Stationery company releases anti-groping stamp

What a waste of time. An unscrupulous woman hoping to make a quick buck can stamp anyone she chooses and leave him in the 99.97% guilty camp, having to fork out a bundle to keep his job.

Just shout "Don't touch me" when you get groped, and the spineless who get off on this assault will shrink away.

Or install cameras on the trains, like they've been threatening to do for at least 15 years.

Nah, flog them a cutesy plastic nick-nack in a kawaii colour instead.

Ok, and it should be a crime to stamp someone whos innocent as well. I can just see the probs arising.

Finally！I'm going to need at least 20 of these to stop all the women constantly trying to grope me. Stop gropers !

Instead of producing all sorts of gadgets, why doesn't Japanese education system focus on teaching students and people that groping someone on the train is not acceptable, and that they should respect other people's bodies?

The gadgets are not solving the problem, it's like putting a band-aid on a hemorrhage.

If you want to solve the problem you should aim for its root.

The government should also try to reduce the stress everyone has in their life (together with the strict society manners that create it), as I think that's part of the problem: people don't socialize, they don't have friends or are in a relationship, thus they are ore prone to groping strangers, maybe.

This is not a joke, we are serious.

That's the regrettable thing....

What a joke. Instead of investing in EDUCATION, teaching women to speak out and lash out at groping, money is being thrown at these useless and laughable gimmicks. Sure, let's all watch the groping cases plummet with this invention!

Oh, fantastic! Can’t see this being misused much, not! There be grommets running around everywhere putting these stamps on people.

How about giving free karate lessons to every woman over 12 years old?

Instead of producing all sorts of gadgets, why doesn't Japanese education system focus on teaching students and people that groping someone on the train is not acceptable, and that they should respect other people's bodies?

Are they not already teaching that? Has anybody actually checked to see if they teach anti-groping in the school system?

This is not a joke, we are serious.

That's the regrettable thing....

Exactly

I still think squads of plain-clothes policewomen, some 18 and in JHS uniform, and stricter punishments could drastically reduce this. People do it because they will get away it.

Policing in Japan is too passive. It is all about pretending offences don't happen and that Japan is a safe country. Victims end up as troublemakers because they shatter the safe country myth.

Doubling the punishment for anyone saying they were "stressed" would also stop that excuse.

Stamping an unwilling person is assault. Also, what if an innocent person is accidentally stamped?

Rather than taking action as a society to deal with sexual assault, the government is happy for companies to make money out of it instead.

It still comes down to proof, and this stamp is not it.

Or, rather, it SHOULD still come down to proof.

How about giving free karate lessons to every woman over 12 years old?

It happens to children under 12 and not just females...

The least these rail companies can do is install cameras... Like they have been saying for over a decade. With all the tourist money flowing in, you'd think that they could use some of that on camera installation.

It could still be used wrongly and falsely charging an innocent passenger, sometimes on purpose. A real, viable solution may be to disperse commuting crowds (in some peaceful manner) and streamline the while transport systems in central Tokyo areas. "Tele-work"or distant working via networks should be encouraged with incentive programs.

I think this stamp is just their way of making light out of a situation. There is no way they would think a stamp on someone’s person would make someone, who is already bold enough to sexually harass someone in public, stop and refrain from the actions they were about to commit.

If the person doesn’t care about the possibility of someone seeing them or confronting them in public, what difference would the stamp make? Even though they came out with the app that supposedly makes a sound and stops a person from doing such actions, nothing changed. So what will a stamp accomplish?

Stamping someone without thier consent is assault.

A female who stamps me provides the evidence of her assault on me but does she have the evidence I actually groped her? On very crowded trains sometime it can difficult to know who it was.

Thank you zichi.

There are already some younger girls that cry wolf in order to exploit men. A stamp such as that will only help to embolden the actions of those individuals.

If you're actually able to stamp a chikan, then why not just grab them and scream "chikan"? Seems like that would actually stop pervs from groping women more than this gadget.

@BlackFlagCitizen

i think a better question for me is when I go and get the police or station worker 1) will the perpetrator be visible. 2) will the person I get have a black light. 3) amongst a crowd full of people, how do I maintain eyes on the person while also searching for someone to identify the perpetrators.

teaching women to speak out and lash out at groping

Perhaps, but I think men can also play a part by stepping in when they see such behavior. Other men speaking out in order to shame these pathetic creeps may be more effective.

Just realized. The groper simply needs to buy one of these, stamp his hands, neck, face. Go grope. He gets stamped, he's like: "Bruh! I'm COVERED in these! I put this on myself. Not this chick."

It's a dumb product.

i fail to see the point of this... wouldnt just a marker do just as well?

In the land of Karate, Judo, Jyu Jitsu and Sumo wouldn't it be easier to make punching gropers a points based game like pokemon go?

Not sure how effective, practical, and meaningful this is, but so many first reactions that immediately assume that women (why only women?) will (mis)use this to wrongly accuse men are a bit strange. When pepper spray was marketed as a product for women protection, or the condom with “teeth” (for rape prevention) was announced, I wonder if reactions were also that negative. I assume that with any product, in particular in the case of self defense products, you will have people of any gender who purposely misuse them. I mean, people “misuse” kitchen knives to stab their victim.

Finally, if someone wanted to wrongly accuse another person, they would not really need this stamp, would they...

Just shout "Don't touch me" when you get groped, and the spineless turds who get off on this assault will shrink away. 

