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Stalking, fondling & groping

thomas

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14 Mar 2002
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Reported by Kyodo News

Tokyo, January 6, 2001

Fitness plus defense, a new craze for Tokyo women

Aerobics combined with self-defense skills have become the new craze for young women in Tokyo where an increasing number of stalking cases have been reported.
''Suppose your offender comes from that way. You guard yourself with the left forearm this way, kick the person roundhouse with your right knee, then quickly get back by one step,'' instructor Kazue Higashiyama tells people in one exercise class.

A group of young women repeat the karate-like motion to up-beat music in background while Higashiyama goes around with a kickshield, letting each of them punch and kick the shield.

''Don't be meek! Kick with a shout! Shout, shout, shout!'' Higashiyama yells.

The class becomes exited, chanting ''Ha! Ha! Ha!'' at each motion, just fighters in combat-sports do.

Soon, the insides of the studio's glass windows, facing to the winter night outside, fog up, probably from the sweat and heat of the excited women.

The women, mostly students and office workers in their 20s and 30s, gather at the studio after a day's hard work to learn self-defense skills, get exercise and let off stress out as well.

AXIS.K studio in downtown Tokyo launched the special exercise courses in 1997.

Higashiyama, a holder of high degrees in various combat-sports such as karate and aikido, is one of the chief instructors at the studio and devised the courses.

''I have the experience of being confronted by a few men on a street late at night but was able to dodge them with a technique of siding away,'' Higashiyama said.

That gave her the idea to teach self-protection skills for women, she said. ''All we need to know is how to dodge at an initial stage of attack so we can run.''

But many women might feel self-conscious going to dojo (training halls) even if they want to learn fighting techniques, Higashiyama and her colleagues thought.

They also decided the training had to be fun.

So, they arrived at the idea of combining a number of fighting skills with aerobics motions and launched the courses within ordinary fitness gyms.

A gimmick for the new fitness courses is clearly the name, Goshinbics, a coined word from goshinjutsu, or self-protection skills, and aerobics.

The naming, promoted through ads in culture and hobby magazines, grabbed the attention of novelty-loving young women right away and the courses became well known by word of mouth among them.

The number of the students for the courses tripled and quadrupled in the past three years, with classes taking place not only at the studio but also at various gyms at local community centers. Similar courses are also set up in fitness clubs run by other operators with names such as ''Bodycombat,'' which similarly stress fighting sports.

Adding momentum to Goshinbics has been an increasing number of stalking cases reported in Japan, which raised the awareness among women of the need to protect themselves.

Stalking has long existed, but a particularly gruesome case in October 1999 heightened society's attention -- a college student was stabbed to death on the outskirts of Tokyo by a man hired by her former boyfriend.

The victim had sought police involvement after being persistently chased for nearly 10 months by the former boyfriend, who also circulated mail among her neighbors defaming her.

But the police were slow to take action and failed to protect her.

People then criticized the long-held police attitude of taking stalking cases lightly as ''private entanglements between lovers'' and ''noncriminal matters.''

The case spurred people to take precautions, pushing up the number of stalking complaints to police to more than 11,000 during the first six months of 2000 in Japan, 1.8 times more than in all of 1999, according to a National Police Agency report.


Copyright ツゥ Kyodo News
 
Groping victims speak up in Tokyo survey

CNN.com:

February 18, 2001

Groping victims speak up in Tokyo survey

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- More than 70 percent of female students at two high schools in Japan's capital have been groped on trains, Kyodo news agency reported.

The report said on Sunday that a civic group, which was set up to fight sexual molestation on trains, surveyed 400 girls at two private schools in Tokyo.

Groping has long been a problem in Japan, especially in the nation's capital where rush hour buses and subway trains are often packed with commuters.

Asked what counter measures should be taken, about 41 percent of the girls said they wanted harsher punishment for gropers, 29 percent said they wanted women-only carriages and 21 percent called for steps to alleviate rush-hour congestion.

Those found guilty of groping can currently be fined up to 50,000 yen ($433) or be held in police custody, an official at the Tokyo metropolitan police said.

