While Japanese teens are on the train headed to the once-a-year Center Test, some predators see a rare opportunity.

This year, January 13 and 14 were stressful days for many Japanese teens. That’s because those were this year’s exam dates for the Center Test, a rigorous examination that many Japanese colleges require a high score on as part of their admission criteria.

Adding another layer of anxiety is the fact that examinees don’t take the Center Test on their respective high school campuses. Instead, they have to travel to a regional test venue on the consecutive mornings in time for a 9:30 a.m. start. And as if all that wasn’t enough to worry about, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reports that when the time for the Center Test rolls around, would-be predators boast online about their plans to grope female high school students on the train on the morning of the exam.

https://twitter.com/Butsubutsu804/status/956506948286861312

In a recent segment, NHK program News Watch 9 presented a collection of social media posts about the writers’ planned chikan (train groping) activities, which included:

“Tomorrow’s the Center Test, and the forecast for chikan is great.”
“The number-one chance for chikan is on the days of the Center Test.”
“Since the Center Test takes place tomorrow, the conditions are perfect for chikan. All right, gonna hop on the train tomorrow and have a little nice communication with the girls.”
“You can feel up girls headed to the Center Test all you want and get off scot-free!!!”
“The Center Test is tomorrow? It’s a chikan carnival!”
“I just realized something amazing. If you grope a girl on the day of the Center Test, you won’t get caught, right?”

The reason for all this deplorable confidence? The Center Test is offered only once a year, and all examinees, nationwide, are required to take it at the same time. Show up late, and you run the risk of being told “Sorry, you can’t sit for the test. Come on time next year.” While not an insurmountable black mark, a gap year on your academic resume carries a stigma in Japan that can make job-hunting more difficult, and so arriving late to the Center Test site can have lasting repercussions for a person’s education and career.

Reporting a chikan incident, though, is a time-consuming process. The victim has to wait for the train to reach the next station, then somehow summon the authorities, who aren’t likely to be standing right there on the platform when she gets off. Then she has to give a statement, and that’s assuming there isn’t an altercation when she and/or any good Samaritans try to drag the chikan off the train so that he can face justice.

All of that takes more time than any buffer teens are likely to build into their schedule when heading to the Center Test venue, and so the logic of the boastful chikan is that when forced to choose between letting their assailant get away with his transgression or being late to the test, many girls will choose the former.

It should be noted that while the Center Test administrators are sticklers for punctuality, this does seem like a scenario where an exception would be made. It’s also worth pointing out that there haven’t been any publicized incidences of a girl who arrived late because she was groped on the train being told that she would be unable to take the test and would have to wait until next year to try again.

In addition, police reports make no mention of a spike in chikan activity on the days of the Center Test. That, however, may simply mean that chikans’ schemes are working exactly as planned, with teens who’ve been groped not taking the time to immediately inform police or Center Test administrators, and then, once the exam is over, being resigned to it now being too late to do anything about it and thus remaining silent.

Considering that how harried and strapped for time teens are on the days of the test is common knowledge in Japan, perhaps the best course of action would be for the Center Test’s governing body to make clear that while showing up on time is generally a must, being a victim of a crime, and reporting it to the authorities, is a valid excuse.

Source: Jin
Top image: Pakutaso
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