Tokyo Police Anti-groping App

News Shaping Japan Today

Sexual Harassment in Japan

Article No. 6

Source Article: “Stop it! Tokyo police anti-groper app becomes smash hit in Japan ”

In the blog I wrote last week, I discussed the recent news article about an increase in sexual assault incidences as a result of a new app designed to connect job-seekers with alumni. Unfortunately, in a similar vein, this week’s blog is also related to the enduring and widespread issue of sexual harassment in Japan, albeit from a slightly more positive perspective. According to the source article, a new app created by the Tokyo police force has been released and gained increasing popularity. With over 237,000 downloads, the app has an abnormally high level of engagement for a public service app, which is telling of how serious the sexual harassment epidemic is and the need for effective solutions. When used, the app yells, “Stop it!” in Japanese to alert others around the user that they are being harassed. Additionally, the app also has a silent option where words asking for someone to save the user from the molester are displayed on the screen.

Unfortunately, many of the victims of groping on trains and subways are Japanese school girls who are often vulnerable to this kind of harassment, as the perpetrators see them as ideal victims who will be too embarrassed or afraid to take action and get help. Although the app does not directly address the root issues of sexual harassment, which are strongly linked to the social conservatism and implicit sexism in Japanese society, if it is helping women travel more safely and received help when being harassed, it is a necessary and valuable tool to address the issue. Further, it is always encouraging to see a more positive aspect of the sexual assault issue being discussed, in which measures to prevent harassment show success, not matter how small. This is especially true in light of the Japanese government’s lax history of taking action to solve the issue.

Last week during our class, the question of how Japan compared to the rest of the world on this spectrum was brought up. After looking into the inquiry further, I found a 2017 article from CNN that looks into what sexual assault statistics look like on a global scale. To my slight surprise, many countries were worse off than Japan in various indexes, like the number of females who have experience sexual harassment by the police (Brazil, 84%), the number of women who have experience unwanted sexual harassment in public spaces (UK, 64%), and the general number of women who have experience sexual harassment (Vietnam, 87%). There were no statistics specifically of Japan in this article, but I would imagine that they are not as high as many of the other countries detailed. The data provided in this article serves to further reinforce the need for change on a global scale in which women are respected and men no longer feel entitled to any body besides their own.

Supplementary Articles:

https://sea.mashable.com/tech/3944/japan-police-releases-anti-groping-app-that-yells-stop-it-to-scare-away-molesters, https://edition.cnn.com/2017/11/25/health/sexual-harassment-violence-abuse-global-levels/index.html