The Keio Electric Railway Co set up female-only carriages to protect women over the year-end holiday season, which sees a peak in molestations by boisterous male passengers on their way home from year-end parties.

A spokesman for the railway company said the company would look into extending the service if the response was positive.


Copyright ツゥ CNN.com


So far I only knew of gender segregation in some Islamic countries I have lived in before; and now Japan as well. Interesting, eh? ;)
 
34 arrested in 3 months under new antistalking law

Reported today by Kyodo News: now isn't that good to know?

34 arrested in 3 months under new antistalking law

TOKYO April 26 Kyodo - Japanese police arrested 34 people on suspicion of stalking others, in the first three months since an antistalking law came into effect Nov. 24, the National Police Agency (NPA) said Thursday.

Two others were questioned without being arrested. Police issued warnings to 239 people, the NPA said, adding that six were ordered to stop stalking others.


Copyright ツゥ Kyodo news
 
More teachers punished for sexual harassment

Reported by the Japan Times on 27/05/01:

More teachers punished for sexual harassment

National universities penalized 16 teaching staff in the 2000 academic year for sexual harassment, a sharp increase from the three instructors punished a year earlier, according to documents released Saturday by the Education Ministry.

The rise was attributed to the growing awareness of the issue, as evidenced by an increasing number of schools encouraging victims to report harassment and the introduction of government regulations to curb such incidents.

Documentation on the penalties imposed on teaching staff between 1996 and 2000 was released by the ministry after a request under the information disclosure act.

The documents show that in the 2000 academic year, which ended in March this year, two perpetrators were fired, seven suspended, three were given pay cuts and four were reprimanded. The victims in all 16 cases were students.

Key details, such as the names of those involved, where and when the acts took place and what exactly transpired, were blacked out in the released documents.

But when information previously released by universities is taken into account, some of the censored details can be deduced.

The two staff members fired in the 2000 academic year, for instance, were a professor at Saga University and an associate professor at Tohoku University.

But other incidents that occurred in 2000, which were of a malicious nature and extended over a long period of time, did not result in instructors being fired.

For example, one staff member was suspended for six months after maintaining a sexual relationship with a student whom he blackmailed and choked, among other offenses, and who was eventually forced to take a leave of absence from school.

In another case, a teacher who repeatedly groped a student in a car was suspended for three months.

The total number of teaching staff who were penalized for some reason remained around 10 during each year from 1996 through 1999, but rose to 37 in 2000, largely due to a rise in sexual harassment cases.

Of the 37, four instructors were sacked including the two who were fired for sexual harassment. The other two were fired for paying for sex with minors.


Copyright ツゥ Japan Times
 
Ex-cop gets 12 years for groping 19 women

Reported by Kyodo News, January 30, 2002:

Ex-cop gets 12 years for groping 19 women

Yokohama 窶 The Yokohama District Court on Tuesday sentenced a former Kanagawa prefectural police officer to 12 years in prison for indecent assaults and other offenses against 19 young women from November 1999 to March last year.

Yoichi Takami, 29, had groped a woman in her 20s as well as 18 junior and high school girls aged between 12 and 17 in Yokohama and other areas, and threatened them not to report him, according to the ruling.


Copyright ツゥ Kyodo News
__________________________________________________

I have studied law and also worked at criminal courts, but I must admit that this is a very harsh sentence for "groping". Not that I have any sympathy for such "chikan", but I'm wondering what's the standard sentence for rapists in Japan? :eek:
 
12 years? wow, that's a harsh sentence, but I guess one that is fairly easily avoided if you're right in the head. But then again, that is a lot of women affected!

I read a while back that there was a book released or set for release in Japan that was like a manual for how to grope women in public. There was heavy opposition and that book was banned. But if you ask for my opinion, I say give them harsh sentences. People can't just go around do whatever pleases them
 
Hi Tom,

I feel absolutely no pity with such loonies, not in Japan, not elsewhere. I guess the harsh sentence was due to repeated crime and the fact that his victims were minors.

I think I've heard about the book you mentioned. Wasn't that some sort of manual for Japanese sex tourists? If I am not wrong Taiwan protested vehemently against the publication, so in the end the publisher gave in.

