I’ve been living in Japan for 4 years now, and I’m a woman in my 30s. Something happened today that left me completely shaken.
I was on a fairly empty train practically empty on the Tozai line which I boarded from Kudanshita , and I had to get off at the next station. I was standing right by the door with my bag placed on the floor beside me. When the train arrived at the station and the doors were about to open, I bent down slightly to pick up my bag.
At that exact moment, a woman from my right side, whose face I couldn’t see because I wasn’t facing her, suddenly shoved me hard against the corner( where I was standing). As she stepped off, she then pushed me out of the train as well. I was already getting off at that station anyway, but the force and intentional nature of the push completely shocked me. There was no rush or crowd, literally no one else around the doors or at the platform.The seats were empty too. I assume she must’ve been sitting behind me, but for some reason she chose to physically harass me.
I was so stunned that I started crying. I felt this overwhelming mix of humiliation, confusion, and anger. I stood there frozen for a moment, and when I finally looked at her, she stared back at me with such hatred and anger that I couldn’t understand what triggered it. She seemed to be in her 50s possibly Japanese, though I don’t want to draw conclusions.
But the incident left me extremely unsettled and unsure about whether immigrants are truly safe in Japan anymore. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before.
What bothers me even more is that when foreigners share incidents like this online, people often dismiss them or immediately defend Japan , saying foreigners must have been loud, breaking rules, making videos, or doing something wrong. But I wasn’t doing anything. I was quietly minding my own business, just getting ready to get off the train.
I genuinely don’t understand this knee-jerk assumption that Japanese people are perfect and can never behave badly, while foreigners are always questioned or blamed.
Has anyone else experienced something similar in Tokyo? I’m seriously considering leaving Japan if anything like this happens again. And if someone pushes me like that next time, I’m going to push back.
by madly_su