Herein a sorry business. Groping. Frotteurism. Men behaving badly – though there was recent reported case of a woman alleged to have been shoving and rubbing. But the statistics speak – 4000 men a year arrested nationally, 17% of women travelling by train say they have been molested. The Ministry of Labour receives about 10,000 complaints annually. In 1999, the Keio Line began women-only carriages with the Odakyū Line and others soon thereafter following suit. On the Odakyū there are the two carriages usually, one near to the driver's cabin, one near to the guard’s. These are so time-tabled for two or two-and-a-half hours each morning and evening. There will always be dangers of false accusation but no-one seriously doubts the problem, not least given packed rushhour trains. Apart from standard gropes, instances have been reported of men biting women's hair. Kind of trichological-dental ‘rush’ as it were? There are even oddball spin-offs, a Groper's Brotherhood operating as tomo-no-kai and a club called ime-kura.

Is it deliberate that the notices for these women-only morning and evening carriages are given a pink background? Odakyū in the pink, in lavender, as it were. A ‘soft’ female image to play against a mean masculine offence?

Allowed into these carriages, however, are ‘men with a physical handicap’ and ‘men who are care attendants’. More phrasing to get you thinking.

One episode that adds its own quirk to the already quirky. TV, and different kinds of consumer event, regularly vaunt the MINISUKA POLICE IDOL GROUP. Essentially this is a dozen-plus attractive young Japanese women dressed in Mother Mary blue rubber or pvc tight mini-outfits – slit skirts (minisuka is romaji for miniskirt) and caps. Police-themed. Part of their publicity says ‘Be arrested by the Minisuka Police’. Not a few men would mind. A combination of Baby Doll, Dominatrix, and Strip-Club Mascot. Frequently referred to as the MINISUKA PORICE. Newspaper for July 2009 report that one of their number, Yukiko Hachisuka, boarded the Odakyū-sen at Shimo-Kitazawa, travelled the line a number of stops, and found herself subject to groping by a 43-year-old salaryman.