Security cameras to be installed in commuter trains to prevent groping

Sunday 13th December, 06:30 AM JST

TOKYO —

East Japan Railway Co plans to install security cameras in trains on the Saikyo Line linking Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture in a bid to prevent sexual molestation, becoming the first Japanese railway operator to take such a step for commuter trains, company officials said Saturday.

A set of high-definition security cameras will be installed at several locations of the No. 1 cars of Saikyo Line trains, such as the ceiling and the overhead rack, on a trial basis by the end of this year at the earliest, they said. Most groping cases have been on the No. 1 cars of the trains.

The company, known as JR East, and police say they hope the security cameras will provide ‘‘evidence’’ and serve as ‘‘deterrence’’ against molestation. But critics question the effectiveness of the cameras, voice concerns about privacy and say they may be used for other criminal investigations.

The decision to install the cameras was made after police in Tokyo and neighboring prefectures asked metropolitan railway operators for them in late October, as there are no signs of a fall in molestation cases on trains.

According to the Metropolitan Police Department, the number of groping cases on trains handled by the police total around 1,500 a year. In the first half of 2009, the number of such cases came to 708, of which 75, or about 10%, occurred on the Saikyo Line.

In particular, gropers target the No. 1 cars—at the end of the train despite the number—of Tokyo-bound Saikyo Line trains as they are packed full in rush-hour times because they are nearest to the stairs at many stations.

JR East will consider installing security cameras in other Saikyo Line train cars or in trains serving other lines after seeing how the trial goes, the officials said.

Other companies belonging to the JR group, which was created through the privatization of Japanese National Railways, as well as private-sector railway operators in metropolitan areas may follow suit.

Police hope security cameras will have deterrent effects although they may be able to shoot only heads of passengers on packed trains.

A police source said camera footage would provide important evidence, showing position relations between gropers and victims.

But Sophia University professor Yasuhiko Tajima, a member of a group against a surveillance society, said that with the installation of security cameras, somebody may be suspected of groping only for the reason that the person stood near the victim.

Tajima also voiced concerns about invasion of privacy. ‘‘For some people, trains are comfortable places to sleep or read books,’’ he said. ‘‘Wide discussions are necessary, based on opinions from passengers.’‘

A senior JR East official said, ‘‘While paying close attention to legal problems, including privacy, we’d like to seek various opinions.’‘

According to JR group companies and the Association of Japanese Private-Sector Railways, security cameras have been installed at decks or cargo spaces of some bullet trains on the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen Lines and some other limited express trains. But no such cameras have been installed in commuter trains.

Railway operators have so far installed security cameras in stations and platforms mainly for the purpose of safety. As part of countermeasures against sexual molestation on trains, they have introduced train cars specifically for women.

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Latest 15 of 70 Total Comments Show All

limboinjapan at 10:21 AM JST - 14th December

Has anyone heard about this? As I was telling my girlfriend about this article and many of the intersting comments concerning it, she related to me that the man I saw get into the women only car was possibely part of a loser group that are protesting the Women only cars at not fair! Now with these kind of men in this country how do you actually expect to stop gropers when even the most token responce like a women only car for a few hour each rush hour make the men upset!?
5SpeedRacer5 at 11:14 AM JST - 14th December

This is exactly the same as believing that a mask will solve the H1N1 problem.

It distracts people from the real problem. It is expensive. It will do very little good in and of itself. It will make people feel more secure when they are not, thereby exacerbating the real problem.

People in favor of cameras are just exacerbators. Mass exacerbators.
Yelnats at 03:14 PM JST - 14th December

Joke?
womanforwomen at 04:05 PM JST - 14th December

Also, how about eduacting the young women and ladies about proper way of carrying themselves, posture when standing and sitting in public places (unless, it has something to do with their particular 'profession'). There were a few times I have seen how it makes many uncomfortable when school children and young women do not pay attention about the way they are seated in trains and stairways. No excuse for groping, it has to be stopped. All factors that leads to this behaviour would also help in solving this menace.
5SpeedRacer5 at 05:44 PM JST - 14th December

"Joke?"

Yes. The plan to install cameras is a joke. People are going to have to take more personal responsibility for themselves and others or governments and other juridical persons will start putting cameras in our bathroom mirrors. If people are not willing to take responsibility, then the cameras will do no good.
dolphingirl at 06:07 PM JST - 14th December

SpeedRacer: I agree. Not to make light of the groping issue, but there are a lot more serious problems for law enforcement to be focusing on. (preventing and stopping child abuse for one) It's ludicrous spending all this money on cameras for something that could easily be policed by the public. I hate to say it but probably the biggest problem is that people (especially women) don't do anything about it so of course most gropers get away with it again and again.

If someone tried to steal your wallet on the train, would you do something about it? Of course. So why do people just let molesters commit the crime of stealing a feel? It's beyond me. And men here just need to be told--Keep your hands to yourself!! Period.
5SpeedRacer5 at 06:11 PM JST - 14th December

Here it is A NEW IDEA.

Why not have an I ASKED HIM TO STOP page on the internet. Sell advertising for pepper spray or whatever. It will be a big hit. Nobody has to accuse anyone of doing anything, but any time some woman or girl on the train asks someone to stop groping them, she takes a picture of the person and posts it on the internet. Every caption must say "YAMETE! to iimashita ..." or something like that. Captions must be selected from innocuous, non-accusatory variants. The time and place can also be recorded. It can all be anonymous. Host the site in Tuvalu. Have a homeless person host the site so that if he gets sued, someone can take all his money..haha. He can keep the money from ads for his "legal defense", and volunteers can support the site. If it gets shut down, host it in China.