My wife did that, a few years back my wife was groped on the train and she grabbed the guy and screamed and yelled on the train and this was during morning rush hour, so it was packed, the guy absolutely panicked. He started to sweat profusely, started shaking and tried to run out the train and my wife held on to him, frightened and embarrassed, he begged her to let him go, the conductor called the cops and when she got to the last stop, the cops were waiting, he wouldn’t stop apologizing and begged for forgiveness and told the cops he has a family and he doesn’t wan any problems, so the cops asked my wife if she wanted to press charges, but she declined and he promised never to do that again to any women. So making a fuss is the best thing to do because these pervs don’t expect it. They know most Japanese women don’t want to be embarrassed or draw unwanted attention to themselves. If Every women were to do that, there would be almost no groping in Japan.

Or install cameras on the trains, like they've been threatening to do for at least 15 years.

That should be a No brainer.

according an anti-groping association in Osaka if ladies and girls wear a badge that says NO GROPING it deters potential gropers.

Just have separate compartments for men and women,e.g.even numbers for men and odd for ladies

MiceVice

I see your point, and I am certainly not condoning anything bad (much less sexual harassment) on anyone.

But the reason why most people here agree on this is probably because this seems like a very stupid idea.

Something can be correct in concept (keeping safe) and also be very idiotic at the same time ( せくはらいんかん).

Its still a bad idea that can land innocent people in big problems merely cause they have an infrared stamp on them. What if someone stamps u without ur knowledge as a joke? What if it happens in a club or bar and the authorities take it seriously as evidence?

I’m 6.2. My hands are too high for them to stamp. Hands on hand rings and metal that supports the rings

How about a device that shoots out jellyfish tentacles with some nice box jellyfish venom. Voice activated by saying “CHIKAN” or “DONT TOUCH MY ARSE”

Something comes off as more sick and twisted with this. They should educate people to be respectful of others rather than sick fashion statements. I thought honor and respect was a thing over there. maybe that died off with the samurai.

Punch out a groper. 100% effective

To easy to be abused by nasty women..

Naww...dont like it.

Do Japanese women not have fingernails?

I don't see how a deep gash in the offending hands wouldn't solve the problem quickly. No need to see the face when the hand is on your bum or breasts or elsewhere unwanted.

This sounds more like a company that wants to appear as though it's providing a solution, when really it isn't. This stamp is guaranteed to be misused by high school girls. Any guy they don't like, any boy who breaks up with them or who talks to another girl even innocently, or just any excuse to be a delinquent; they're going to use the stamp to mark innocent people and get them in serious trouble. Even in cases where the stamp is being used properly, there's still a good chance of marking an innocent person by mistake.

Two suggestions I've seen in the comments sound good on paper, but both have the same flaw. Self-defence lessons and cameras on trains. The problem? Groping incidents are at their most common on trains that are heavily crowded. Unless you're installing the cameras on the victims, nothing will be seen clearly enough for law enforcement to go further, and have you ever tried using self-defence techniques when you're barely able to breathe, let alone move? They're well-meaning suggestions, but ultimately ineffective when they can't physically yield results.

Another well-meaning solution (though I'm reluctant to praise it that much) is as @Derek Grebe suggested: to warn the offender loudly to back off. It puts the offender on the spot and draws attention to them. The problem with this though is that, just like the stamp, it can end up being used on innocent people. Especially on rush hour trains where there are too many potential culprits for anyone to keep track of. Like the stamp, the method can also be misused by those who want to falsely label innocent people as molesters.

Ultimately, the best solution is to educate people that groping is very wrong, and to really ramp up the penalties on those who are caught doing it and can be proven guilty. Current punishments are far too lenient to act as a deterrent, especially when you factor in how difficult it can be to prove the offence on many occasions. A snese of empathy needs to be imparted into the population of Japan before they do something like this, so that they can learn how grope victims feel about it, what the psychological harm can be, and so on so that they think twice about it. Right now, it seems like they only view it as a harmless adrenaline rush. They don't seem to comprehend how damaging it can be for the victims.

DUMB IDEA !!! So I guess the police are going to be walking around the train stations with ultraviolet light / Black Lights looking for men with these stamps. Now what if some girls want to stamp an innocent person just as a Prank ??? What then ??? This all sounds like a Scam from the company to make money. Besides if a man feels some girl stamping him with this stamp he can claim assault and it would be easier for him to prove assault (stamp on his person as prove of assault) then for a girl to prove she was groped. If groping is such a problem in Japan then increase to number of train cars per train, increase the number of trains used during rush hour and the women should not board a crowded train. Now sometimes it's not that a guy is grouping a girl it's just the motion of a crowded train people bump into each other. But as we all know their are some men on the train that do grope the women.

Fox Sora WintersToday 07:33 am JST

This sounds more like a company that wants to appear as though it's providing a solution, when really it isn't. This stamp is guaranteed to be misused by high school girls. Any guy they don't like, any boy who breaks up with them or who talks to another girl even innocently, or just any excuse to be a delinquent; they're going to use the stamp to mark innocent people and get them in serious trouble. Even in cases where the stamp is being used properly, there's still a good chance of marking an innocent person by mistake.

Riiiight. Because women lie about sexual assault all the time, amirite? It's not as if groping happens on a daily basis to hundreds of women across Japan - all those women who report groping, they are all LYING. And all those women who don't report it, they are also LYING.

That's not misogynistic at all, is it.

I can see it now, for a prank, some young girls will stamp every visible part of a drunken mans body whilst he's passed out on the roadside. Something needs to be done to prevent such abuse.

First, I’d like to say that isn’t at all that surprising. I don’t blame the sellers I blame societies weakness and inability to resolve social issues in a meaningful way. Less we forget the Japan government along side jp transit choose to have separate cars for women only. An idea that only pacified but not resolve the issue of groping on trains(especially during early morning rush hours). All these people did was offer another idea. They played on the fact that there has not been any real actions taken.

With that said, this is doomed to fail. Yeah, there might be a few caught. But as everyone knows if every “stamping” is completely believed then many innocent men will be charged for things they didn’t do or didn’t do intentionally