Train Cafe takes hands-on approach in fight against
molesting
Groping remains a painful fact of life for Japan's female
train
commuters, even with most cities now having Women Only carriages
to
combat the heinous issue, but molesting addiction has recently
started
attracting headlines, according to Weekly Playboy.
Celebrity economist Kazuhide Uekusa's arrest last month for groping
--
his third sex charge in eight years -- has thrown the spotlight on
the
scores of train molesters who simply cannot help themselves.
Train Cafe, an adult's club in the basement of a seedy building
in
Tokyo's Ikebukuro district, claims to be combating the crime
of
molestation by getting chikan, or gropers, off the streets.
Train Cafe is a members' only club and is staffed by young
women
dressed in school uniforms or aprons. Membership costs 5,000 yen
and
there is a 2,000 yen payment for a cup of tea levied with each
visit.
A subsequent payment of 3,600 yen for 20 minutes permits members
to
partake of Train Cafe's services.
Those services are carried out in a room refurbished so that it
looks
exactly like the inside of a carriage on the Yamanote Line, the
train
that loops the central Tokyo area. Young women stand at
strategic
points in the carriage and patrons are permitted to fondle them
in
whatever way they please. An extra payment of 5,000 yen gives
patrons
the option of selecting the woman they want to ride with for
a
15-minute period.
Male customers, of who the club says there are 4,000, are not
allowed
to ejaculate in the establishment.
Train Cafe members are offered a virtual reality trip on the
Yamanote
Line.
"During the 20 minute session, the trip takes you from Ikebukuro
to
Meguro (about one-third of the Yamanote Line's 60-minute
complete
loop). With each stop, the doors of the carriage open and the
girls
get on and off the train. We use actual recordings of the
conductors'
announcements and LCD screens outside the window display
actual
footage of the trip along the Yamanote Line," Train Cafe's
operator
tells Weekly Playboy. "We cannot be beaten when it comes to
reality."
Train Cafe's operator tells the weekly that the club's membership
is
largely based on men in the early to mid-40s. He adds that
many
customers enter the establishment saying that they had just
ridden
trains and been driven almost mad by temptation, but made it to
the
club before tackling an innocent woman commuter.
"We have a crime reducing effect," the operator says.
Far from feeling demeaned, women working at the club say they enjoy
it.
"I loath real chikan. But if I'm attacked by one, I'm too scared to
do
anything and just shut up. I really, really hate it," 20-year-old
Rin
tells the weekly. "But here, all the customers are members. You
know
you're going to be felt up and it's a good place to make friends,
so I
enjoy it."