Tokyo police report around 2,000 groping cases a year, or five a day, on 
trains -- not counting instances where perpetrators move their hands underneath 
their victims` clothing, which are treated as full sexual assaults.
At the request of police, Keio Corp, which runs trains between Tokyo`s huge 
Shinjuku station and western suburbs, started installing ceiling surveillance 
cameras in one of its trains as a trial project this week.
Another train company, East Japan Railway, has since last year set up 
cameras on all of its trains on the Saikyo line to Saitama prefecture northwest 
of the city, which has been notorious for groping cases.
According to local media reports and blogs, some molesters on the Saikyo line would organize themselves, surround a target -- often a young girl -- and 
gang up to sexually molest her in broad daylight.
Tokyo`s metropolitan police said reported train groping cases had been 
gradually falling -- from 2,471 in 2005 to 2,169 in 2008 -- in part thanks to 
the launch of women-only carriages during morning rush-hour.
A Keio Corp spokeswoman said the train company had "tried to raise 
awareness on the harm done by groping and by violent acts by dispatching 
security officers on trains and distributing posters".
(U.KR-IFB/H-AK)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
