chikan

A Japanese fetish for groping on crowded public transport.

The Chikan (groper) is traditionally a middle-aged businessman who, either by luck or cunning, finds himself next to an attractive girl on a subway train. The train is crowded, meaning that the Chikan can touch her without anyone else seeing and without the girl necessarily being able to tell who is doing it. She may also be reluctant to call for help in a public place.

Chikan in anime are portrayed as comical (e.g. Colorful), sinister (e.g. Love Hina), or erm, 'aspirational' (e.g. Chikan Junin Tai).

Non-consensual Chikan is a widespread problem and familiar in the media. There have been major public information campaigns to combat chikan, which have focussed on persuading women to call out if they are being sexually harrassed. Women-only subway cars were introduced in Tokyo in 2005.

The difference between Chikan and 'non-consensual frotteurism' (Wikipedia's definition) is (arguably) that the setting and context are important as well as the touching: the Chikan is acting out a specific fantasy and Image Clubs (brothels) in Japanese cities often provide train rooms for this purpose.

Further Info

More info here:- http://www.japanfortheuninvited.com/articles/tra...

Advice on how to deal with Chikan for train passengers http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/kaleidoscope/volume3...

Reference to an 'image club'/brothel fitted out with a train room http://www.xmag.com/archives/11-09-mar04/japanes...

A comedy brothel for cats with a train room:- http://www.hellodamage.com/tdr/archive/stores/ne...

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