JR upping security after video shows man bumping into women at Shinjuku Station

TOKYO (TR) – East Japan Railway has promised to increase security measures after a video released on social media showed a man intentionally bumping into women at a railway station in Shinjuku Ward, reports Fuji News Network (May 30).

On May 25, a video uploaded to Twitter showed the man walking through a crowded JR Shinjuku Station, intentionally bumping into four women — sometimes forcefully, other times not — with his elbows and shoulders.

During the 43-second video, the man, who was wearing a white t-shirt, dark pants and a backpack, didn’t appear to touch any men.

The clip garnered tremendous popularity on social media, receiving more than 40,000 retweets before it was deleted. (The video still exists on YouTube as shown below.) “That’s awful,” said one person. Another chimed in, “That’s just not permissible.”

The original poster of the tweet, going by the handle Endo, told J-Cast News day the next day that the man committed the same act with about 10 women prior to the start of filming.

Intensifying patrols

JR is taking note. “Because it is an act that puts our customers in danger, we want to put an end to it,” representative of JR East said. The operator also said that it is planning to intensify patrols by security guards and staff members.

The move is an about-face by JR, whose representative last week told J-Cast News (May 26) that since they were “unaware of information on Twitter” they “could not comprehend” the problem.