I was recently the victim of a random act of violence. To set the scene: I was traveling home in the sardine can known as the Odakyu line on a weeknight around 9:30 p.m. The commuter in the seat next to the door had decided that getting a seat wasn’t enough — he also wanted the metal railing next to the seat as his elbow rest. When I entered the train, I was jostled and pushed, and eventually settled into the space by the door, my back to both the metal hand railing and the commuter with the well-rested elbow. Unfortunately, my position meant that my rear end intruded upon his elbow rest space.

The commuter expressed his dissatisfaction with a few vicious elbow jabs throughout our 15 minute train ride. I was completely unable to move away, or to communicate with him due to my squished, immobile position. When the train came to his stop, he gave me two particularly vicious final jabs before standing up to get off the train. As he passed me, he pulled back, punched me in the face, and quickly exited.

Needless to say, everyone was rather surprised. The other commuters around me were torn between shock, intense curiosity, and valiant attempts at pretending that they hadn’t seen anything. Only one man dared acknowledge the incident by digging into his wallet and thoughtfully (albeit impractically) offering me two rather old band-aids for my then-bloodied nose.

As for me, I stood with my mouth agape. A couple of elbow jabs in the butt was one thing — but a punch in the face?

I had no idea how to proceed. My first reaction was to run after the guy and retaliate. But the little voice in my head that keeps me out of prison reminded me that in that case, I would most likely be the one penalized. Instead, I considered reporting it to the station staff or police. I began to formulate in my head what I would say, but realized that I lacked the language necessary to communicate the situation. I study Japanese, and I can definitively state, with conviction, that yes, the book is on the table; however, the grammar to express “That psycho over there just punched me in the face” was unfortunately left out of my current text.

As I was trying to decide what to do, the train doors closed — and with them, any opportunity to seek justice.

In fact, this was my sixth accidental run-in with violence since arriving in Japan three years ago, albeit the most serious. It makes me laugh now to think about how many times I had been told that Japan was a “safe country.”

Speaking to friends about these experiences, the knee-jerk reaction seems to be to chalk it up to xenophobia. Call me an optimist, but I’d like to believe that this isn’t the case (or at least not always). In the most recent incident, for example, the commuter probably had no idea that I was a foreigner.

Acts of violence are becoming more and more prevalent in Japan. The news is full of beatings, suicides and murders. According to the Metropolitan Police Department, violent acts drastically increased between 2002 (8,666 violent acts) to 2006 (11,253). Specifically, non-lethal, less-serious acts (such as those that I experienced) more than doubled over that same period (from 2,677 to 5,635).

One problem, I feel, is that people in Japan face too much pressure with too little positive release. The stress that causes people to jump in front of trains or to decapitate their parents is probably the same type that prompted the commuter to punch me in the face. So, in that light, I guess I should be glad that my injury was only a punch.

The other problem is that no one wants to get involved with these kinds of situations. Nobody, for example, moved in to help me with my attacker. In fact, my own first reaction was decidedly Japanese; I didn’t even step up to defend myself. After the incident, I asked several Japanese people what they would do if faced with a violent person or “chikan” on the train, and almost all said that they would do nothing more than switch train cars.

So, what can we do? The answer, I guess, is not much. The police, by and large, are ambivalent about these kinds of crimes—and seemingly even more so when foreigners are the victims. 

Instead, we need to help each other out. If you see something fishy on the train, don’t be afraid to step in and intervene. But also, be cautious and take measures to protect yourself. I, for one, have invested in a mouth guard.

Latest 15 of 95 Total Comments Show All

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  frontandcentre at 01:33 PM JST - 7th May

  What odd responses from a lot of people. Complaining about getting an unprovoked punch in the face can never be described as "whining" in my book. I suspect such comments come from those who would actually complain the loudest if it happened to them.

  In my view much of the problem stems from the deluded view of the world that Japanese people often seem to have - i.e. that Japan is 'safe' and that any other country (by varying degrees) is, by definition, 'unsafe'. Consequently, some people think that they can act with impunity here, even in cases where they are attacking somone who has the potential to give them a serious beating in return. Possibly they are emboldened by the assumption that their victim may not be able to explain himself and that nobody would stick up for them if they did protest. Funnily enough though, I have seen the same assumption in a tiny handful of gaijin here over the years - the belief that they can say what they like, take advantage of the relative safety of Japan and be the kind of obnoxious, offensive loudmouths that would soon be silenced in their home countries. Trust in karma, however - eventually someone teaches all of these people a lesson.

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  cleo at 01:47 PM JST - 7th May

  f'n'c -

  Complaining about getting an unprovoked punch in the face can never be described as "whining" in my book.

  Assuming that it is unprovoked. Mr. Scott tells us this happens to him with surprising regularity, leading some of us to surmise that maybe it wasn't as unprovoked as he would like us to believe. I find it very hard to believe that someone simply minding his own business is going to have an 'accidental run-in with violence' six times in the space of three years. There's something Mr. Scott isn't telling us. Maybe he doesn't even know what it is himself.

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  thedeath at 02:04 PM JST - 7th May

  i am using odakyu everyday too. i have seen thing similar to what Scott said quite number times, all of them are japanese vs japanese.

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  frontandcentre at 02:28 PM JST - 7th May

  Cleo, I have to comment based on the assumption that the author is telling the truth and not making this up. In any case, if Ron Scott didn't hit him or grossly insult this person, then he certainly didn't deserve to be hit in the face.

