This is what a chikan looks like

On the train to work this morning, I grabbed the hand of a guy who was feeling up the ass of a young woman in front of me. He was caught and the three of us went to the police station. Unfortunately the woman decided to not press charges so I just wasted two hours. At least the incident will be put on the groper’s record.

Rich Pav

Richard has been living in Japan since 1990 with his wife and two teenage sons, Tony and Andy.

34 thoughts to “This is what a chikan looks like”

  1. Great job Rich! I commend you for doing what most people in Japan, to my understanding, would have just ignored.

    1. The problem is most people won’t take the initiative. Once I called him out, I got help from other men on the train who kept him from escaping. They also helped the conductors hold him because he was still trying to get away after he got off the train.

  2. You just need a super hero costume. “Chikan Buster!”

    Just kidding – that really is cool of you, Rich.

  3. Very, VERY cool of you. I can’t believe that she didn’t press charges, though, after people got involved and helped her out. I don’t get it.

  4. even if the guy didnt get charges on him, hopefully your example will inspire others not to be passive and do something like you did. at least that guy will have chikan on his record from now on. you did a great thing!

  5. Good job! This story remeinds me of something that happened at my train station one time. This Japanese guy (I think he might have been mentally handicapped – there was a facility near my station) went up to this woman he didn’t know on the train platform and kept asking her over and over if she was “okay” (and he was right in front of her face). When we all got on the train he continued and you could tell she was really uncomfortable and didn’t know what to do. I was shocked that no one was helping her (they all saw it happening) and so I went over and said to the guy “she’s fine!” and he went scampering off to the other end of the car.
    Oddly enough (or maybe it’s not odd for Japan) she didn’t even thank or acknowledge me at all. Oh, well.

  6. You know in a weird a way I can sort of relate to the young woman’s situation. Rich I applaud you for what you did by the way. You’re very brave dude.

    But anyway, about 7 years ago I was coming home from a night out with some friends. It was late at night, about around 10PM or so, and I sitting down on a bench, waiting to catch a bus home. A homeless man came up to me, asking me what i was listening to on my cd player. I didn’t think anything of it really. So I told him, “It’s Skinny Puppy” *yeah I was the typical goth guy back then heh*.
    The next thing you know, he started begging for change and handing me this long story about how he was very far away from home, and needed a few dollars to take a bus on. He needed to go to Trenton New Jersey from Camden New Jersey. That’s not $5.00 fare.
    I had absolutely no money on me, except a bus pass.
    I had enough at that point, and I attempted to get up and walk away from the guy. The next thing I knew, there was another man, much bigger than I who came up behind me. He and the other man both got me up against a wall, told me not to move or say anything or else they were going to cut me. They then proceeded to root through my backpack, cd player, and pockets. They took both my backpack, and cd player.
    The sad part about this story wasn’t that I had my shit taken from me. It was that this happened infront of at least a hundred or so people. And what did they do for me? Nothing, except ridicule me for getting mugged.

    Life is harsh like that. But I moved on.

  7. Those two hours were not wasted. Even if the girl did not lay charges, you’re still a good man for helping her.

  8. chikaning is a side effect of nuclear energy and the lack of space and the high cost of realestate per square footage and all that omega3 on the food makes for a nation of healthy hormones. I’m not saying chikaning is right or would do something like that. I’m saying I understand why it exist.

  9. hehehe. I don’t know if you are being serious or not but you made me laugh. I agree with you 100% on a few of those explanations. Especially lack of space, if there was more space people would not have to ride so close to one another and chikaners could not get away with their dirty work.

  10. Man. What a fucker. I’m a highschool girl, I would who given him a round house kick and screamed ‘CHIIIGAAAAAN!!!’ I mean, fuck. I can’t believe she didn’t press charges.

  11. Great Job!
    But if I were you I would beat the hell out of him.
    You this thing happened to my gf couple of times, and when she told me about that I got so angry. I couldn’t do anything since I wasn’t there but, I was so pissed off.

  12. Bravo for stepping up against Japan’s “dirty little secret” on their most excellent rail system. My blonde wife used to get fondled, leered at, and propositioned all the time on the trains. In fact, several years ago we spotted a ‘Peeping Tom’ on our balcony watching my wife undress (on the 13th floor!) She said she had been followed home from the train a few times and felt like she was being watched in the past. I chased the guy down the street, but he got away. In my statement I told the police it was a Japanese man, but they said that was impossible – a Japanese man would NEVER do such a thing. They said he must have been Filippino. I told them I’d spent much time in the Philippines and the perv definately was not Filippino. The police then told me I probably couldn’t tell a Japanese man from a Korean, so they altered my official statement to say “he was an Asian man, possibly Korean.”

