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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 29th, 2006 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Beginner Season 1 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
31 Responses to “Beginner Lesson #115 - No Boys Allowed”
Tuesday at 6:30 pm
Mina-san, Today’s location is バミューダ・Bamyūda - hello to all of our listeners in Bermuda!
Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!
Tuesday at 10:47 pm
Mina-san,
Here is a picture of the type of sign you can see at many train stations explaining that certain cars are exclusively for women, usually under certain conditions. Enjoy, and have a great day!
http://kaoring.cocolog-nifty.com/tanpopo/2005/08/post_3128.html
Tuesday at 11:04 pm
This reminds of when I used to run up the escalator at Kita-Senju station to catch the Tsukuba Express. I would always be faced with the “josei senyou sharyou” and be forced to turn on my heels and make a dash for the second car. This would invariably end with the doors closing in my face and the words “kiken desu kara densha no kakekomi jousha ha oyame kudasai” (it’s dangerous so please don’t rush onto the train) ringing in my ears.
Tuesday at 11:09 pm
Wow, I didn’t know that they have such things in Japan. Nathan-san, thanks for the site.
Wednesday at 1:29 am
Airth-san, now that’s funny!
Thanks for sharing. I once just giri giri made a train, and it was so packed that I had to force my way in. I thought things were fine, but the door opened again, and I was forced out!!!
As the train pulled away, I just watched it fade into the distance, as I was still in shock!
Naz-san, it is relatively new. There are lots of valid arguements for it and against it. I can definately understand why the rail services offer it, and if I were a woman during rush hour, I would definately make use it! It is usually in effect during certain times during rush hour. e.g. 7:30-9:30 am 5:30-7:30 pm. I’m not sure about the times, as we’re in the office for most of the day.
Wednesday at 2:32 am
The word ‘yokatta’ is the past tense form of ‘yoi,’ correct?
So, the english translation should’ve been “it WAS good that …” instead of “it IS good that …”
Is that right?
PS: Why is there a need for women-only cars in Japan? What do Japanese women do in there that disallow men?
Wednesday at 3:09 am
It’s more a case of what men get up to in other cars that necessitates a women-only car.
Wednesday at 4:29 am
Would it be to much trouble to make the iTunes info files complete, as they used to be? I can’t help but notice things are not as in depth as they used to be.
Wednesday at 4:30 am
jeje, very funny Airth-san
(and informative), thanks a lot for sharing
Peter-san about the only women cars in the trains, I have the same opinion, if I was a women in cars so full of people
(is dificult to imagine) I really understand this kind of service.
Wednesday at 5:37 am
whoa i’m confused! do they have seperate cars because men try to grab at women when the train is crowded?
Wednesday at 6:00 am
Katie-san,
Yes, I have heard that sometimes men “grope” women on crowded trains. I guess it may happen elsewhere, too. Of course, trains in Japan may be even more crowded than in other countries??? I’m surprised that JPOD did not mention this on today’s lesson.
Wednesday at 6:06 am
I’m afraid so Katie-san,
Here’s a depressing news story about the statistics from MSN
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20060821p2a00m0na024000c.html
It sort of goes against the image of Japan being a safe and polite place.
Wednesday at 6:11 am
>Katie
Yes, that’s the main reason.
I heard that there are also the women only convenience stores. They sell makeup stuff, underwears for women besides the common goods! I’m not sure that those stores go well.
Wednesday at 6:16 am
Lizさん、
What is even stranger is that the groped women frequently try to keep quite about it and not complain. This seems to be a cultural issue.
For whatever it is worth, my understanding is that Japanese perverts know not to try this with a gaijin looking woman that would likely slap him.
John
Wednesday at 9:28 am
Peter-san, now *that’s* funny! Unfortunately, I’ve been there; it’s like being a pea popped from its pod. The embarrassing thing is when you are stranded on the platform with all those faces pressed up against the window staring at you. You have to try and pull off a nonchalant look that says, “hey it’s OK, I meant to do this. Really!”
The gropers are called ちかん(chikan). I first remembered this word by imagining the people who do this as a bunch of ‘chickens’; of course, you have to kind of twist the pronunciation at the end, but it worked for me.
A good tip is to keep your hands held high when you are on a crowded train. That’s one reason why you often see people holding books right up to their faces. If it’s not impossible to read it’s impossible to turn the pages, but you reduce the risk of a false “chikan” call. This is also useful when the man breathing into your face has just staggered directly from an izakaya - ugh.
Perhaps we could have a video lesson on how Japanese people fold their newspapers on the train. A truly practical use of origami that I’d never seen anywhere else in the world.
Wednesday at 9:40 am
Groping is indeed a problem. I’ve never clearly witnessed it happen, but the depictions I’ve seen on TV/film is that it’s often done by a man putting his hand near the women so it seems like it’s “innocent.”