  I agree that the regularity with which he claims to have been involved in physical incidents seems to be high, but I have no experience of the Odakyu sen and the standard of behaviour on Tokyo's various lines does seem to vary.

  My point is that my Japan experience of several years bears out most of the points made in this article. Some Japanese men do seem to have what would be an almost suicidal urge to pick on people who in other places - on the Tube in London, for example - would quite probably return the gesture "with interest". I have never suffered a serious assault on the Tokyo subway, but I have had some none-too-disguised digs in the ribs from salarymen of limited stature who - presumably denied by mediocrity from promotion to head of widget sales - have nothing greater to prove in their day than their physical prowess by shoving people, including women, when on trains.

  While I don't think he's trying to point out that Japan is genuinely a threatening or dangerous place in general terms, what Ron Scott has illustrated is that this isn't the super-polite, deferential and safe society that many non-residents still tend to assume it is. I actually think people in Japan are polite out of habit and training, and in fact when it comes to dealing with unknown people in public are often profoundly inconsiderate. Physical violence, while obviously worse than rudeness or mere inconsiderate behaviour, is just one logical step beyond this stage.

  [disclaimer: just back from lunch, during which two salarymen on the next table sparked up and started blowing smoke in my direction while I was eating. Not highly impressed]

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  Altria at 02:56 PM JST - 7th May

  Fights do happen here, though it says a lot about Japan that all-out brawls don't occur on the train every morning. Herding a lot of overworked and overstressed salarymen into sardine can trains is gonna cause some friction occasionally, and then there's a sprinkling of aggressive raving weirdos who pop up occasionally.

  I've never been close to getting in a fight here, but was jolted to my senses one morning when a couple of salarymen, one older, one younger, got into a tiff after exiting the ticket gates. A bump in the wrong place escalated into an elbowing match, followed by full-out slugging each other in the face several times, sending both their glasses flying. The younger one beat a retreat, the older guy retrieved his glasses and stamped on the pair that the other dude left behind.

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  cleo at 02:57 PM JST - 7th May

  I'm not suggesting that Mr. Scott is not telling the truth. I'm sure he is telling the truth as he sees it. I'm simply saying I don't think it's the whole story. Maybe there's something in his attitude or actions that gets people the wrong way. (Not dissimilar to the tale of the two Singapore ladies 'roughed up' by the police in Shinjuku Station, except in that case it was pretty clear to anyone reading the article that the ladies' behaviour was less than exemplary).

  I'm not saying that all Japanese are ultra-polite. Some are downright rude. But if I can live here three decades without a single 'accidental run-in with violence', I have to take claims of 6 encounters in three years with a pinch of sodium chloride.

  Smoking nincompoops - If you were sitting in a non-smoking area, you could have complained to the management.

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  frontandcentre at 03:03 PM JST - 8th May

  Revisiting the article, one thing I'll say is that the first sentence represents a poor choice of words. This may have been an unjustified attack, but it was not a "random act of violence" - because by Ron Scott's own account prior to the punch there had already been some interaction between the attacker and himself. A truly random act of violence would be when one person attacks another with no interaction and no reason whatsoever. It seems to me that Ron Scott's attacker had his reasons for doing so (relating to the elbow space issue), however reprehensible his subsequent actions may have been.

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  Kakogawa at 02:28 PM JST - 9th May

  I was in Japan for two weeks and witnessed a fight. It was at Tsukiji Fish Market between two workers. I blame the working environment which isn't very nice, which you'd realise if you went there.

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  ronaldk at 02:58 PM JST - 9th May

  Damn tough call. Lots of good comments. Randomly being punched sucks, but I think you were the man in avoiding escalating. Imagine that A-hole who punched you must have a pretty crappy life and that may be your consolation. Anyways, strong guys don't have to show off like that. I recommend you start lifting and take up a martial art, then when you are punched you can say is that all you have pussy?

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  romulus3 at 11:31 PM JST - 9th May

  well instead of modestly enduring the elbows I would have turned around no matter the strain it took and made him feel death from above with the coldest death stare you can imagine and a few retaliatory kicks to the shins. why are you a victim of random crime? you give off meek, weak, signals that get pounced upon by scummy predators like on the train that day. I don't so I do not get hurt. Being a alpha male is the only way to go.

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  Triple888 at 03:39 AM JST - 10th May

  Think if you saw your face and had known you were caucasian probably wouldn't have done that.

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  WMD at 09:08 AM JST - 10th May

  romulus3 best post mate! I agree totally. These crazy type dudes home in on weakness. Something happens to gaijin when thay come to japan. They seem to turn all effeminate, weak, placid and pathetic. I guess they feel they will be accepted by their japanese masters that way. But in fact, the effeminate male is despised.

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  romulus3 at 03:31 PM JST - 10th May

  WMD

  You know it! There is no need to go as far as Batman boxers did a few months back but a bit of dignity and self esteem goes a long way. People have to learn how to carry themselves and adjust to certain situations.

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  romulus3 at 03:34 PM JST - 10th May

  I mean, if you are the type of person who allows someone to aggressively elbow you repetitively then you should expect a punch to the face. You the saying. Give and inch take a mile.

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  romulus3 at 03:35 PM JST - 10th May

  errrr, that should be "you know the saying"

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