Just like every other place

My four day weekend would have been perfect had there not been a pervert on the bus.
Ok, let me backtrack a little.

This past weekend, we had a 4-day weekend as a part of Golden Week in Japan where a string of holidays happen to be in the same time period. Most Japanese take this opportunity to travel to other places and most English language teachers take the opportunity to go to India with Habitat for Humanity to build a house. I, on the other hand, could not afford such a luxury in time nor money, so I stayed here in my city.

I spent most days just relaxing and enjoying the long overdue nice weather. On the last day of vacation, I decided to take the bus to beach because I missed the ocean so much.

I embarked on this journey alone Tuesday morning and took the bus to the beach. Shortly after getting on, I heard an absurdly loud snore coming from the back of the bus. It was a man, perhaps in his late 40s, sprawled across a seat and sleeping heavily. The three girls standing by the back door of the bus giggled in disbelief. A few stops later, this man got up and made his way to the exit.

When he was making his way to the front door, he purposely brushed his elbow by one of the girls' chest. Then, his elbow pressed further and lingered there for a couple of seconds. I was looking at the whole scene, but I couldn't believe my eyes.

Then, a shout from an old man came from the back. I thought it was someone reprimanding him for what he has done, but the old man was simply trying to tell the pervert that he had left his bag of instant noodles at the seat in which he was sitting. The pervert thanked the old man, made his way to the back and as he walked back towards the girls, he did it again!!!

He hovered around the girls for a couple of seconds before actually exiting. The girls were bothered, and they exchanged glances to acknowledge what had just happened to them.

I watched in disbelief and was dumbfounded at the same time. I really wanted to jump up, take my flip flop off my feet and whacked that guy's ass and tell him off all at the same time....but I did nothing. It was only after he got off that my angry glare followed him across the street. Hopefully, it burned a hole in the back of his head.

For the rest of the 50 minute bus ride, I was boiling inside. I was angry that assholes like that guy existed in the first place, but I was also really irked that I didn't stand up to people like him.

I kept looking at those girls and I thought, "Man, these could've have easily been the students at my school."

I couldn't help feeling sorry because so many women in this world are harassed that way. If I had gotten my wits and courage together, would it have stopped the guy from further acts? Would it perhaps have affected the girls even more because what was done to them would have turned into a public confrontation?

I also thought about how many other people on the bus who may have witnessed the incident like me. Sigh...this is depressing.