A video that initially appears to be a cute family moment has become the center of debate in Japan and beyond. In the video, a little girl visiting Tokyo smiles for the camera and makes a peace sign. Seconds later, a masked woman pushes her from behind and knocks her to the ground, before walking away.
The incident, filmed by the girl's mother at the famous Shibuya crossing, has been viewed more than a million times on Instagram and has brought attention back to the Japanese phenomenon known as "butsukari" - the deliberate bumping into pedestrians in crowded places.
The phenomenon became known in 2018, when a video showed a man deliberately bumping into several women at Shinjuku Station, one of the most crowded stations in the world. Since then, other incidents have been reported, including cases where the victims suffered injuries.
Although it is often thought that the perpetrators are men, videos of women deliberately clashing with others in crowds also appear on social media.
Experts link the phenomenon to the stress of modern life and tensions in gender relations. According to sociologist Kiryu Masayuki of Toyo University, the clashes may be a low-risk way for people to vent their frustrations in public because they think the police won't catch them.
The rise of tourism in Japan has also added to tensions in public spaces, as many visitors stop to take photos in overcrowded places.
Following the incident in Shibuya, which involved the little girl, who is from Taiwan, the Chinese embassy in Tokyo warned citizens to maintain distance from others in crowded places and to avoid using their phones while walking.
The girl's mother said she had inadvertently filmed a "scary scene".
"It made me realize that situations like this happen more often than I thought," she said, adding that the girl suffered no injuries.
She added that she had been criticized and insulted online for taking pictures of her daughter in the middle of the intersection, even though the girl was not injured.
“I admit I may have been a little careless. But I wasn’t ignoring traffic rules,” she said. She said she had followed the Chinese-language instructions posted on the Go Tokyo website, which suggests tourists “can stand at the intersection to take a photo.”
