Women weren’t happy to see the man board their carriage, but he wasn’t going to let them have their way without a fight.

In recent years, the topic of women-only carriages on trains has caused some heated debate in Japan, with a surprising number of men expressing their dislike of the system, labelling it a gender-discriminatory practice.

For rail operators in major cities, though, these female-only cars are essential for preventing cases of male-female groping on their trains, and despite threats from anonymous “Men’s Rights” proponents in the past, it’s a popular service that won’t be disappearing any time soon.

This car is for women only during the peak times of 7:10-9:30 a.m. and between certain stations, including from Ayase to Yoyogi-Uehara stations on the Chiyoda subway line that runs through downtown Tokyo.

Still, some men are taking it upon themselves to stage individual protests against the system by boarding these carriages during peak hours, at the time when they’re specifically designated for female use. One such incident that recently caused an uproar in Japan occurred early last month, when a man decided to board a women’s carriage on the Chiyoda Line and filmed what happened for the whole world to see.

Take a look at the video here:

There’s a lot of Japanese conversation in the clip and not a lot of action until the very end, so let’s take a look at what went on in a little more detail.

First of all, to fully understand what’s going on, it’s best to note that it’s not a crime for men to board women-only carriages, and male passengers will not be forcibly removed from women-only cars. However, rail signs and announcements ask customers “for their understanding and cooperation” in the matter, making it more of a self-policing situation, and an unspoken social rule for commuters to abide by.

As the clip begins, we can see that the non-legal requirement for men to avoid women-only carriages is a pivotal point which the owner of the video wants everyone to notice, as the station attendant doesn’t even stop the man from using the car.

▼ The staff member doesn’t ask the man to leave the carriage, nor does he say anything about it being a carriage for women only.

After the doors close, the man filming can be heard expressing surprise, supposedly at the fact that there are no other men on board, and within seconds of the door closing, a woman pipes up to say, “It’s because this is a woman’s only carriage“. The man is quick to respond, saying “I don’t recognise this as a women’s only carriage. Just because you say it is doesn’t mean it has to be. Don’t lie.”

At this point in the video, the man starts adding onscreen text to describe what’s going on, using the word “josousha” (person in woman’s clothing) rather than “josei” (woman) for the passengers around him. This isn’t because any of the passengers are male crossdressers, but because he has a chip on his shoulder about men not being allowed to use the train.

According to the male passenger, the “person in woman’s clothing” who spoke to him then started applying her makeup on the train, so he tells her to “mind her manners“. This causes a second woman to enter the conversation and come to her defence with, “Can I ask you to be quiet?”

He tells her she’s being annoying and she responds with: “You’re the one who’s being the most annoying.” After some to-and-fro, a third woman enters the conversation, saying “Don’t you think you should change cars?” However, as he believes the train can be used by anybody, he says if he has to move then they should have to move too.

Some more heated conversation ensues, with the man telling the women on the train that they don’t have the authority to enforce any rules as they aren’t rail employees. At this point, the women give up trying to reason with the man, who appears intent on arguing no matter what, simply asking him to just continue the journey in silence instead.

As he continues to express anger at their comments, the women, who have had enough of talking to a man who clearly has no respect for the unspoken social rules, all apologise in a sarcastic and passive aggressive manner, in what appears to be an attempt to satisfy his desire to win the argument and stop him from talking.

This tactic works, as there’s no conversation for the rest of the trip, until, at the 3:57 mark in the video, the train arrives at the next station and the man makes his way towards the doors on the opposite side of the carriage.

With his phone pressed up against the woman who first spoke to him, he says “Please don’t block me“. Whether or not she really is purposely blocking his path remains unclear, but he continues with this request until he makes his way past her.

He seems to be on his way off the train with the other passengers when suddenly he falls to the floor faster than a soccer player looking for a penalty while calling out again, “please don’t block me”.

According to the onscreen text added to the video, the passenger says he was blocked from exiting and when he finally made his way out, he was pulled from behind and lost his balance, finding himself on the floor. He can then be heard saying “Ow! I was pulled! Ow!” while rolling around on the floor of the carriage.

If you’re a man protesting women’s-only carriages on the basis of gender discrimination, here’s a hot tip: don’t roll around on the floor filming upwards like a chikan pervert trying to film up women’s skirts.

After spending some time on the floor and gasping like he’d been hit by a spirit bomb, the onscreen text says another woman then pulled him off the train. Once off the train, he continually says he’s been hurt, before calling out for his glasses, which were knocked off during his fall.

A station attendant appears on the platform at this point, and the male passenger explains to him that he’d been blocked and then pulled back while trying to exit the train. The attendant appears to want to talk to him, and the male passenger continues to make a scene, calling out for the woman to exit the train and talk to the station attendant as well.

The train’s departure has been delayed now and the attendant attempts to guide him away from the train, but the man comes back for more, telling the woman to “come out” and asking the station staff not to close the doors.

The video then ends, and the man who filmed his journey on the train says he spoke to station staff afterwards, answering their questions and discussing “the problems related to women-only carriages“.

Despite his self-proclaimed activism, though, it’s clear that the man who filmed the video was looking to cause a scene and ignite an argument, as evidenced by the fact that he lined up at the women-only car doors and began filming before he got on the train.

While no action has been taken on the matter, this video is the latest in a string of recordings showing men flouting the social rules by boarding the women-only carriages. However, if there’s one thing we’re learning from these incidents, it’s that for every man who attempts to challenge the system, there are a number of strong women on board who won’t hesitate to stand in your way.

Source: My Game News Flash

Images: YouTube/任意確認乗車チャンネル

Follow Oona on Twitter for more information about news from Tokyo.