I'm phrasing this as a question and posting it here since I'm not sure this is deserving of a post to the main subreddit. I'm a practicer of TRP and an MRA, but this post might even come off as having almost a feminist leaning to it. I write the below in the interest of understanding my fellow man, and what they ought to do to protect themselves.

I'm an American and long-time resident of Japan. The title of this post is a question that has been bothering me as of late. It seems to me that some Japanese men are ignorant of the possible consequences of sexual allegations to the point of total stupidity. Many Japanese men, of varying ages, will engage in blatant sexual assault, sometimes even with witnesses present. And yet, Japanese society provides more than enough dire consequences for those accused, IMO. I'm not even talking about false allegations here. It just seems to me that Japanese men ought to wise up and do more to protect themselves by not engaging in actions that open them up to financial and social ruin.

Exhibit A: My male coworker engaged in inappropriate touching of a female coworker while drunk at a work function. I do not know the details as I was not there, but he eventually settled out of court by paying a hefty sum under threat of lawsuit. He was lucky enough to keep his job, since he is considered indispensable to the company.

Exhibit B: My current LTR (Japanese woman) started a part-time job after work recently. A guy there started making sexual approaches, despite knowing she has a boyfriend. This was fine at first, since she had no interest and made it pretty clear, but soon after he started saying inappropriate things about her appearance, and basically said the equivalent of 'Why did you reject me? I figured you were easy!' He later asked if he could touch her cheek, putting his hand near her cheek, then also asked if he could touch her stomach and butt. This is inappropriate for a work environment, and I am completely with my LTR 100% in complaining to management. She did, and the coworker got transferred to another site. I have no idea how serious a consequence this is for him (hell, maybe the new site is actually a better fit for him), but I don't pity the dude at all if he is greatly inconvenienced by this. He was being a dumbass, and completely going the wrong way about approaching a woman above his SMV.

Now, I know both of these incidents may be minor, but these are both just recent incidents from acquaintances in my personal life. I know that train groping, for instance, is considered to be a huge issue here, and I've heard personal anecdotes from male and female acquaintances who've seen it happen or have had it happen to them. (The separate women-only train cars are totally overkill and blatant discrimination though, obviously.)

Now, I know false allegations are an issue here too, but at the same time I have to wonder why some men can just be so blatantly ignorant of the danger they're putting themselves in by actively engaging in acts which could easily pass for sexual harassment. I have some guesses of my own.

  • 1. Most Japanese women will laugh and shrug off incidents of sexual harassment. (My LTR did once when a manager at her main job intentionally brushed the back of his hand against her ass.) However, this doesn't change the fact that there are plenty nowadays who won't hesitate to go to management or the authorities.
  • 2. Most of the perpetrators are older men who have not caught up with current attitudes about these things. (However, the guy in Exhibit B was only 36.)
  • 3. Word has not gotten out enough yet. Japan is not filled with shrieking feminist harpies like the West.
  • 4. A higher number of cases likely go unpunished here. (However, as I stated above, I personally believe there is more than enough potential for negative consequences to warrant more caution.)
  • 5. Japan has a high ratio of betas to alphas, and most of them are sexually frustrated and clueless about how to successfully approach women.

Just interested in hearing other's opinions. I know there are a few others here living in Japan, but I would be interested in hearing from anyone who wants to comment.

TL;DR A lot of Japanese men engage in blatant sexual harassment, and I think they should be more careful for their own good.