The majority of Japanese women think men who take their dates to the venue using a train rather than a car “deserve to be single for life,” “have no right to love” and are “abusing women,” according to a recent article – which has predictably proven highly incendiary amongst Japan’s increasingly carless men.

The rant causing all the fuss:

Guys who use a train on a date have no right to love. These guys are just mocking the girls they try to court, and I hope they enjoy being single for life. And it’s not just me who thinks this – most girls think exactly the same thing. […] Frankly, making your date ride a train is abuse of women. It’s violence. A lot of idiot guys are so intent on satisfying their lust they don’t even realise this. They just want to jam themselves in a girl as cheaply as possible. Most men are looking for sex as the final objective of any date with a woman. Maybe some guys will deny it on Twitter and the like, but those are just lies to try to make themselves look better, and no girl should believe them.

To say this has provoked an unsympathetic reaction from Japan’s highly train dependent and increasingly automobile-shunning male population would be an understatement:

“How does walking sound to you?” “The girls who find using a train on a date too much of a hassle are the ones I’d like to see stay single for life.” “I’ll just roll up in my light truck then.” “To paraphrase, if you don’t have a car and the right to ride it, you’re not riding me either?” “They just want to jam themselves in a girl as cheaply as possible = probably the only kind of guy she’s ever been able to date.” “Trains are basically more convenient than cars in Tokyo though.” “And so much safer than automobiles!” “Did this hag get stuck in the bubble? Unless you live out in the country, who the hell uses a car on a date any more?” “If you take a car on a date it means you can’t even booze together.” “If you love your partner it hardly matters whether you are together on a train or a car, or even if you are just stuck in traffic together. Wait – has she not met someone like this?” “Doesn’t everyone just meet up at the venue these days?” “I bet she would not want to be driven about in a kei [ultra-compact] car either. Only old guys ride expensive motors these days!” “I don’t own a car and use only trains and buses – hasn’t stopped me having a girlfriend.” “Whether she is onto anything hinges on whether we are talking Tokyo or the middle of nowhere here.” “Yes yes, we know how desperate they are to sell cars now. Maybe past generations lapped up this car-dating stuff, but young people today don’t care at all.” “This woman is obviously one of the wasteful and extravagant bitches who are best avoided. At least she makes it clear.” “What is supposed to be wrong with taking a train anyway?” “Seems cheap. She wants a more expensive seeming date.” “I think she’s right – most women do think that, and most aren’t going to want to go out with you anywhere on the train.” “Shut it yokel.” “I don’t think a guy who can’t even drive has any chance of cutting it as a father or something like that. I think I’d let a guy off until marriage though.” “Even girls who live in the country often don’t care any more. I always used to get asked what I drove on dates, now I never get asked that.” “Rental cars will suffice. This dumb provincial idiot barely registers anything other than the surface anyway.” “I honestly think this whole piece was written by some old guy whose brain was poisoned by the bubble.” “Try going to Kyoto in a car – nothing but tiny congested one-way roads all over, it’s hell.” “This is why cars don’t sell any more. They have massive ongoing maintenance expenses, gas isn’t cheap and you can get into all kinds of horrible accidents. Plus having to find parking wherever you go is horrible.” “The reason you losers don’t get any is because you don’t dote on the whims of our female mistresses sufficiently!” “Just why are you guys getting so worked about this article anyway…”