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Japan gets to grips with train-grope websites

Police pressure on online touch-up tipsters

Japanese police are planning to "put pressure" on websites which offer pervs top tips on how to grope women on trains without getting cuffed, and the best packed commuter lines on which to fondle victims.

Earlier this year, a 23-year-old man who was arrested in Tokyo for molesting a high-school student told police he'd "chosen the Siakyo Line to carry out his attack because it had received high marks on a bulletin board dedicated to gropers".

The Yomiuri newspaper said the man explained to officers that he had "used the website to work on the most effective methods of molesting women and 'wanted to confirm' if they were effective".

Accordingly, the Telegraph reports, the powers that be are eyeing 100 such websites which have contributed to the growing problem of groping. While around 1,800 arrests are made each year, police reckon the actual number of incidents is much higher, since victims are "too embarrassed" to come forward.

The National Police Agency further announced it will liaise with train operators to consider other groper-busting measures, possibly including security cameras inside carriages, security guards and "more women-only carriages for the busiest times of the day".

Ultimately, the Telegraph notes, it's often difficult to secure a conviction for groping since the allegations are hard to prove.

The Supreme Court last year acquitted a 63-year-old professor at the National Defence Medical College of molesting a teenage girl on a train in 2006. He'd previously been sentenced to 22 months in prison by a lower court, "based solely on the testimony of the alleged victim". ®

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