Japanese commuters buy sex-pest claim insurance
Japan has seen rising demand for insurance policies that protect men from false sexual harassment claims. The uptake follows a spate of rush-hour train incidents in which men have been seen fleeing along railway tracks after being accused of groping women. The Small Amount and Short Term Insurance company began selling the JPY6,400 ($57) policies in 2015 to cover men facing such charges. The number of buyers of the policies has soared to hundreds in the past month from an average of roughly 50 a month, according to the insurer. Police in Japan arrest about 1,800 men each year under public nuisance laws for molesting women.
The £45 policy that protects Japanese men from false accusations of groping on trains is proving a big hit as debate rages over the nation's attempt to crack down on its notorious train rape culture.

A Japanese insurance company has reported a steep uptake in the "false groping accusation benefit" in recent weeks among men fearful of wrongful prosecution.

The long-standing issue of the crackdown on rush-hour sex pests has heightened after two men died trying to escape capture having been accused of molesting women on packed commuters trains.

Social media arguments have sparked with men claiming they face false groping claims from women seeking to profit from a criminal justice system that famously convicts 99% of those indicted.

Some have even demanded men-only carriages to match the women-only carriages that have operated across the country, largely during rush hours, since launching in Tokyo in 2000.

Special female-only train carriages were launched in Tokyo in 2000 to combat the growing problem of assaults. Credit: AP

Several hundred applications have been made in the past month for the special insurance launched by the Tokyo-based Small Amount and Short Term Insurance company in 2015, as reported by AFP.

The firm said it usually files around 50 monthly applications for a 6,400 yen (£45) policy that covers legal fees for people who are wrongly charged.

"It is impossible to know whether one will be caught up in a groping incident," company president Shoji Sugimoto told Japan's Mainichi newspaper.

"We are here to provide help to people who feel anxious about the issue."

AFP reported around 1,800 arrests are made ever year under public nuisance laws amid anecdotal reports of several men running away from train stations in Tokyo in recent months after being accused of molestation.