Advice

What advice would you give to a man wrongly accused of groping by a woman on a crowded train? What should he do?

Just apologise sincerely. And explain it was accident. And apologise again like you mean it.

Not type a question on here.

Seek legal advice.

I agree with hakata14. Apologizing does not solve the problem in any way in this case.

Not apologizing is the worst thing you can do. I agree with EikoPiko strongly apologies like you mean it... there nothing self you can do if she don't accept it.

The first thing you should be doing is to apologise. At least try 2-3 times.
But of course you can't do it half-heartedly which would only create more problems.

Provided it was really accident and you apologied first thing, and she still can't accept that, then she's the unreasonable one.

Then maybe suggest she could grope you back if she's still not satisfied? Or go legal like the other 2 said.

Don't apologize if you didn't do it. Touching/brushing by accident and apologizing is completely different from being "wrongly" accused for intentional groping, which he did not do.

If he apologizes and is taken to the stationmaster/railway police, then they will start off with the assumption that he has admitted to doing it. Please seek legal advice if he didn't do it.

EikoPiko,

There are criminal "gropers" who harass women on crowded trains in sneaky ways that make it look like someone else has done it, and leave that someone else with the outcome (wrongly accused and being taken to police). That is why apologizing in this case can become the worst thing to do.

Ah sorry. I missed the point here. Wrongly accused!
I guess you don't have to apologise then. Just explain she's got the wrong person.
Is it common to seek legal action in these situations in Japan? Then you might as well.

This is very interesting, is not apologize shows you didn't do it? If you do apologize it mean you did do it. I recall once reading or listing about Japan legal culture that they always gets a conviction because the criminal always own up to it. Which I did find strange and they explain the flaw in this.

What I am saying is that if you didn't do it, you should simply deny the accusations.

If you apologize (in this case) you'd be admitting that you did it. That gives the victim and the station staff and the station police reasons to press on the charges, though you didn't do it.

Pretty much the same as the rest of the world. Apologizing can be seen and used as an admission of guilt in some legal circles. You have to be very smart on how one does apologize.

Personally if you groped someone, I'm doubtful that that someone would wish to meet you again so you can apologize in person. Even if it was a mistake or misunderstanding. Could also be seen as harassment in today's world.

What are posters telling him to apologize for when he thinks he didn't do anything? What should he say? He should say "I am sorry for..."? Please fill in the "..." part.

What are posters telling him to apologize for when he thinks he didn't do anything? What should he say? He should say "I am sorry for..."? Please fill in the "..." part.

"I am sorry for learning about your recent groping experience."
"I am sorry for not knowing who groped you."
"I am sorry for not having groped you."
"I am sorry for having chosen this train car today."
"I am sorry for you having been born a woman."

In all seriousness, I think the others got confused as to whether he was wrongly accused or accidentally touched someone.

I don't know why but I didn't notice that there was this whole long conversation going on since this morning. My apologies.

i think there was even a movie about some guy who was falsely accused of groping in japan based on a real story. fact is, that he lost the case and was sentenced (in real life).

found it:
Soredemo boku wa yattenai
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0794350/
Good movie btw.

Uco, why do I feel that you cop out (back away) from your last statement after Harimogura did the fill in the blank. As funny as it was, it was stupid and a funny answer. You need you stand your ground for your statement.

: ^ )

A lot of us that visit this website know nothing of Japanese culture so we add our own culture belief to answer the question and only Japanese such as yourself can correct us and example to us how Japanese social culture works in Japan.

Thank you all for your replies

I'm not backing away from my previous statement, but the issue I brought up was already solved!