Groping for answers on
gropers
(This article, which first appeared in the
Japan Times of July 23, 2005,
is reproduced here in Japan Perspectives by kind permission of the
author.)
Beginning May 9 [2005],
nine commuter lines in the greater Tokyo area began offering women-only
train cars in response to the growing number of women being groped by men
in the trains. The number of incidents reached 2,201 in 2004, up from 778
in 1996. Each line has designated one car from each train during the
morning rush as being for women only.
These are not the first women-only
cars in Japanese rail history, but to me this time the impact seems larger
than ever before.
Why? Well, because now my main line
is employing one such car. Not only that, the car designated for women
only is none other than my car, the one I have wrenched myself into every
day for almost a decade. The one that matches my exit point perfectly.
 So now I must slide 10 meters down
and take the next car. No problem, right? Except every other guy in my car
must do the same — with the end result being that there are two cars'
worth of men trying to squeeze themselves into one car. It takes more than
an attendant with white gloves to pack us all in. It takes a battering
ram.
In the past, I was at least
guaranteed a strap to hang on and believed, if I lived clean and prayed
hard, God would sometimes reward me with a seat. Now I make far simpler
supplications and ask only for enough air to breathe. And that I won't get
crushed by the other wriggling bodies around me. Talk about being groped.
The other day, with my face mashed
against the inside window, I could not help but spy the women in the rear
car. Most had seats. Some stood. And a few were ballroom dancing. Or at
least they could have if they wanted. They had enough room.
For the record, I am not pro-groper.
Gropers are criminals and deserve to be groped themselves by the long arm
of the law.
Nor would I be against the train
lines establishing single cars for snifflers, snorers, college boys with
BO, salarymen with gas, or any foul combination thereof. Or for any group
that makes life a little harder for all commuters.
But for women only? Somehow I feel
this is unfair. I feel I am suffering for someone else's crime.
So, rather than cars for only women,
I suggest cars for only gropers. This protects women and serves to isolate
the rightful problem.
"You cannot be serious," my
wife says.
"And why not? If a man is stupid
enough to molest women on a train, he might also be stupid enough to fall
for this. Plus he would only have to reach such moronic heights once. For
the cops could accept riding on that car as a confession and arrest the
entire lot."
She gives me a look that says if
reaching moronic heights were a crime, I might be public enemy No. 1.
"Why don't you simply walk two
cars down, instead of one? Or even three cars? The crowd is bound to even
out."
"But then I would be farther
from my exit."
"So? Which is worse? Walking for
30 seconds? Or imitating a sardine for most of an hour?"
"That's not the point," I
tell her. "The point is whether women should receive preferential
treatment during rush hour. The only crime the great majority of men have
committed is being born male."
"And some women might forgive
you that. Yet, there are at least 2,201 men who are not innocent. Probably
many more."
I argue that the 2,201 number
reflects incidents, not gropers. Who knows? Maybe we are all victims of
just one very active man — sort of a supergroper.
From her face I can tell that she
hadn't thought of that. Or that she can't believe I have thought of that.
Or that anyone could think of that.
"All right," she says.
"I know you have a more serious solution. Let's hear it."
I nod. "Mine is a simple idea,
one that the train lines are gonna love. I recommend that women-only cars
be continued, but that the females using them be required to pay an extra
fee."
"But . . ."
"Then we'll see how many women
are truly worried about gropers and how many are just taking advantage of
the commuter lines' benevolence."
"That's . . ."
"The train companies will rake
in a little loot as well."
". . . discrimination!"
So? And women-only train cars are
not?
Of course, the sexes are not really
equal and never have been. From politics to business to whatever, it's a
man's world. That's not the way it should be, nor maybe the way it always
will be, but that's the way it is, especially in Japan, where the
"unfair" sex has traditionally been spoiled by the fairer one.
Like many other surface
"solutions" to deep-rooted problems, single-sex train cars
merely treat a symptom and not the illness. It may reduce the number of
gropings, but will have no effect whatsoever on groper mentality. Only two
things will eliminate that.
Better antigroper education. . . .
This has continued for some time without much effect, perhaps because of
that traditional spoiling or perhaps because much of it is lip service.
And stiffer groper penalties. . . .
Like making gropers serve their prison sentences with both hands
handcuffed to a commuter rail. Or tattooing the word "groper" to
their foreheads. Or perhaps plastering their photos inside the trains in
place of those cleavage-popping honeys who advertise manga, photos that,
incidentally, might encourage groping just a bit.
"What you should do," my
wife suggests, "is just wait. The crowds per car will eventually even
out. Besides, you have no answer either. You're only 'groping' for ideas
like everyone else."
Fortunately, such effort bears no
penalty. Not even a punishing train ride if I'm wrong.
© Thomas Dillon for the Japan Times 2005 All rights
reserved
Editor's note: Sincere thanks to the author for
his kind permission to republish the above article, which first appeared
in his regular Japan Times column "When East Marries
West".
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