Context
This is an interview with Professor Harada Takayuki 原田隆之 from the University of Tsukuba. He is an expert in criminal psychology. In this interview, he criticizes Japan’s handling of sex crime like chikan and pedophilia. (Chikan is a Japanese word that refers to a type of sex crime where a victim is sexually violated in less noticeable ways, such as covert touching on crowded trains or secretly taking photos under someone’s skirt.)
Highlights
- Japan’s approach to sex crimes is flawed – Prof. Harada argues that crimes like chikan and pedophilia are not taken seriously enough. It’s common for mainstream society to blame victims and downplay the seriousness of sex crime.
- Sex offenders often believe victims enjoy it – Many chikan offenders misinterpret victims’ silence as consent, leading them to continue and escalate their actions. The thrill of avoiding capture becomes more addictive than the crime itself.
- Sex crime committed by educators against students – Japan consistently sees more than 200 accounts of educators committing sex crime against underage students in schools every year. Prof. Harada argues that pedophilia is not taken seriously enough in Japan due to social taboo.
- Pedophilia treatment is severely lacking – Japan has almost no institutions dedicated to treating pedophiles, leaving them without proper help. Society’s refusal to openly discuss the issue allows the problem to persist.
Translation
Prof. Harada: Let’s first look at these 2 posters that warn the public about chikan. The one on the right is posted in Tsukuba Station and made by the Tsukuba police. The one on the left is made by the Aichi Prefecture police. Female students at my university are advocating for these posters to be taken down and redesigned. Why do you think they are problematic?
Host: The poster on the right warns women about how dangerous it is to wear skirts, which puts the responsibility on women instead of the perpetrators.
Prof. Harada: The poster makes it seem like women are wrong for wearing skirts. It suggests that women are at fault for giving criminals opportunities to violate them by wearing certain attires. Although I’m sure those who made the poster meant well, it’s obvious that they were men who made it from a male perspective. From a female perspective, it seems like the poster is blaming women. For the poster on the left, it portrays sex crime in a way that’s too lighthearted. I think this unserious attitude reflects how Japan perceives sex crime.
Host: Certainly. Even though chikan is a serious sex crime, the drawing makes it seem unserious.
Prof. Harada: A common way of thinking about sex crime is to portray it as an irrelevant problem that only affects some women and young people. This perception doesn’t do justice to the fact that sexual violence is experienced daily by many.
Host: Do you think this is because people don’t understand the seriousness of sex crime unless they’ve been victimized? For example, about 70% of men report that they have never been victimized by chikan. On the other hand, almost half of women report to have been victimized by chikan. Is there a big difference between how men and women see sex crime?
Prof. Harada: Many people, including politicians, see chikan as a problem that only concerns women and minors; they tend to blame the victims when chikan is reported. There was a case when a Korean female DJ was groped, and many were blaming her for dressing a certain way. Despite how often chikan happens, many people pay no attention to it and blame the victims when chikan is reported. Victims of chikan suffer from serious trauma like inability to ride trains. This is a problem that involves the entire society.
Host: Can you explain what you mean by the twisted perceptions of chikan offenders?
Prof. Harada: When I was working in the prison system, I conducted a survey among chikan criminals. These criminals think that the vast majority of women enjoy being molested and women staying silent means that they enjoy it. Although women stay silent due to fear and embarrassment, the criminals interpret it as consensus, so they keep escalating their violations.
Host: Since it’s unlikely for chikan offenders to be caught, does it encourage them to keep doing it?
Prof. Harada: Yes. Some of them also enjoy the thrill of almost being caught and getting away. For many sex criminals, they are first drawn to the crime due to sexual desire; later on, they get addicted to the thrill of getting away rather than sexual gratification.
Host: Do people suddenly become chikan criminals with no previous build-up? Or are there things leading to the criminal tendency?
Prof. Harada: It happens both ways. Sometimes it’s caused by long-term pre-existing interests, other times it’s caused by random encounters. Chikan is specifically fostered by full trains, so it’s a type of crime that’s limited to big cities in Japan like Tokyo and Osaka.
Host: Are there female chikan criminals?
Prof. Harada: They almost do not exist. I have probably only seen 2 in more than 10 years of my career.
Prof. Harada: Please take a look at these data about sex crime committed by educators. These are educators who commit sex crime against their own students. Every year, there are more than 200 of these criminals. Every year, there are new laws and policies to prevent this. It’s a social taboo to discuss how to prevent pedophilia and sex crime targeting children, but it’s an important issue, so I am studying it. I’m trying to find out how to track the biological signs of patients recovering from sexual desire toward children.
Host: It must be hard for pedophiles to eliminate their sexual desire toward children.
Prof. Harada: Yes, it’s hard. Many of my patients are currently unemployed due to being caught before. They spend their whole days getting treated at the hospital and only go home at night after the children have gone home. We try to prevent them from having the chance to see children by asking them to avoid places with children. Some of them only desire children, and others desire both children and adults. When possible, I try to redirect their desire toward adults. If they cannot help fantasizing about children, we try to get them to never act out their fantasies.
Host: How can our society change to help patients recover from pedophilia?
Prof. Harada: A big problem now is that there is virtually no place for pedophiles to get proper treatment in Japan. My place is about the only place for treatment. Society needs to stop treating pedophilia as an irrelevant problem that’s taboo to discuss. Right now, people pretend it’s not a thing that happens, despite it happening everyday.
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