A terrifying trend that sees men shoving themselves into unsuspecting women before walking off unfazed has left women in the UK terrified. 

Women in London have been sharing details of horrifying attacks where they have seen them shoved, chased and even punched on public transport – or while simply walking or travelling in the city during the day.

Taking to social media, many have been recounting the horrific incidents in which they were ‘body slammed’ with no warning – in a worrying trend which seems to originate from Japan.

The misogynist practice, dubbed ‘butsukari otoko’ (which literally translates to a ‘bumping man’) sees incel men deliberately ramming into women at crowded train stations.

In a recent TikTok, one 20-year-old woman was left with whiplash after she was body slammed to the ground while walking along Mile End canal in East London.

‘Please, if you’re in London you need to be so careful,’ social media creator Ayla Mellek (@aylamellek) said. ‘Because I just got assaulted today in broad daylight.’

The influencer shared how she and a friend were strolling along to enjoy a brunch at the Blue Ivy cafe and it was ‘quite a busy day’.

‘There were cyclists, runners, just people walking, mothers with prams, it was bustling, people with dogs.

‘I’m walking with my friend and there’s this guy running towards me. He’s massive, double my height, six foot four, he had muscles all over his shoulders and he was dressed in blue and he was running.

‘He literally to me was just somebody who was running along the canal – a lot of people jog – and we were walking.

‘He’s grunting, and I can hear he’s grunting as he’s getting closer to me, deep, deep grunting and growling.

‘So I twist my body so he can get past me because it is a bit crowded. There was a gap for him to get past me, but instead of going in this gap, this guy ran at me at full force and body slammed me to the ground.

‘With so much force, this guy slammed me in the chest. I twisted in the air and landed face down on the floor.’

Speaking to Metro, she added: ‘After he collided with me, I heard a grunt of satisfaction come from him.

‘Bear in mind, he is huge and around 6ft4 tall. As he came towards me, I turned my body to make a gap for him to run through, but instead he ran at me at full speed and completely bodied me.

It felt like he was trying to knock me into the canal, but the way by body was turned it meant I hit the ground instead.’ 

Even a couple of hours later, Ayla’s hands and palms were still red from where she had taken the brunt of the fall.

‘My head landed on grass and my body landed on concrete, and then he just ran away,’ she continued. ‘I was in so much shock I just started crying immediately.’

Some runners helped her up while a friend she was with tried to call out to the man who shoved her – but he was ‘long gone’.  

When they got to the cafe, Ayla called her boyfriend on the phone, where another diner couldn’t help but hear the conversation. 

Walking up to them, she revealed that they saw the same man push an elderly man in

Ayla then called the police and reported it – because she didn’t know if initially he ‘panicked and ran away’ after seeing her fall. After finishing her meal, she realised that a kind stranger had paid for it after hearing of her ordeal.

‘There are such kind people out here that look out for other people, so thank you so much,’ she said in her post.

‘I got so lucky I didn’t hit my head on like a concrete slab or a nail… there’s lots of boats along that canal, lots of boat hooks.’

In a follow-up video, Ayla reflected how she has come to learn how her incident was likely an example of butsukari otoko.

‘Why do they do this? Because these disgusting men get like “off” on this feeling of violating and physically degrading and hurting women,’ she expressed.

‘In their minds, women are taking up space on the sidewalks, women are taking up space in society – and it’s a dominance thing. This “trend” from Japan is now in London. It’s very subtle – they do it in a way it looks deniable.’

‘This needs to be taken seriously. I’m in contact with the police and the police are also dealing with this. If you ever see anything like this in public – please do report this. It’s a disgusting, growing trend.’ 

Creator @sandyinjapannn, who is based in East Asia, has made a series on videos on the topic, and in November interviewed a woman about her experiences with butsukari otoko.

‘I’ve had run-ins with them on the train,’ she revealed. ‘Also while walking on the streets.

‘I saw a dude like, choosing women on the street to ram into them. So I tried to go around him, he chased me and rammed into me. He was probably around 50s to 60s.’

The problem first came to light in May 2018, when a video of a man ramming into multiple women at Shinjuku Station was widely circulated on X/Twitter and YouTube. 

The unsettling 43-second clip showed a man – who gained notoriety as the ‘Shinjuku Station Tackle Man’ – wearing a black backpack as he walked around the precinct picking his targets before forcefully shouldering at least four women. 

While the perpetrator in that case was never identified, another ‘butsokari otoko’ was apprehended by Japanese police in July 2020 – after Daisuke Nagata was accused of slamming into six women at Keikyu-Kamata Station in Ota Ward.

Nagata, then 45, allegedly used his arms and elbows to bump into these women, including a 19-year-old, on four separate days, according to The Tokyo Reporter. 

Nagata, who worked as a ‘temportary employee’ at the time, denied the specific allegations against him while conceding ‘I’ve done this dozens of times’ without being caught. 

‘When I got off a train once, my arm happened to hit a woman’s chest and it felt good,’ he reportedly told police. 

‘So I thought about how to do the same without being accused. I’ve done this dozen times.’

However, he continued, he ‘quit’ assaulting women in May 2020 after realising it was ’embarrassing’. 

However, the trend has now reached the UK’s shores. 

Ayla’s story is just one example of the trend which has been plaguing Japanese women on public transport, with TikToker @addyharajuku – reacting to another British women’s experience to being ‘shoved’ in broad daylight – explaining that the trend, while straying just enough from being explicitly aggressive, is rooted in misogyny.