It does not mean that the guy in the picture did it, so there is no slander or defamation. Pretty soon, there will be thousands of pictures anyway, but patterns will emerge. Certain trains and certain times. Certain faces.

More than that, women will be empowered by doing SOMETHING, and everyone has a keitai camera, right? And the gropers will not know what is going on. If they do, they will stop. If they don't, they will be caught.

If this is all about shame, then let's turn up the shame dial. This one goes to 11.
Nessie at 06:25 PM JST - 14th December

I just hope they install them before 2010, so they can call them NoughtyCams.
shufu at 07:50 PM JST - 14th December

What are they going to install them at arse level?

If you install them in convention camera positions then your not really going to see anything - a carefully placed briefcase would easily cover the gropage.

Whenever i got groped on commuter trains, i just groped the guy back.
mnemosyne23 at 02:03 AM JST - 15th December

I can certainly see why the train lines and law enforcement want to try these cameras as a crime deterrant. Like others have said, there are bigger, more dangerous issues that the police have to deal with instead of having to arrest every single accused pervert on every commuter train. This isn't to downplay groping, which is as depraved as any other kind of inappropriate touching, but if I had to choose between my local police focusing their efforts on catching an armed assailant or cuffing a sad sop of a salaryman whose parents never taught him to keep his hands to himself, I'm going to go with the former.

The mere presence of a camera CAN be a deterrant, though its utility in a packed commuter train seems pretty futile. Like the article says, all the camera would be able to 'see" are the heads of the passengers, not the hands. You certainly can't install cameras at foot level because, A) they'd get kicked all to hell and break in a week, and B) hello increase in upskirt videos.

Like tkoind2 says, this is an effort to treat the visual symptoms of a problem rather than treating the cause. That's not a Japanese problem; it happens everywhere that budgets are tight and people are impatient for immediate results. When people complain about groping, it's easier to say, "Okay, we'll install cameras so that gropers will be caught on film and we can prosecute!" than it is to say, "Sorry, but we live in a society that views women as sexual objects, with popular culture that exhorts rape and kiddie porn as reasonable sources of entertainment. Get used to it." The first response is a bandaid; the second is a diagnosis of a long-lasting condition that needs a full treatment regimen to bring it under control.

That's not going to happen in any serious fashion until more women step forward and start to say, "This is ridiculous. I'm a grown-up. I intend to dress like a grown-up, talk like a grown-up, and act like a grown-up. I expect the men and other women around me to do the same, and if they don't, they're going to get an earful of my opinion of their behavior."

Ladies, if someone gropes you on the train, stand up for yourself! Elbow him in the throat! If he's taller than you, get him in the stomach! If you're wearing heels or heavy shoes, stomp on his foot! If you have room, turn around and stare at him; make him super uncomfortable. If you see someone ELSE enduring groping or other inappropriate behavior, stand up for them, too! You can't just let people get away with this kind of bad behavior; that's how it escalates to the point it's at now. You have to assert yourself as a person rather than a thing. If you just stand there and take it, what's to stop it from happening again?

And before I get blasted, yes, I realize that a lot of the outfits women and girls (schoolgirls especially) wear these days are short to the point of being obscene. I have my own views on those kinds of things, and I think a lot more decorum should be exercised by young ladies just for the sake of common decency. I don't particularly want to see some schoolgirl's panties when I'm behind her on the escalator because she's got her skirt hitched up to the top of her thigh.

But just because the temptation exists for a groper or peeping tom doesn't mean that they have to ACT on that temptation. Human beings are separated from animals in large part by our ability to make choices and employ reason when making decisions. Everyone should know the old adage "Keep your hands to yourself" and be able to practice that kind of restraint. If you accidentally bump into someone on the train, which is entirely possible given how crowded it is, you should apologize and try to avoid it happening again. But if you give in to the urge for a quick grope or fondle, you should be willing to face the consequences. And if that means suffering a spiked heel to the metatarsals, so be it.
womanforwomen at 10:37 AM JST - 15th December

Well said, mnemosyne23!
Kameleon at 05:41 PM JST - 15th December

So rather than educate Japanese men/boys about sexual equality and men/boys seeing women as not sexual objects, companies continue to spend money on warnings & threats instead....
Fadamor at 11:08 PM JST - 15th December

Kameleon, it's not JR East's responsibility to be educating Japanese men/boys about something their parents should have taught them when they were young. It's also not JR East's responsibility to be educating Japanese men/boys about something their schools should have taught them when they were young. Heck, it's not even the police's responsibility to be educating anybody about those things.
5SpeedRacer5 at 07:46 AM JST - 16th December

I am certainly ahead of my time. Look at my NEW IDEA a few posts up. Someone read my post and took my advice.... in New York!! Come on Japan, you have some catching up to do!

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nycrime/2009/12/15/2009-12-15policehuntingsubwaypervertforxratedgrossoutong_train.html

Using handheld phone cameras might be a GREAT way to end this problem.
zentraedi at 10:10 AM JST - 17th December

I always thought that the groping was part of a social contract in Japan. We all know that this is primarily confined to the sub-20 age group of girls. As we all know, these girls are the loudest, most annoying and inconsiderate groups passengers you'll find on public transportation. Now, despite their behaviour, they're not reprimanded the way other age/gender might be. Instead they are subjected to sexual harassment in exchange for being as loud, annoying and inconsiderate as they want.