JR Tokai (Central Japan Railway Company) has distributed palm-sized pepper sprays to its female crew for self-defense, following several assault and rape cases against them this year.
The company said Monday it will distribute pepper sprays to about 200 female crew members, including refreshment cart workers, on both local and Shinkansen trains for their security by the end of November. The company has already let female staff carry security alarms since 1999 but it will strengthen security measures for its female workers by distributing the sprays and arranging for more male service attendants on its trains, especially late-night and early-morning services.
© Japan Today
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techall
When did all these assaults and rapes take place? Never saw anything about them in the news.
Altria
Sexist!
techall
Altria: Who? Me? I just think if the trains are all that dangerous maybe they should alert the public so we can arm our wives and daughters with peper spray before thay board a TR Tokai train!
thepro
Its sad that it has to come to this. Good protection for them though.
gogogo
I wonder what they are covering up to actually to this step.
Statistician
So how many rapes are 'several' exactly? I have heard nothing of it on the news.
Patto
I'd knock the offender silly and, uh, spend the rest of my life in jail, I guess. Pepper spray sounds like a better alternative.
thepro
I heard about them on the news a couple of times
techall
Takuya Imai was sentenced to 18 years for raping 2 women staff on trains and another woman in a parking lot at a station. This was in the news and the guy was caught, he won't be doing that again for a long, long time. But, are there other incidents that prompted this miove?
bebert
Nice job suppressing this apparent crime wave, media. Still, giving them pepper spray is only a half measure as it is not effective on people who are really drunk or screwed up on drugs. Better to also arm them with an electric stun gun. Or better yet, a real pistol. Considering Japan's gun laws, this would give the poor women a substantial advantage over the would be rapist.
Larry
Good Idea
BlackFlag
I dont want to get shot for walking down the same darkly lit street on my way home from work by a jumpy pistol packer
techall
Even the pepper spray idea scares me a little.
seesaw
fatloser..your comment made me smile..but I'm sure those female workers are also being thought on how to defend themselves and to use that pepper spray....let's wish them luck!..
smithinjapan
"Or better yet, a real pistol. Considering Japan's gun laws, this would give the poor women a substantial advantage over the would be rapist."
What a moronic idea! Yeah... so they can just shoot someone who happens to be walking down the same street at night? Or if the attacker sees the woman pull out a gun they can snatch if from her, do what they will with it since she'll be at gun-point, and then you have another gun roaming the streets. Yeah, well thought out!
Anyway, it IS a shame, as a poster put it, that it's come to this, but I think in many countries women (and perhaps some men, too) carry pepper spray on a daily basis in their bags, so this is nothing too bad. JR should also provide them with free self-defense classes and perhaps escorts to ensure their safety from the job to their homes (female escorts, perhaps).
mindovermatter
Would be curious to know how this will pan-out considering Japan's strict laws covering weapons... According to the Laws in Japan which governs, these types of "nonlethal neutralizing agents," they are not allowed to be carried outside of one's residence, except by law enforcement personnel... Period...
Unless they have some new provision when it comes to rail services...
I know our JN security guards had to download firearm & asp if they wanted to step one foot outside of the installation, even in the performance of their job...
In Japan, Pepper spray is in the same category as an expandable baton (asp).... Laws are very strict...
techall
Smithinjapan:
I think bebert was just being facetious (I hope he was!).
memyselfI
In Japan, news about rape is never on the news. Unless it is very high profile or gajin person. But rapes happens around the world everyday & every hour. Women,boys,girls and especially men get raped. JR must have alot of serious problems with rape and assaults from stalkers. Stalkers/ Rapists usually stalk their prey at night or early morning hours. The victims can actually sue JR Trains for not providing employee security. But JR probably pay them off or lay them off or place a gag order on the victims. If I was the victims I would set up a class action lawsuit.I was in the military and I used to be in a Private Security Firm. I used to walk female employees to their car. I do not know why they won't do that ????? Why don't they have alstok or a security firm to protect their own employees. Sometimes pepper spray doesn't help prevent assaults. Sometimes the women is surprised or has no time to react.
techall
Train Marshalls....that would be better.
moonbeams
Good step.
