Big increase in sex assaults on Japan's trains

Police say there were 2,201 such cases in 2004 - a three-fold increase in eight years. Sixty per cent of the victims of the more serious sexual assaults were high school students.

Attempts to crack down on the persistent scourge of Japan’s notoriously crowded trains have included patrols, publicity campaigns and the introduction of women-only carriages. But the figures suggest they have failed.

Japan’s rush hour produces a twice-daily crush that makes it nearly impossible for victims to identify their molesters. The problem is worse in the evenings, when alcohol affects the behaviour of many men on their journey home.

Ordinary male passengers have taken to deliberately holding books and magazines with both hands to demonstrate their innocence in case anything happens near them.

Less serious cases reported to police usually involve groping or the use of hidden cameras to take pictures of women’s underwear. One teenager sent a message to police appealing for help on behalf of a friend who was being molested on the train almost daily.

Most incidents take place between 7am and 9am, when Tokyo trains are packed with students and office workers. Teenage girls, many of them in mini-skirted school uniforms, were the most frequent targets of attacks last year - they accounted for about a third of the victims. The suspects’ ages ranged from 14 to 80, with men in their 30s accounting for more than a third of cases.

Police recently released the names of the most notorious train lines for fondling incidents, and urged female passengers to take caution.

The number of incidents fell temporarily in 2003 after Tokyo’s city government increased the penalties for groping - those convicted now face up to six months in prison or a fine of up to 500,000 (2,500). Sexual assault carries a possible prison sentence of up to seven years.

Police said the latest rise could be due to women being more willing to report assaults.

Across Japan, 13 train companies now operate women-only carriages, the majority operating only at night. They are supported not only by women, but by many men who say it saves them from being mistaken for gropers.

A Tokyo police spokesman said patrols on trains and platforms would be increased.

But many authorities call groping a "nuisance" rather than a crime and most women are unwilling to report such incidents, either because they feel a sense of shame or because of a belief that they will not be taken seriously.

A recent survey suggested nearly 64 per cent of Japanese women in their 20s and 30s had been groped on trains, subways or at transit stations in Tokyo. In most cases, the women fled or tried to stop the groper. Some said they had simply endured the unwanted fondling.

Even modest measures to curb the gropers have brought a backlash from disgruntled males. Hundreds of men have protested to city authorities in Nagoya about what they call its "counter-discriminatory" policies. Drunken workers have been known to shout obscene abuse at the sight of the pink "women-only" stickers on the sides of trains.

Tales of men who have been falsely accused by women have featured on television news bulletins. Last year, the media seized upon the case of a gang of teenage girls who extorted money by shouting "chikan" (pervert) at innocent men on crowded trains, before the racket was broken up by the police.