Truemors
is reporting from
Member
NP Rank:
NP Rank:
Tokyo Subway Groper Busted!
Share:
by glowingstar | May 17, 2007 at 05:57 am
7066 views | 22 Recommendations | 4 comments
Photos
Here are some photos of an alleged subway groper (chikan) in Tokyo. He attempted to run from the police after his victim shouted, "Chikan!" but was literally tripped-up by a good Samaritan, and subsequently arrested.
Tokyo Station, Tokyo, Japan, 9:26pm, Sunday, May 13, 2007. (story and photos by Tommy Cuellar)
What is NowPublic?
NowPublic lets people work together to cover news events around the world.
Crowd Power
glowingstar
San Leandro, California, United States
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (4)
at 06:05 on May 17th, 2007
Awesome photos, glowingstar! And excellent reporting from the scene of the crime.
at 05:26 on May 17th, 2007
This is stellar work! Thanks for posting this with us-- another act of true citizen journalism.
at 06:37 on May 17th, 2007
glowingstar, I am so tempted to flag this as breaking, just to get it to the top of the page.
But I do have many journalistic questions:
1. How do you know what had happened? Did you speak to police?
2. How were you able to follow the action so closely? from my many years as a news reporter I know how difficult it is to capture images like these when things happen quickly. Do I detect a trained eye??
3. If there is this Japanese word, chikan, is there a cultural construct around this activity? (for example, there is the French word, frottage?
4. May we ask about you? it's great that you just happened to show up - but there is no member photo, no description, nada. Why?
5. Will you hang around? We hope so!
at 02:32 on May 18th, 2007
for sure, flag it if you like! this is only my first story on here.
to answer your questions....
1. i saw the victim (woman with striped blouse) and the guy who ran, struggling. she was yelling "chikan! chikan!" and grabbed his bag. they fell to the ground and then he said something to her that i couldn't hear. she was holding his bag for dear life and continued yelling "chikan!" he yanked it away from her and started running (which is when i started shooting). the cops were coming, but they didn't seem to be running very quickly. when he got to where the guy in the blue shirt was, that guy tripped him. the alleged perp then looked up, stunned, and the cop got him and took him by the arm. i didn't witness the alleged incident, but i saw the struggle and saw him run. they had just come downstairs from one of the platforms. it told the tripping hero, "nice job!" and gave him a thumbs up. he just smiled at me.
2. action followed closely thanks to my nikon d200 and its 10 megapixel sensor. those pictures are fairly cropped. they were all shot from the hip, which explains why the trip photo is of not great quality. i aimed with the camera next to my belt without physically framing it with my eye. i had to play with the levels control to make it look clearer. actually..i wish i had a trained eye! if i had a trained eye, i would have captured from the moment the woman and man were on the ground! ;)
3. a chikan is simply a guy who gropes women on a train or in close quarters. i got this from my dictionary: 痴漢 [ちかん: CHIKAN] masher, molester, pervert. it's one of those cultural words that is just "generally understood" in japan. i'm not an expert in japanese, but i've been told by my coworkers and friends that everyone just knows what it means.
4. i teach english is japan. i've been here for almost three years and will be heading back to california in early august. japan has opened my eyes to photography unlike any other place. and whenever i go anywhere, i always bring my camera. i usually just walk around with my d200 around my neck. you should see the cameras hobbyists use here! pro quality all the way! i have a flickr site here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/glowingstar/ the first page isn't very interesting, but i have some sets that you might find enjoyable. as this was only my first news story, i haven't created a profile yet. i registered for an account some time ago when someone wanted to use some of my photos for a story they were working on. and i will be glad to share my photos for any story anyone else may have.
5. sure! as long as i see something newsworthy, i will be sure to post about it. i like giving people a perspective on japan that isn't just the same old, pretty stuff you see on tv. i'm all about the "real" japan! and when i move back to the states, i will continue to be on the lookout for other, newsworthy events. thanks for reading all this!