Carey’s Rocky Road to Japan

Scandal, but probably not what you were thinking. While reading through my AFS Safety in Japan manual, it pointed out some pointers for keeping safe on the cramped trains. It said to hold bags to your chest etc etc to prevent them being stolen (I always thought of Japan as a safer place for some reason - I still do). Pretty standard I thought, but the plot thickens.

Anyway, apparently it’s quite common for women / girls to feel the squeeze in the train, and not just ’cause it’s cramped. But not to worry, yelling “pervert!” so the whole train can hear it is enough to keep the creeps at bay - I’m surprised that the cramped conditions is enough, even for the shy Japanese.

Mind you, I’m sure that this isn’t common practice in Japan as in most countries but lucky for me, I need not worry, mainly since I am of the wrong gender for the majority of men. Still I’ll keep my eye out, you never know. Hopefully, no more to come on this one.

Add that to my list of must-know-vocab-before-I-leave.