I saw this sign on the subway platform and was confused at the messaging being communicated.
It seems obvious that what is happening is a crime, but there's not a lot of wrong doing imagery in this poster such as: Don't 🚯 Stop 🛑 Police👮♀️ or Wrong ❌
The phone is drawn in a slimy, perverted, creepy way while the hand is grey and menacing giving a criminal vibe, yet the female dressed in a school uniform is drawn in an erotic way often found in 変態漫画 (ヘンタイマンガ).
So to make sense of the conflicting imagery, we have to translate the poster to find out what is going on.
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かも - Maybe; abbreviated version of かもしれない
狙われているのは、(ねらわれているのは) - Person being targeted
駅 (えき) - Train Station
や - Particle for And, Or
電車内 (でんしゃない) - In the train car
の
痴漢 (ちかん) - Pervert, molester, dirty old man
相談 (そうだん) - Consultation, discussion, asking for advise
は - Particle pronounced 'wa' to designate the subject of the sentence, even though it uses hiragana 'ha'.
鉄道 (てつどう) - Railway, rail transport
警察隊 (けいさつたい) - Police Force
へ - Particle used with motion or direction when going to or from a place
レデイース - Ladies
相談
Translation: Maybe you...will be targeted. For consultation on molesters in station or trains, go to the railway police.
Breakdown: 狙われているのは
狙われて - The て form of the Passive conjugation of the verb 狙う with Passive conjugation 狙われる meaning to take aim at, to be after, to have an eye on. The passive form makes the verb done to someone or something. For example:
As an Active verb - 私はあなたが狙う。(わたしはあなたがねらう) I have my eye on you.
As a Passive verb - 私はあなたに狙われる。(わたしはあなたにねらわれる) You have your eye on me.
Notice the particle に in the passive sentence claims direction towards me as the someone having an eye on, where in the active が is used to make you the subject of having an eye on.
Passive sentences are a bit tricky and if you want to learn more check out Tofugu's Post Here
いる - いる is used to designate a person or living being such as animals; compared to ある used for inanimate objects. For example:
人がいる。 (ひとがいる) - There is a person.
本がある。 (ほんがある) - There is a book.
To use more formally say, 人がいります。 or 本があります。
のは - Pronounced no wa, the の is a possessive particle, and は is the main subject particle; this is emphasizing the person that this is happening to.
Translated we understand this poster is a service provided to women being targeted on trains and in train stations. This is a type of sexual harassment that occurs often in Japan to woman and have very strict laws to punish and prevent people from doing this.
My honest opinion is this poster isn't helping anyone. I think it is doing more damage and giving people the idea to do this, rather than prevent them from doing it.
Woman should know that there are places and services working to protect them from this happening to them, but this poster is too graphic for a public service announcement and, as I said before, is more 変態 than it needs to be.
A more appropriate image would be a woman standing with a railway officer pointing at man holding his phone and noticing he's been caught has an expression of fear and sweat pouring down his face.
What do you think? If you agree or disagree, leave a comment or email us at deathbykanji@gmail.com to let us know your thoughts or continue the conversation.
読まれてにありがとう！
つづく。。。、
ジョシュア
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