"You ought to be ashamed": Aussie tourist causing strife in Japan
<p>Sydney-sider Turan William Salis has been slammed after a TikTok of him entering the "women's only" train carriage in Japan went viral. </p>
<p>The video, which racked up over 2.3 million views, showed the 20-year-old unashamedly entering the strict female-only carriages on a Tokyo metro. </p>
<p>“You guys, did you know in Japan they have women-only carriages?” he said, before entering the carriage. </p>
<p>“It is like Saudi Arabia in here. I am the women-inspector, checking there is only women on this carriage.</p>
<p>“Yep yep, there is only women here. Cool. No men. I don’t see a single man in sight.</p>
<p>“Check complete, it really is a women-only carriage guys, wow.”</p>
<p>Salis was met by confused and furious stares from female passengers who were sitting in the carriage. </p>
<p>“This women-only carriage is the last thing I would expect to be seeing in such a free country like Japan, reminds me of something I would see in a country with strict segregation rules," he captioned the clip. </p>
<p>“Japan was the last place I expected to be seeing strict male-female segregation in public.”</p>
<p>The reason why Japan has female-only carriages is to protect women from sexual harassment and help them feel safe while taking public transportation. </p>
<p>A<span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">ccording to Japanese National Police Agency and the Ministry of Justice</span>, the number of indecent assaults in train carriages nationwide in Japan ranges from 300 to 500 each year, with indecent sexual behaviour – such as groping, unwanted touching and intimidation – a major issue on trains, especially during peak hours.</p>
<p><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">Over half of female passengers on the trains in Japan had, at one point in their lives, been groped on trains around Tokyo according to a 2005 investigation. </span></p>
<p>Female-only carriages have become a permanent fixture since the early 2000s and are common feature around the country because of this.</p>
<p>Thousands of people across the world have slammed Salis. </p>
<p>“You should get out of Japan, you disrespectful piece of s**t,” commented one person.</p>
<p>“They have these carriages to protect them from weirdos like you,” another said.</p>
<p>“This is such a disgrace. You ought to be ashamed.” </p>
<p>One Japanese man even created a response video about Salis' clip, slamming him for invading a safe space for women. </p>
<p>“You knew that that was the women-only passenger car, which means you can’t go in, men cannot enter. But you didn’t care. You broke the rules, you invaded a safe space for women," he said. </p>
<p>“Do you know why we have those? That’s because there are so many creepy men in Japan, who try to go behind the women, try to take pictures under their skirts.</p>
<p>“There has been a lot of physical harassment as well. It has been a very serious issue.</p>
<p>“That is why they had to take these measures. But you dare to call it segregation.</p>
<p>“You don’t know anything about my country. You go there, and you don’t have any intention to respect our culture and rules.</p>
<p>“It’s incredibly disrespectful, I can’t believe this kind of behaviour. If you have no intention of respecting us, then leave my country.</p>
<p>“We are not there so that you can make TikTok and YouTube videos, so that you can be famous.”</p>
<p>This is not an isolated incident for Salis, who has been on holiday in Japan since mid-August.</p>
<p>The tourist previously landed himself in a strife after walking around without a shirt on, which is socially unacceptable in Japan. </p>
<p>In another video, Salis filmed himself picking up dogs - who were distressed by his actions - despite getting yelled at because there are strict rules to not pick up the animals at the dog cafe. </p>
<p><em>Images: TikTok</em></p>