How To Avoid Over-Crowded Trains
By Kassia Krozser January 5, 2006
Until you've been squished from all sides riding the subway in Tokyo during morning rush hour, you cannot say that you've truly experienced a crowded train. New Yorkers might complain, but we've never seen a subway car there packed to capacity. Helpful white-gloved attendants packing people into cars might seem like a cliche, until you've been shoved into the empty space created by two people exhaling simultaneously. Physical contact with your fellow passengers is unavoidable -- leading to a growing problem with groping.
Last year, train lines in Tokyo introduced women-only cars to reduce these groping incidents, perpetrated by chikan, the Japanese word for molesters. Groping complaints on trains tripled from 1996 to 2004, prompting train operators to take action. Granted, avoiding handsy fellow passengers isn't the only benefit:
But the reasons women seek out these carriages are not always straightforward. "I don't go out of my way to ride on them," said Akane Kojima, a 30-year-old Tokyo office worker. "If I were to do so, it wouldn't necessarily be to escape the perverts but to escape the various bodily odors that men emanate, particularly during the summer months."
Other benefits include a respite from the often racy advertisements that fill the various train lines. The specially marked trains generally run during the super-crowded morning commute hours. A few befuddled men find themselves in the relatively uncrowded female-only cars, but are generally steered toward the crushed embrace of their fellow men.
Western travelers can identify the trains by the hot pink signs designating the cars as "Women Only". Helpfully, the signs are printed in English as well as Japanese.
- Train Operators Fight Groping by Creating Women-Only Cars: Female passengers on Tokyo's subway say molestation is common. Many have requested separate compartments, companies report.
- Women-Only Trains in Tokyo