"You ought to be ashamed": Aussie tourist causing strife in Japan
Sydney-sider Turan William Salis has been slammed after a TikTok of him entering the "women's only" train carriage in Japan went viral.
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.
“You guys, did you know in Japan they have women-only carriages?” he said, before entering the carriage.
“It is like Saudi Arabia in here. I am the women-inspector, checking there is only women on this carriage.
“Yep yep, there is only women here. Cool. No men. I don’t see a single man in sight.
“Check complete, it really is a women-only carriage guys, wow.”
Salis was met by confused and furious stares from female passengers who were sitting in the carriage.
“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.
“Japan was the last place I expected to be seeing strict male-female segregation in public.”
The reason why Japan has female-only carriages is to protect women from sexual harassment and help them feel safe while taking public transportation.
According to Japanese National Police Agency and the Ministry of Justice, 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.
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.
Female-only carriages have become a permanent fixture since the early 2000s and are common feature around the country because of this.
Thousands of people across the world have slammed Salis.
“You should get out of Japan, you disrespectful piece of s**t,” commented one person.
“They have these carriages to protect them from weirdos like you,” another said.
“This is such a disgrace. You ought to be ashamed.”
One Japanese man even created a response video about Salis' clip, slamming him for invading a safe space for women.
“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.
“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.
“There has been a lot of physical harassment as well. It has been a very serious issue.
“That is why they had to take these measures. But you dare to call it segregation.
“You don’t know anything about my country. You go there, and you don’t have any intention to respect our culture and rules.
“It’s incredibly disrespectful, I can’t believe this kind of behaviour. If you have no intention of respecting us, then leave my country.
“We are not there so that you can make TikTok and YouTube videos, so that you can be famous.”
This is not an isolated incident for Salis, who has been on holiday in Japan since mid-August.
The tourist previously landed himself in a strife after walking around without a shirt on, which is socially unacceptable in Japan.
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.
Images: TikTok