plenty of room to frolic, I probably wouldn’t be writing this post. Yet alas, it is not.
And by this point, you probably already have a fairly good idea of what this post is about, so I’ll jump right into it…

Two Words: Excuse Me (or sumimasen in Japanese … technically.. one word in this case).
The words you will very rarely hear and soon give up on saying when walking the streets, train stations, hallways, or even bathrooms of Japan’s ever-so-crowded Tokyo.

I challenge you. Each and every one of you here in the city of Tokyo to go out for a day and take a count at the number of people who bump into you, or would bump into you if you didn’t make a point of getting out of their way.
Heck, if you want a real spatial awareness in Japan challenge, try running around the imperial palace in Tokyo!
Or at the very least, take some time to sit down almost anywhere in the core of the city and watch the number of people who bump into each other.

And while on one hand, Japanese people’s complete and utter lack of spatial awareness seems to fade into the background and become something that you may not even take not of, on the other hand it can really get on your nerves after a while. When I first came to Japan, I thought for sure that this was something that I was either imagining or something that I would get used to with time. Most Japanese people don’t even seem to notice.

I have seen cameras and cellphones broken, elderly people knocked down, and children hit in the face on more occasions that I can count. It’s downright dangerous.
In fact the other day I was talking to one of my Japanese friends, and while talking to me he backed right into some poor old woman and nearly knocked her over.

The problem is so tied into the Japanese lifestyle (at least in Tokyo), that major train lines such as Tokyo Metro, even put up posters reminding people to be a little more careful.

Tokyo Metro Poster - Japanese Spacial Awareness

Tokyo Metro Poster - Japanese Spatial Awareness

This particular poster (above), comes from a fairly common issue of people with rolling bags. If you have ever been to Tokyo station, you will be able to relate to this pretty easily.

One of my personal favorite examples of this lack of spatial awareness has always been the people who stand beside the seats on the train. Whether it be their arm, their jacket, their back, or simply their a$$, they are usually hitting the person sitting on the corner seat, in the head with something…

On account of all of this, trains can be a pretty unsafe place if you really think about it.

More often than not I stop to think about how difficult, not to mention outright dangerous it must be for pregnant women to simply go out or even get on a train…

I originally believed that living in a place surrounded with people at all times would heighten one’s spatial awareness and strengthen the use of their peripheral vision and the senses that they use to monitor their surroundings… But Nope.

Now, I’m not going to go into this big long post about cultural and psychological elements that factor into this (although I do possess both the necessary knowledge and linguistic capabilities to do so…), but rather open up the floor to you, the readers to give me your thoughts, opinions and experiences on this.

Or… I’ll go ahead and do an..

————-
UPDATE!:
————-

Ok, so I decided to do what I should have done in the first place, and actually looked online for peoples thoughts on this. And of course, with absolute minimal searching I manage to find several forums with people posting and ranting about just this issue~
You can find a few of them here:
http://www.outpostnine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6782
http://forum.gaijinpot.com/showthread.php?64631-Utter-lack-of-spatial-awareness-in-Japanese-people

In addition to this, I was able to find a video that got me laughing pretty good.
It’s worth watching clear through till the end (the last 2 are probably the best)

But the video really got me thinking…

A video like this shows a perfect and quite interesting point: There IS a lighter side to everything that bothers us. (^-^)

In this case, the lighter side is that people can be used to conduct a modern-day pavlov’s dog experiment with surprisingly definitive results!

But this video also brings up a point that I have thought to be true for quite some time. It’s not so much that Japanese people have a lack of spatial awareness as it is that Japanese people (primarily in Tokyo) just don’t care anymore.

Have you ever tried to apologize every time you bump into someone, step on someones foot, lightly knock someones bag, etc…? When I first came to Japan, I did! For about a week…
And by the end of that week, I started to think of how incredibly senseless it was to apologize for everything.
In anticipation of updating this post, I searched through my things this morning and pulled out my old journal…
In the last 3 days of my apologetic week, I had roughly kept track of how many times I apologized per day… and it was… well, a lot.
And this got me to thinking,
Let’s say on average, each person in Tokyo, bumps into people or makes accidental physical contact a minimum of 5-10 times a day.
And now, let’s imagine that each and every one of these people apologizes for this each and every time…
Can you imagine how noisy this would get?! Or how tired you would get of hearing and making apologies?!?

And so… we give up. We stop apologizing.
In fact, most of us gaijin gave up on this in the first month (if not the first week).
But I think that the difference lies in one point: Most of us… still care.
Most foreigners I know, will go out of their way to make sure that they don’t bump into people, or take up too much space on a train seat.
But you get people who have lived in Tokyo since birth, and bumping into people becomes a part of daily life. They become desensitized, and bumping becomes much more than just bumping…
In fact, a few of the other gaijin I have spoken to, say that they make a very clear effort not to bump into anyone, simply so they don’t end up in a koban with a Japanese person claiming the foreigner hurt them..

I could honestly sit here and keep writing about this for pages and pages, but more than anything, I would love to get your thoughts on this. So please take the time to drop in a comment below!

 

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