‘We won’t tolerate it’: Japan’s maid cafe staff join fight against groping

Tokyo police have launched an anti-‘chikan’ campaign, introducing a new safety app and intensifying patrols to curb unwanted sexual advances

Authorities in Japan are facing mounting pressure to curb groping in public places as complaints from victims, including maid cafe staff and high school students, continue to soar.

On Sunday, Tokyo Metropolitan Police launched a campaign against chikan – a Japanese term referring to groping or sexual harassment – targeting assaults in crowded public spaces such as trains.

Maid cafe staff and students were recently spotted in Tokyo distributing flyers denouncing groping outside the train station in Akihabara, the centre of Japanese anime, manga and gaming culture. “We won’t tolerate groping,” a group of maid cafe workers told news station TBS.

The police have designated the first two weeks of June as a special enforcement period to combat molestation, introducing a safety app to enable victims to discreetly report harassment. Many victims typically hesitate to report such incidents due to fear and other barriers, authorities have said.

“If you experience groping or voyeurism, speak up with courage,” said Toyoda Noriaki, a police station chief in Tokyo. “And if you can’t speak, please use the DigiPolice app.”

According to police statistics, 2,000 to 3,000 groping cases are reported in Japan each year. Last year, police recorded 725 groping cases across Tokyo, with over 70 per cent occurring in trains or at stations, according to public broadcaster NHK. About half of the victims were in their 20s, while teenagers numbered more than 200.

More than half of women in Tokyo were groped while riding on or waiting for trains, usually without any consequences for the perpetrators, according to a 2024 survey by the city’s authorities.

About 15 per cent of men had been groped on trains or in stations, the report showed, according to the Asahi newspaper.

In January, Tokyo police intensified train patrols during the college exam season after a slew of social media postings touted the month as the best time of the year to molest female students on trains, Unseen Japan reported.

Police have also been patrolling online, responding to potential gropers with warnings that molestation is a crime.

Last September, the government launched a website to provide advice for those experiencing or witnessing groping.

“It is important that people around [victims] do not turn a blind eye,” said a Tokyo metropolitan government official, the Asahi newspaper reported.