  13. Hey Kyle! Did you notice that your (avitar) photo appears directly below the headline “This is what a chikan looks like”? Just thought it was kinda funny.

  14. FANTASTIC JOB!! these sickos think they have a sense of entitlement. Thankyou for doing something about it. that one hour of your time has brought awareness as far reaching as melbourne australia.

  15. Did it ever occur to anyone that perhaps this young woman was enjoying the feel of a man’s hand on her buttocks. Probably after she got to the police station she was so annoyed with the fact that her enjoyment was interrupted by this ‘mr. goody shoes”.

    There are thousands of Japanese females who ride the trains and buses who do not wear panties in the hopes of getting groped and fondled in their most private body regions. For many of these Japanese females, getting groped on crowded trains and buses is proof positive that they are still attractive and desirable.

  16. Interesting thought, and actually true.
    Due to the stress and pressure put on the younger generation (upper High School girls), it has been alleged that they sometimes encourage the act as a way of relieving tension…

    I am not confirming this is true, but just what I have read about…

    I think its terrible to be honest, but such as life.

  17. Of course it’s possible that a few women enjoy it but I’m sure the vast majority of them just want to get to their destination without being humiliated and treated like a piece of meat.
    It’s much, much more likely that a few of the above posters have misinterpreted shyness and embarrassment as consent or arousal. Cultural differences need to be remembered.
    Also, and I can’t believe I have to say this but,
    1) People are allowed to go commando without getting molested. It’s not consent. (Again, I’m not saying that no passengers are turned on by frotteurism. I’m saying that a lack of panties is not necessarily linked to it. I am also saying that people have the right to wear what they want without being groped/raped/whatever. Victim blaming is shitty logic.
    Driving a nice car doesn’t mean it’s your fault if it gets stolen. It’s the fault of the person who stole it. It is wrong to steal cars and to grope women on subways. It is not wrong to have a nice car or wear sexy clothes.)
    2) Low self-esteem or feeling unsexy hardly necessitates “flattery” in the form of molestation. These are guys (and some women) who get off on making people uncomfortable. That’s not exactly flattering.
    3) Women (including Japanese school girls) have much, much better ways of “relieving tension” than being groped on public transportation. (And Jack, I know you’re just repeating what you heard. This is simply for the record.)
    Just some food for thought 🙂
    The pic reminds me of the HollaBack movement:
    http://hollabacknyc.blogspot.com/

  18. to the guy with the peeping tom problem

    the police most likey changed your statement based on profiling and not to say that they did not believe you

    a good example of profiling

    is i got mugged last night night and i could not give any description of the suspect except his hight the suspect most is likely black

    profiling is based off of demographics if most Japanese’s men smoked allot then u should have caught him profilng is not 100% accurate hince they said Asian that would include a Japaneses man and they said possibly Korean because u had rulled out a another Asian ethnic group filapinos they want to catch this guy as much as you and are doing thare best

  19. Anyone consider that some women don’t press charges because they actually like it?
    Now before you all start shouting at me, i’m not saying all women are asking to be sexually assaulted. but what i am saying is that women’s sexuality is often repressed, especially in countries like Japan from what i understand. This often disables women from admitting to enjoying sexual contact. Unlike in many parts of rock/goth culture that i have seen, in which “groping” at concerts can often be a reason for some women to attend.
    A female friend of mine is one such woman. She loves to be touched like that at rock gigs.
    Now, i say this not to vindicate sexual offenders, but to offer a possible understanding into reasons why some women don’t report or press charges on these matters. People are complex and so require a diathesis rather than a reductionist theory to explain.
    Understanding these reasons can possible help us to reach out to others and maybe in doing so can help put an end to sexual assaults.

  20. You realise you made things worse for the victim, right?
    All you did was draw out the ordeal by embarrassing her in front of the police. I know the whole chikan thing sucks, but you’re an outsider to another culture. If she wanted justice, she would have said something.

  21. Fuck you and fuck your “I’m an outsider” bullshit. You weren’t there so you don’t know what you’re talking about. If the same thing ever happened again, I wouldn’t do anything differently, and every Japanese woman I’ve spoken to supports me. I don’t know who you are, nor do I care.

  22. WHAT??? You turned the dude in? That was free a$z and you turned him in. Shame on you! You should of just jumped in and enjoyed. All you had to do was stick two fingers in her, and you would of had a blast…… oh, wait, are you gay? That’s it! Your a fag, it all makes sense now. Btw, fag, you should take this post down. Innocent people trying to get off, find this on google and get pissed cause you make them flacid. Thats depressing. Well I’m going to go rape a school girl while you keep depressing the horny.

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