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May 09, 2005

Gropers in the Rear, Please

Ah, the Japanese.

TOKYO - A stepped-up campaign by Tokyo train operators to protect women from gropers by increasing the number of women-only carriages is angering some male commuters.

Several of the Japanese capital’s railway companies introduced the single-sex carriages on Monday as part of a city effort to tackle the problem of men who take advantage of overcrowding to grope female passengers.

In a Tokyo survey last year, almost two thirds of women aged between 20 and 40 said they had been groped on a train.


Posted by tree hugging sister at May 9, 2005 08:49 AM

Comments

Heh. And the guys are complaing. Of course, they're probably the same guys who keep the used undies trade alive.

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at May 9, 2005 09:01 AM

Either that, or the gropers are substituting the men for the women.

A reasonable solution to this problem: when the guy gropes a gal, the gal can shoot the guy. Darwinism at its finest.

Posted by: The Real JeffS at May 9, 2005 09:11 AM

We had a problem similiar to this at the 'E' Club in Memphis. One of the sailers was dubbed the 'mystery gooser' and we'd all had enough. One night I was standing there, flanked by MajorDad (@ that time Sgt Dad) and a friend, when he struck. But he blew it this time. Since I had no drink in my hand, it left me free to jam an elbow back into his solar plexus. The backward stagger, doubled over posture and grunt of pain identified the miscreant. One of the few times in my life I reacted quick enough to cause some hurt. And it effectively ended the bootie grabbing.

Posted by: tree hugging sister at May 9, 2005 09:28 AM

I wonder if Ken's bruise has healed?

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at May 9, 2005 10:14 AM

Keio's been doing the separate car at rush hour thing since about 2000. Women are occasionally offenders, too, but the guys aren't complaining. Man, oh man I have a great story about this, but I can't tell it on the Net, because it would uniquely identify me and the dude it happened to.

I will say that pornographic Manga don't help the situation. I can not watch "Sailor Moon" because of the blue knock-offs that dirty old men used to read on the train while I was working there.

Posted by: John at May 9, 2005 10:19 AM

I haven't seen Manga, but a lot of anime seems to me to be soft-core kiddie porn. I'm so glad that my daughter is past watching "Sailor Moon" and the others.

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at May 9, 2005 10:47 AM

Inquiring minds want to know...JOHN...so you better be tiptiptapping out a discrete email to me, since I don't know any of these people anyway. AND Bingley's driving me crazy. So show some mercy and spill the dirt.

Posted by: tree hugging sister at May 9, 2005 10:47 AM

...or else...

Posted by: tree hugging sister at May 9, 2005 11:03 AM

"I'd knock you on your ass if you groped me like that"

"99% of the women do. But that other one percent..."

Posted by: Ken Summers at May 9, 2005 01:04 PM

"If I said you had a lovely body would you hold it against me?"

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at May 9, 2005 01:09 PM

But that other one percent..."

...are why men are pigs.

Posted by: tree hugging sister at May 9, 2005 01:13 PM

So you agree it's their fault.

Posted by: Ken Summers at May 9, 2005 01:37 PM

Q: Why are men such pigs?

A: Because women let them.

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at May 9, 2005 02:28 PM

NOT so fast. Major Dad always tries the 'why are men pigs?' when the 1% is spotted. To which my answer is always 'because you are'. The 1% is merely a feeble cover to excuse your inherently baser natures. You can try to blame the 1% for what you would have been doing anyway.

Posted by: tree hugging sister at May 9, 2005 02:31 PM

If it weren't for the 1%, we wouldn't be doing it. It's a Pavlov/reward thing.

Posted by: Ken Summers at May 9, 2005 03:43 PM

Hell, that's much better odds than Lotto.

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at May 9, 2005 03:45 PM

Better payoff, too.

Posted by: Ken Summers at May 9, 2005 03:55 PM

It's a "Scratch Off and Win Instantly" game.

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at May 9, 2005 04:04 PM

Wouldn't be if you groped me without my consent. I don't do elbows... I do squeeeeeeeeeezes. Hard ones. Whether I kick once they hit the ground depends on where they groped.

Of course, a masochist might consider that a win. (I have been groped when I didn't wish to be. But never twice by the same person.)

Posted by: Kathy K at May 9, 2005 07:12 PM

Kathy's apparently not in the 1%.

Posted by: Ken Summers at May 9, 2005 11:37 PM

Praise Jeezus.

Posted by: tree hugging sister at May 9, 2005 11:41 PM

Back to the article, what do you expect from a country with celebrations like these:

http://www5f.biglobe.ne.jp/~rajomon/sub501.html

Note the smiles on the girls with the smaller, but still quite impressive, uhm, artifacts. Also the girl under the much larger artifact. See what I mean about the occasional turnabout?

Posted by: John at May 10, 2005 07:56 AM

Now that's an interesting parade John.

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at May 10, 2005 08:32 AM

Do I even want to look?

Posted by: tree hugging sister at May 10, 2005 09:00 AM

It's pretty funny, actually.

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at May 10, 2005 09:15 AM

Oh, ICK.

But it reminds me of how our newbie's would wig the first time they were in a Japanese head, if there were locals doing their thing at the same time. There was some serious sizing up going on and it would flip the poor guys out. There seems to be a national male inferiority complex on that island.

Posted by: tree hugging sister at May 10, 2005 10:08 AM

"Oh, ICK." Yeah, yeah, yeah, THS. When I was at this parade in 2001 there were two tourbuses of servicemen and women there, one from Iwakuni, and one from Yokosuka. Are you telling me they didn't ship you up there for some R&R when you were in Japan?

Posted by: John at May 10, 2005 10:50 AM

Well, you know what they say about a girl and the size of her eyes... Must be why those anime babes all look like lemurs with those peepers.

Posted by: Nightfly at May 10, 2005 01:17 PM

John ~ GTFO!!! Really? In the early 80's we went to the PI for bigtime R&R, rode a bike out to Kentai, hopped a train to Miyajima or Hiroshima, or clawed someone's eyes out to get the det to Okinawa (I never got there.). Weren't no tour buses takin' anybody anywhere. (And, had there been, I most probably would have passed on this cultural delight. ICK.)

Lemurs. Oh gawd Fly, that's a hoot!

Posted by: tree hugging sister at May 10, 2005 01:39 PM

Oh gawd Fly, that's a hoot!

Lemurs, not Hooters

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at May 10, 2005 01:44 PM

I think it was Iwakuni, unless you know of another Marine base south of Nagoya. They were definitely Marines, the squids were from Yokosuka.

Posted by: John at May 10, 2005 02:21 PM

There's always a detachment of grunts in the Fuji area, tho I can't think of the name of the camp where they are. They run ops for the grunts off the MEU ships that pull in. Our JeffS even went on a hike or two with those guys.

Posted by: tree hugging sister at May 10, 2005 02:55 PM