Japan Still Grappling with Problem of Groping

From Jiji

August 29 2025

OSAKA – Voices have been raised in Japan demanding countermeasures for molestation, which shows no sign of disappearing. 
   In June, Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department arrested a man in his 30s on the spot on suspicion of groping a female high school student on a Tokyo Metro train running in the capital’s Koto Ward. The man had groped the student two or three times a week for some 10 months since August 2024. Although she got on different trains or changed the time she rode them, the man followed her persistently.
   The student thought she had to endure the groping as it continued even if she changed trains. However, she finally bucked up her courage to complain to the police, and the man was arrested two days later.
   The number of molestation cases detected by the MPD reached 606 between January and June. Trains accounted for 70 pct of the crime scenes, while 30 pct of the victims were 10 to 19 years old.
   Still, many victims are believed to stop short of reporting to police or related organizations. According to a survey of some 2,300 people aged between 16 and 29 conducted by the Cabinet Office last year, about 80 pct of respondents said they did not want to report, and 40 pct of them said they did not want their problems to be known by many people.