Just found a related article:

Shopping and Sex Please, We're Japanese

=> http://www.time.com/time/asia/travel/magazine/0,9754,107299,00.html
 
hao thomas-san

yes, that sounds like the manual i previously had read about. i share your resentment towards these kind of offenders, especially those who target minors. for one thing, it's stealing; stealing innocence... and in India, thieves get the offending limb removed. now that is harsh
 
Ni hao,

I don't know about India, but Sharia (Islamic Law) stipulates the amputation of limbs for convicted thiefs. However, as far as I know, this punishment is only applied in Saudi-Arabia and Sudan (the Taliban were indulging in such strict interpretations of Islam as well).

I am not quite sure however what's the Sharia punishment for child molestation, "harsh" would be the catchword too. ;)
 
Oh no , chopping limbs is not in India. In fact, the punishment is far from so strong since it takes years and years to get a judgement.
But no, Indians aint this harsh,
 
Hmmm, not sure which country it is then. I really thought it was India. Will have to check with the books. There was even a picture of the offending person's limb being placed on the doorstep to deter further thieves. I'll get to you on that one
 
I agree that sentence was harsh, but the judge must have had adequate evidence to impose such a sentence,these crimes on minors should not go unpunished, you just never know who this particular cop may have forced his will on next, I dread to think, and you know the old saying [give them an inch and they take a yard]. I agree with these types of crimes being given the harshest penalty, Here in Nr. Ireland a rapist gets the maximum of a three year sentence, unless he has damaged the victim and has used a weapon during the attack, now where is the fairness in that, I say remove the offending limb or give them a proper sentence, sorry I got a bit carried away there, but the sentence should reflect the crime.
Debs.
 
On the other hand, why should a cop be a higher moral authority than the rest of society? They're just part of it, with the same statistical amount of black sheep among them. Unfortunately...
:eek:
 
It's that "Unforunately" bit that gets me though...I don't expect better behaviour, I just wish for it...... and while I'm there I'd like.............:)
 
but dont you think that the police are supposed to be that bit more respected than the average say,,,,street cleaner?:confused:




society is expected to uphold the law, and live by its rules and the police are the very people who inforce this, so I believe that if a police man of any high ranking title or simply a beginner, should be treated with nothing less than the firm and long arm of thier laws, double sentence or something as harsh should be imposed for the so called abuse of office(position) and the effect on our society as a whole,
 
totally agreeable ....

but Japan has it seems special rules for civil servants.
Some ways protecting some ways more punishable.

any teacher caught breaking a traffic law will be written up in the newspaper and such.
 
oh well thats so typical of all societys, but bet the police commisioners dont break traffic rules hehe or the high court judges for that matter👍



they only inforce these laws, they have never ever ever even came close to stepping over the very thin line that would make them a law breaker, just like the rest of the world, littering a street (never) useing the services of a paid lady(never) driving threw a red light(never) causeing an abstruction on a busy road, just to pop into the shop for a sweet, because they where extremely drunk the night before and dont want thier breath to get noticed(never) ahhhhh the list is endless,
:angryfire




went off a little there,lol,

but its the hard working teacher(over worked and underpaid) that gets a spectical made of her/him for a deed that is most likely to be laughted at by the entire country, ( except the judges or police commisioners of course)ahhhh! I think I better go now I'm going off again:clap:
 
hehe, teachers in Sapporo have a great union apparently.
The union keeps the teaching hours to about 15 per week and pretty decent salary.

For that matter any civil servant in Japan makes out quite well.

but, errr this is off topic for this thread.


Recently, young women (high school) age have been crying pervert on the trains in-order to get extortion money .... ohhhhhhhhh
 
glad the civil servants there are better treated than here, teachers work 60-70 hours aweek, and your right moyashi this is not the right thread, lol🙂



extortion money? that must be the same as our (cant remember the title)something fund, if you get into a bad fight here and get hospitalised, you can claim from the fund under the pretence that it was secatarion and you where in the wrong place at the wrong time,but you require witness, and there are plenty, for the right price :eek:uch:
 
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