Stop it! Japan anti-groper app becomes smash hit
Tokyo: A Tokyo police smartphone app to scare off molesters has become a smash hit in Japan, where women have long run the gauntlet of groping on packed rush-hour trains.
Victims of groping can activate the Digi Police app, which either blasts out a voice shouting “stop it” at top volume, or produces a full-screen SOS message — which victims can show other passengers — reading: “There is a molester. Please help.” The app has been downloaded more than 237,000 times, an “unusually high figure” for a public service app, said police official Keiko Toyamine.
“Thanks to its popularity, the number is increasing by some 10,000 every month,” Toyamine told AFP. Victims are often too scared to call out for help, she said. But by using the SOS message mode, “they can notify other passengers about groping while remaining silent”.
There were nearly 900 groping and other harassment cases on Tokyo trains and subways reported in 2017, according to the latest available data from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. “But it’s the tip of the iceberg,” Toyamine said, with victims often hesitant to come forward. Offenders face up to six months in jail or fines of up to 500,000 yen ($5,500 dollars). The potential jail sentence is increased to 10 years if violence or threats are used.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department quietly launched the free Digi Police app three years ago. It initially aimed to provide information for elderly people, as well as parents and their children about scams or prowlers. But the function to “repel molesters” was added a few months after the launch. And an online conversation about the app — caused by a female pop idol being assaulted late last year — resulted in its sudden popularity.
Yui Kimura, a 27-year-old beer shop employee on the nation’s northern island of Hokkaido, says she is always worried about groping whenever she visits the capital. “I tend to be vigilant on Tokyo trains as dodgy men can happen to be in front of me at any time,” Kimura said. Reina Oishi, a 21-year-old university student in Tokyo, also said: “I want to download the app as I have been groped so many times.” Experts agree that the app could be a boon for “silent” victims.
“Molesters tend to target those who appear shy and reluctant to lodge a police complaint,” said Akiyoshi Saito, a certified social worker who supported some 800 former molesters during a rehabilitation programme.
Groping on trains can occur in any country where trains are frequently crowded, Saito told AFP. “But the idea that men are superior to women, which is Japan’s traditional bias, may help sustain” sexual harassment on trains in the country, he added. (AFP)
Nepal mountaineer climbs Mount Everest for 24th time
Kathmandu: A Nepalese Sherpa climber, who broke his own record by scaling Mount Everest for the 23rd time last week, on Tuesday climbed the world’s highest peak for the 24th time, a government official confirmed here.
Kami Rita Sherpa, 49, had just reached the 8,848-meter-high Everest for the 23rd times on May 15.
“He reached the summit today (Tuesday) at 6.38 a.m. along with other climbers. It is great news for us,” Meera Acharya, an official at the country’s Department of Tourism, told Xinhua news agency.
Sherpa, a resident of Thame village in Solukhumbu district, shared his record of 21 summits with Nepali climbers Apa Sherpa and Phurba Tashi Sherpa, both of whom have already announced retirement. On May 16, 2018, Kami Rita made history by summiting Everest for the 22nd time.
Kami Rita made the maiden ascent of Everest in 1994 when he was 24 years old. He has already climbed most of the peaks above 8,000 metres including K2 and Annapurna, among others. The short climbing window, which depends on favourable weather, generally falls in mid-May.
As many as 5,000 climbers have already scaled the world’s highest peak since 1953, according to the official records of the Tourism Department of Nepal. (IANS)