Eric Takabayashi wrote:

> > > In japan, chikan is the rule for men, not the exception.
> >
> > This is a different Japan from the one I live in,
>
> The Japan you "live in" is apparently not Japan as it is.

[snip]

> > Perhaps I live a sheltered life,
>
> You're damned right you do, and you obviously are not doing much reading
or
> watching much news, or perhaps you have not spoken to enough women, if you
do
> not know about chikan. Even a small place like Fukuyama has over a hundred
> complaints - this I heard direct from the police when I escorted a woman
who
> was assaulted herself. Tell me, have you even noticed any posters in the
> stations maybe?

Eric, I'm streetwise, I keep my eyes open, and I listen to stories from my
students, my friends, my colleagues, my neighbours and my wife. Yes, I
follow the news, yes, I've noticed the posters on the station.

That doesn't change the fact that, day after day, I watch women - attractive
ones, too (why not admit it!) - get on and off trains without being
manhandled by men. And one hundred complaints in Fukuyama (population
378,793 in the year 2000 [http://www.demographia.com/db-japancity.htm] does
not make chikan "the rule". Sorry.

--
John
http://rarebooksinjapan.com