The Quiet Malice of the Japanese: What Kind of Avengers Are Pushing People in the Streets (6 photos)

This is a very serious problem in Japan, South Korea, and partly China – people walking around staring at their smartphones. In Korea, they've even started painting "Distracted!" signs on the pavement so that they're visible to those who only look down while walking.





Japan has taken a different approach: a wave of angry vigilantes has emerged against those staring at their smartphones, quietly pushing them around. This new type of public vandalism is called that because it most often occurs at Japanese train stations.



But they could have used the collision as a chance to meet a girl!

Men and boys often deliberately avoid changing their trajectory and bump into people walking with their shoulders, oblivious to their presence. They don't just bump into each other by accident, but rather intentionally force their shoulders to knock the person they collide with down, or better yet, to knock their phone off their feet. In reality, this is a relatively unpunished crime, even if the person sustains severe injuries. These people claim it was a purely accidental incident, just like the victim; they simply didn't see the collision coming.





Derogatory posters on public transport warning that this is dangerous!

The most brutal incident: a young woman with a phone was knocked down, hitting the back of her head and losing consciousness. Arukisumaho literally translates as walking while looking at a screen. Stations and public address systems constantly remind passengers not to do this.



There are some women-haters, but they push around even without a smartphone.

At major train stations, there are even signs in several languages ​​warning against this. But you understand that everyone does it – we, especially Asians, are too attached to our phones. And a quiet resentment is brewing among a section of Japanese society. And the most unstable (young and middle-aged men) decide that this is a serious enough crime against society to warrant punishment. Attacks have been reported in all corners of Japan, not just the capital.



A poster for the Japanese, so they don't print it on the fly

Some believe this is simply a branch of the "pushers" – a Japanese group that deliberately attacks women in crowds out of gender hatred. But the "avengers" themselves say they don't hate women, but rather those who deliberately obstruct people's path and bump into them for a phone! The police compiled a "portrait of the person who was allegedly pushed." It turned out that it was most likely a woman, but dressed as discreetly as possible, like a gray mouse. Because a woman in bright clothes is confident and can cause a scene and even fight back.



Just a poster on a pole that will only be read when someone crashes into it.

The vigilante movement actually started because of... you'll never guess why! Because of the popularity of Pokémon Go. It's where you have to walk around town catching Pokémon in different places, and everyone was watching the screen to see if a Pokémon had appeared. There was a veritable epidemic of uncivilized arukisumaho. And people came up with the idea of ​​"teaching" the violators a lesson. So that's what you're doing to the Japanese, Pokémon Go!