If you’ve taken a rush-hour train in any major Japanese city, you’ll likely had the experience of 身体的接触 (shintaiteki sesshoku, physical contact) — which can lead to flared tempers.
For the past few months, however, social media has been abuzz with more serious cases of intentional 衝突 (shōtotsu, crash/collision) and 体当たり (taiatari, bodycheck/body slam) assaults by men in station precincts. In such cases, the victims of such incidents are most often 女性 (josei, women), while the attackers are usually 中年男性 (chūnen dansei, middle-aged men).
These 体当たり happen so frequently that the men involved have acquired a nickname: ぶつかり男 (butsukari otoko, bumping man) and ぶつかりおじさん (butsukari ojisan, bumping middle-aged man).
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