Talk:chikan

"Chikan" in Japanese is simply a generic term meaning any form of unwanted public molestation. It does not specifically refer to trains, or rubbing, or groping. It can be used to refer to both the act of molestation, and/or the perpetrator.

The current media campaigns in Japan combatting "Chikan" are primarily about train-groping simply because it has become to be recognized as probably the hugest and most out-of-control aspect of the overall problem of public sexual harassment of women in Japan, however that is just the current social issue in Japan, not the definition.

For confirmation, please see any online Japanese dictionary (e.g. http://www.freedict.com/onldict/onldict.php) or for in-depth confirmation, run Google Translate on the Japanese Wikipedia entry for Chikan (痴漢): http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fja.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F%25E7%2597%25B4%25E6%25BC%25A2


 * for a Tokyo Metropolitan Police discussion of the issue, see (in Japanese, but pretty readable through Google Translate): http://www.keishicho.metro.tokyo.jp/kouhoushi/no1/koramu/koramu3.htm

for a paper reference on the term, see http://books.google.com/books?id=uNkNhPZQprcC&pg=PA185&dq=chikan&cd=2#v=onepage&q=chikan&f=false

Added the more general definition. I'm inclined to replace the other definition with some discussion about train-groping being (currently) the most widely-known aspect of the general problem, but have simply left the old def as is for now. Flj529 04:58, 10 April 2010 (UTC)

RFV discussion: January 2020
—Suzukaze-c◇◇ 09:01, 18 January 2020 (UTC)


 * But for this article, all uses I found on news sites were marked as being code-switching. In this one article, the term is immediately explained and linked to another article on the same website stating that the term is “becoming commonly used in English”, but the main exhibit supporting this statement is a use in the U.K. government’s official online foreign travel advice for Japan, in which the term is not only explained but also set off between quotation marks, a tell-tale sign of code-switching. All evidence points to the word not yet having entered the English lexicon. --Lambiam 10:56, 18 January 2020 (UTC)


 * The overwhelming majority of quotes are clearly examples of code-switching. However, I have added a number of citations to the citations page that do not call out the term with scare quotes or italics. In particular, the use of "chikans" as a plural form seems to provide evidence that the term has started making the transition into English. Kiwima (talk) 00:22, 19 January 2020 (UTC)

RFV-passed, although I added a usage note that this is transitional. Kiwima (talk) 21:47, 26 January 2020 (UTC)