Next to stop advertising porn in the train cars. Don't tell me that these ads don't spark the gas filled minds of sexual offenders. I can't believe JR, with the amount of chikan incidents known to occur in their trains, I cannot believe that they hang advertisements with words such as sekkusu, shiri, oppai.. So irresponisble!
techall
moonbeams: You repeat yourself.
memyselfI
Spraying pepper spray on a moving train (say shinkansen) would be dangerous to babies,old people and people suffering from asthma. Babies couldn't breath, you'll have pandemonium on the trains. But I have seen alot of weird,drunk,perverts,all types on the early morning trains. So, women have you Pep Spray handy.
Mark_McCracken
Pepper spray in a crowded enclosed windowless environment is a terrible idea. A loud alarm would be more appropriate.
romulus3
they should have a rapist and perverts only car. that would sort it out.
adm_kenshin
It saddens me that even Japan have started to take the easy way out. Then again, if you have a family and work overtime at JR, you probably don't have time for self-defense classes, and you can't just go half-way with most martial arts.
Maybe martial arts throughout the school years is the best solution, but until then pepper spray it is.
Nessie
I wonder if these rapes were all on the trains. I imagine some could have been on the way home from the station.
Proffessor
I guess male employees should be given similar devices. Why only female staff? You might not know who strikes next and when.
ptolemy
How about real life security guards with radios that can contact the police. Empolyment opportunity for unemployed people; or ojiisans and obaasans to pad their retirement income. The pepper spray thing worries me as much as a pistol. Especially if they are not trained to use it properly, the story didn't mention that.
Triumvere
What exactly happens when these gals fire off their pepper spray in an enclosed train car?
electric2004
What happens if they point the pepper spray into the wrong direction? E.g. "lets check, where does the pepper come out"?
And ... never spray against the wind!
BBLeo
Well done girls. You should be commended for this. I don't think that such 'scumbags' will try the same on you, but there will be others. Every girl in the street should be armed with this spray, perhaps it will help to reduce crimes by few %. Someone is suggesting for 'Train Marshalls,' but consider that 'pepper spray' is cheaper.
techall
BBLeo:
Please see Trimvere's post about using pepper spray in an enclosed train car. In Iraq on the military bases, we supplied our subcontract cleaning girls with whistles. Believe me, on a base with 30,000 GIs there are always a few who can't control their impulses. The whistles worked great. The number of complaints dropped to almost zero. just blowing a whistle scares the holy crap out of the attacker.
ca1ic0cat
Seems really strange to even hear about JR giving weapons to staff. But the posters who say no to discharging a weapon in an enclosed space is right. At the same time I agree that most of the incidents are not on the trains.
rbnwmk
How many do think that pepper sprays will impossibly be in the hands of the criminals?
badge123
Many of the attacks have happened in Empty early or really late evening trains. The odds are that any attack would be in a car full of babies, eldery or otherwise other people that can just call the police is very small. So the question about it it affecting those people is kind of mute and even if it were, well, you sure got the attention of a lot of people to distract the perp.
medievaltimes
Maybe they should conduct a survey asking all of its passengers whether they have groped someone.
nath
Teacching the girls a little Judo will outdo the pepper spray anyday! I have seen a four foot tall Japanese girl take down a six foot man. Its now on a video on Youtube! He tried to steal her backpack... big mistake for him!
DZKUN808
Pepperspray!? nowai the attacker will just take it away from the woman and use it on her. It is best to submit to criminals attacks in order to lessen the intensity and length of the attack.
Just kidding of course, make crime painful for the attackers and discourage further attacks. For those of you that encourage the comparison of pepper spray and a pistol LOL at you you must think every human being is a sheep.
ptolemy
A witness call the police in Japan, since when?
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