This is why if I’m near a woman on a crowded train, I often raise my hands to my chest so that I can’t even accidentally touch her.
I have a women friend from Kyushu. She used to start talking to these jerks. She would say “What are you, a child?” And, inevitably, they would be shamed.
Also, I think this is one issue in which bystanders will get involved. If a woman were to yell out 「ちかん!』, and the guy is identified, people might yell at and grab the guy.
Johnさん、
If I ちかん gropes a foreign woman, he might consider himself lucky if she only slaps him.
Wednesday at 10:05 am
I seem to remember a lesson about this: “ashi wo funde, kao wo nagutte…”
In Shanghai we don’t have chickan, we have dorabou (thieves).
大嫌い
Wednesday at 10:31 am
Wednesday at 11:27 am
Mina-san,
Here are some statistics from 2004 - the top 10 railway lines ranked by reported incidents. (Original site: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/痴漢)
* 1位 217件 JR埼京線 (JR Saikyo Line)
* 2位 188件 JR中央線 (JR Chuo Line)
* 3位 121件 JR総武線 (JR Sobu Line)
* 3位 121件 京王線 (Keio Line)
* 5位 119件 JR山手線 (JR Yamanote Line)
* 6位 105件 東京メトロ東西線 (Tokyo Metro Tozai Line)
* 7位 95件 東京メトロ千代田線 (Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line)
* 8位 86件 東急田園都市線 (Tokyu Denentoshi Line)
* 9位 80件 小田急小田原線 (Odakyu Odawara Line)
* 10位 79件 西武池袋線 (Seibu Ikebukuro Line)
Wednesday at 12:17 pm
All this talk about ちかん is making me depressed. I don’t need to worry about things like crowded trains or lecherous men out here in the middle of the country, so it’s a good chance to say:
田舎に住んでよかったな。
inaka ni sunde yokatta na!
Wednesday at 12:25 pm
If you’re Cajun, no need to twist.
Yes.
Not necessarily. よかった, unless it’s specifically being used as the past tense of よい (like in, 天気はよかったですね。), is more of a “set phrase.” It encompasses BOTH the “it is good/nice…” and “it was good/nice” meanings. Is it grammatically correct to have them both? No, not really, But that’s how it’s done. The present tense version usually works better in English.
Wednesday at 1:56 pm
daniel B is right, a chikan would be lucky to get away with only a slap…he’d probably get a kick in the nuts from me
i once had to headbutt a guy on a bus in london
Wednesday at 2:16 pm
Go Katie!
Wednesday at 3:04 pm
I haven’t seen the women only carriages, but having been on ridiculously crowded trains myself, I can see the problem. You literally can’t move an inch.
Off-topic: The grammar bank had been looking a bit empty, but today I noticed that someone’s been working on it. Quite a few more entries. Gambatte kudasai.
Wednesday at 8:48 pm
Airthさん, Thank you so much for the memory device. ジョン
Wednesday at 9:14 pm
Airth-san, love the chicken mneumonic! I may have to use that in a lesson. I’ll do my best to remember to give credit.
Katie-san, that’s sugoi!
Alan-san, thanks for noticing! We have grand plans; just give us bit longer.
Thursday at 8:27 am
Thursday at 6:03 pm
No one has commented on this lesson in over 2 years!
From the formal/bonus track:
女性専用車両がある前の東京の朝のラッシュはもっと大変でした。
What does this mean? I decided:
Before there were women-only train cars, Tokyo morning rush hour was much worse.
and
えっ、って言うか、どうして貴方がここにいるんですか
Eh? what did you say? What are you doing in here?
(took me a little while to figure out that貴方 was the kanji for あなた).
Friday at 9:41 am
一 (ハジメ) san> Wow time flies!!
えっ、って言うか、どうして貴方がここにいるんですか
Eh? By the way, why are you here?
when って言うか is used in the beginning of the sentence, following the sentence before that, it means “by the way”, but if it’s used in middle of the sentence, such as:
これは、何ていうか、ちょっと変わってますね。
this is, hm, well, it’s different….
used to give a vague answer….
Wednesday at 8:29 am
I tend to think “yokatta” as Yay!
Wednesday at 3:28 am
間も無く新宿、新宿でございます。今日は電車が特にこんでいるね。お盆休みはおわったからね、女性専用車両があってよかったね、こんでいるけど、安心が一番よ。そうそう、
今日は電車が特に混んでいますね。お盆休みは終わりましたかたね。この電車に女性専用車両があってよかったですね。混んでいますけど、女性専用車両がある前の、東京朝のラッシュはもっと大変でしたね。賛成します。混んでいい、でも安心が一番ですよ。で言うか、どうしたあなたここにいるんですか。
また、あした。
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