‘Although technically these bumping men can target anyone, a lot of the time their frustration seems to be very targeted towards women. 

‘Although this behaviour is more of a power play than it is an intentional incel behaviour, this is still a behaviour that very much stems from misogyny.’

She added that it’s also something that is starting to become more common in the UK.

‘You can’t go around venting your frustrations on people by physically punching them or kicking them or doing anything that’s too obvious even though that doesn’t really stop men anyway because they still do that now – but this kind of behaviour is just passable enough as plausible deniability.’

The aggression isn’t always so subtle. More and more women have been speaking about instances where men have punched or chased them down the street.

In April, after attending a concert, one woman revealed how she was followed by a ‘creepy man’ while trying to make her way back home from Highbury and Islington in London.

‘I get off the train at Highbury and Islington, I’ve passed the corner to go up Highbury and Islington station road, and there’s this guy – he’s camouflaged, hooded up – and he’s clocked me. It’s dark,’ presenter T (@tiktoktee_) explained.

‘I’ve gone up the road and he’s started following me. So instinctively I knew that this is not a good egg.’

She started running and came across some bikes.

‘I ran to the bike, turned the bike on, waiting for it. As I was waiting for it I could see that he was coming. Man came around the corner, saw that I got on the bike. As I got on the bike – he chased me.

‘It’s not safe for women anymore. It’s so brazen now, it’s very scary. I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s not safe anymore. Take a cab – but sometimes even the cabs aren’t safe. Do whatever you need to do. I have never been so scared in my life, I’m shaking. 

Elsewhere in March, one millionaire businesswoman who was ‘violently attacked’ on a London tube called for an urgent review of the network’s Help Points after she was left waiting for 30 minutes. 

Sally Wynter was travelling home from work on the Victoria line when she ‘felt a punch’ and a man ‘knocked her sideways’ into the train’s glass window. 

She was stood was left waiting for half an hour for a response from the intercom despite being ‘traumatised’ by the assault.

A man in 30s was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of assault following the incident just after 4.30pm on March 27. 

The suspect left the carriage at Green Park after the ‘frightening’ attack which left Sally ‘completely in bits’ .

After getting off at Oxford Circus she went to one of the tube network’s emergency Help Points where she was hoping to get immediate assistance.

Taking to TikTok, the entrepreneur who sold her alcohol brand MUHU five years ago in a deal worth over £1 million after growing up on benefits, said: ‘I pressed the emergency button and it made a flashing light. It made an intercom connection sound and then nothing happened.

‘I pressed it again, nothing happened. I thought maybe someone was coming. No one was coming.’

While she was waiting at the help point Sally, who was raised in Haringey, North London, rang the police and was told to wait for a British Transport Police (BTP) officer to arrive.    

‘I was waiting for about 30 minutes at the [emergency] point underground after pressing the button like four times,’ she continued.

‘No replied, no one showed up.’ She went on to ask: ‘Do these help points even work?’.

She was told by police on the phone that her suspected attacker matched the description of someone who kicked a child at the Green Park ticket hall shortly after her incident.

However, they allegedly walked free after the children’s parents decided against pressing charges.  

Speaking to the Standard, she said: ‘There were tears streaming down my face and I actually talked to two old ladies to ask them for some tissues.

‘That phases me as a sad reflection on the lack of care we have for each other as human beings in a big city like London.’

After posting her ordeal on TikTok she was contacted by Transport for London (TFL) but said it is ‘difficult’ to have ‘confidence’ in TfL and the police following the incident.

Sally has now called for an urgent meeting with the mayor to lobby for an audit of all emergency Help Points at major stations.

She has also called on Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander to review all rail Help Points across Britain.

It comes after last year an Office of Rail and Road audit last year found 25 per cent of stations had at least one machine reported as broken.

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London: ‘The Mayor’s thoughts are with Sally Wynter following the incident she experienced on the London Underground last week. Everyone should be and feel safe in London. 

‘The British Transport Police are investigating and an arrest has been made. The Mayor urges anyone with information to get in touch with them.

‘All passengers who use the TfL network deserve to be and feel safe, with complete confidence that if things do go wrong, help is always available. 

‘In most cases, TfL staff serve Londoners incredibly well, taking deep pride in delivering an excellent service and supporting customers when needed, including in complex and sometimes distressing situations.’

Siwan Hayward, TfL’s Director for Security, Policing and Enforcement, said: ‘Safety is our top priority and we are truly sorry for the experience that Ms Wynter had seeking help at one of our stations.

‘It must have been very distressing and it should not have happened. Everyone should feel safe when travelling on our network. 

‘If anyone is a victim or witness of a crime they should be able to access help and support straight away.

‘We train our staff to support customers and to help report incidents to the police. We are investigating as a matter of urgency why Ms Wynter did not get the help she should have and have reached out to her to offer support.’

A BTP spokesperson at the time said: ‘A man in his 30s from the South Norwood area has been arrested on suspicion of assault, following an incident on a Victoria Line train on March 27.  He remains in police custody.

‘We continue to appeal to witnesses or anyone with information to get in touch by texting 61016 or calling 0800 405040 quoting reference 523 of 27 March.’

FEMAIL has approached Metropolitan Police, the British Transport Police and the Mayor’s Office for comment.