Earlier this week, Tokyo police released figures indicating that the number of reported groping incidents on Tokyo trains has risen threefold over the past eight years. While it’s likely that the reported increase is mainly due to the simple fact that more women are filing complaints with police, there is no doubt that Tokyo’s chikan (gropers) still be gettin’ they grope on. In fact, a survey last year found that 64% of women in their 20s and 30s admitted to having been groped on trains, subways or at transit stations in Tokyo.

So what is being done to combat this problem? Well, in typical fashion, not very much. Several train companies have introduced “Women Only” carriages at peak times, namely late-night trains when people are returning home after drinking, however an unexpected side-effect of this is that any women not in the “Women Only” cars are seen by some deranged souls as willing targets for groping.

However, the fact that more women are reporting these incidents rather than suffering in silence is a positive sign that things just may be starting to change. Each year, more than 4000 men are arrested in Japan for groping on trains, and that number is rising. Furthermore, in a surprising break from the traditional Japanese societal norm of not interfering in the affairs of strangers, bystanders are increasingly stepping in to assist women who are being assaulted.

With all of the increased public attention and action against wandering hands, perhaps there may come a day when gropers will no longer be able to get away with fondling supple young bodies on their way to and from work. . . which means I’ll probably have to find a new way to pass the time during my commute.

No worries though, men who have a hard on for putting their hands on unreceptive women can always visit one of the countless imekura (image clubs) caterting to fancies of Japan’s chikan, where women stand around in rooms decorated like train carriages, just waiting to be groped unabashedly in the lewdest manner possible. Sure, it’s not the real thing, but at least the women give blow jobs afterwards.