In Kyoto, female students against subway “scrubbers”

In Japan, sexual assault on trains, called chikan, is a real scourge. A little everywhere in the corridors of the metro, posters warn against the dangers of scrubbers, these men who stick to women to satisfy sexual excitement.

Since the Japanese police are a very masculine organization, these posters usually only suggest that the victims be careful and avoid danger, rather than shifting the blame onto the perpetrators.

In order to make people understand that sexual assault should not be taken lightly, the poster explains the trauma of a victim who says she is afraid to take the train. Poster made by the students of Hiromi Ichikawa

Upset by these posters, Hiromi Ichikawa, a professor at the Faculty of Law at Kyoto Women’s University, invited nine female students to reflect on the problem together in the fall of 2020. They made contact a few months later with the railway police of the Kyoto department to share the results of their discussions.

“The division accepted their request and invited the students to make a presentation on the subject”, tells the daily Mainichi Shimbun. On the occasion of this meeting began an exceptional collaboration between the police, teams of students and the railway company Hankyu, partner of their university. The idea was to jointly design posters against sexual violence in trains, highlighting the point of view of victims of sexual assault, which until then had been very little taken into account.

“I haven’t told anyone about it”

One of these students, Kotono Togawa, 21, told the journalist that she especially wanted to show how much the chikan is a“crime” serious and cruel. She therefore imagined a poster that highlights the fear experienced by the victims. “I never imagined that I would be sexually assaulted, y lit-on. I was so scared that I couldn’t even scream. I didn’t tell anyone about it, and I sank into loneliness. It was very hard. Now I’m afraid to take the train.” Since the end of 2021, this poster has been displayed in the 90 stations of the Hankyu network, the newspaper specifies.

The students of the other team tried to underline the fact that it was a social problem, which we must fight together. Thus, they designed a poster calling on users to alert the police, in order to create a society “where everyone can take the train safely. […] If you ever witness an attack or a scene likely to be, dial 110 [numéro d’urgence de la police au Japon]”, says the poster.

To eradicate cases of chikan and help victims, this one encourages witnesses of a scene of sexual assault to call the police Poster made by the students of Hiromi Ichikawa

“I have always thought that against sexual assault, only women are responsible for their safety, and that it is up to us to defend ourselves, says Nanako Ueno, one of the team’s students. While debating on the subject, I realized that I was wrong. I imagine there are many people who think like me. Through the poster, I wanted to say that this idea is wrong.”

A fruitful collaboration

For the officials of the police and Hankyu, the exchanges with the students were rich in lessons, adds the newspaper. During the presentation in December 2021 of the freshly created posters, one of the managers of the railway company expressed his “surprise” when he learned that “according to previous posters, it was the victims who were asked to act. (…) I hope that the other railway companies will follow suit, and that the posters putting forward different points of view will multiply”. he concluded.

Unlike the other posters, produced with the participation of female students, this one explains how to avoid being attacked on the train, asking women to reduce the risk. “To avoid being a victim of chikan, do not take a crowded car and try not to stay near the doors (where there are often cases of chikan)”. Poster produced by the Kyoto Railway Police, without the participation of Hiromi Ichikawa’s students

“We have the same objective as the students: to reduce as much as possible the number of sexual assaults on the train”, says Atsushi Matsuoka, deputy chief of the Kyoto railway police, interviewed by the newspaper. “We are very grateful to the students for their valuable advice.”