Japan Rush Hours- ラッシュ

Ohayou mina~~~~~~


Well today  we will talk about rush hour in Japan..------

Who don't know Japan? As a developed country with powerfull economy, culture and people, Japan have a big influence to the world after US, China and another developed country.

I think we all know that the living expenses in Japan is very high and expensive. And when it comes to rush hour, it's very terrible crowd. Mostly same likes another developed country, the rush hour is the troublesome thing. Especially for woman in Japan.

As we know, Japan has a large railway lines and most of people in Japan use train for their mass transportation. And from web japan guide that i've read, it said " The weekday rush hours peak between 8am and 9am in the morning, and shortly after 5pm in the evening, however, morning rush hours tend to be more concentrated and heavier than evening rush hours. Rush hours are most extreme in Tokyo, but can also be pretty heavy in Japan's other major cities. There are no business rush hours on weekends and on public holidays.

During the morning rush hours, the traffic volume on certain urban and suburban trains is so intense that passengers are pressed against each other to a degree where they are unable to move. In railway stations, passenger streams have to be neatly organized by signs, lanes and station personnel in order to keep everybody moving. If you go to Japan and try to ride trains at rush hour, i'm sure you'll be so uncomfortable. It's so crowded and most of case the ekiin / 駅員/ station staff will forcibly close the trains door so all the passanger able to ride the train.

rush hour at shinjuku station

eki-in try to push the passanger into train

It is recommended to avoid the morning rush hours if possible, especially when traveling with luggage or small children.
Particularly crowded rail sections during the Tokyo morning rush hours include

• Ueno to Okachimachi (JRYamanote and Keihin-Tohoku Lines),
• Nakano to Shinjuku (JR Chuo Line),
• Kinshicho to Ryogoku (JR Sobu Line),
• Kiba to Monsen Nakacho (Tokyo Metro Tozai Line),
• Ikejiri Ohashi to Shibuya (Tokyu Denentoshi Line)
• And Kawasaki to Shinagawa (JR Tokaido Line), all in Tokyo.

There are serious problem that appears due the rush hour in Japan likes:



Chikan

Have you ever heard " chikan"? Why are it's troublesome for women to ride train at rush hour in Japan?

Well, chikan is a kind of sexual deviance and crime on crowded Japanese train that mostly the victim is women and high school girl, even there are some case that men also be a victim. Usually chikan is known as groping or touching or fondling another person in a sexual way using the hands; it generally has a negative connotation, and is considered molestation in most societies. I dont know why but if the victim is a men, it's not too disputed and it's just like a common thing but when it comes that the victim is women, the case is differently handled and it's more serious than males victims. ~~~

From articles subways molester in Japan, the molester are mostly salarymen in their 30s and 40s. Tokyo Saikyo Lines are popular with chikan case. The male molester who enjoys the opportunities presented by a crowded to subway to touch and fondle women's breasts, buttocks and legs and may even involve ejaculation.. Men have also been caught with cameras in their shoes that allow them to take photographs up a woman’s skirt. [Source: Sherly Wu Dunn, New York Times, December 17, 1995]. Obviously there are many more cases that are not reported.


Even there are the worst case that the molester have slipped a hand under the victim's dresses and into their panties and slid a hand into their blouses to unhook their bras.

It's so disgusting and scary...

In Japan, there are chikan clubs for the mollester to share their tips and tricks to do chikan at crowded trains. How could it has a club? Just banned it anyway because it just make chikan became worst.
I feel sad and bad for the victim, but there a figthing back against molester from the victims and goverment such as:

• Women carry large hat pins, which serves two purposes: it allows women to give a groping hand a painful stab and when the owner of hand yells out, the women can find out who their attacker is.

• New women-only subway cars were introduced in February 2001 partly to help women escape groping.

• The government has organized a nationwide campaign: Chikan-wa Hanzai-da ("Groping Is a Criminal Offense"). Anti-groping posters are hung in subway stations. Some of them featured pretty teenage girls in school uniforms that probably did more to excite than discourage potential gropers.

Even there are the fighting back about chikan but untill now chikan is never end and still be a huge problem in Japan. And recently, it said that the molester of chikan is not only an salarymen but mostly it done by all men in Japan. The hardest problem of chikan are most of the victim just being silent or doesn't report the case to police.  For me. chikan is a serious problem in Japan and i hope it will end soon. Whoever do chikan, it's an unforgiveable thing and must be punished.

So guys, when you go to Japan and ride the train at rush hour, you must extra be carefull because there are so much molester on the crowded train. The safest way that use the women subways cars or protect yourself with usefull thing to prevent chikan. Okay, that's all about. Thank's for the read and be carefull ......



Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groping

http://factsanddetails.com/japan.php?itemid=854

Japan Guide