Video of Japanese woman pushing Korean child sparks outrage
A video showing a Korean child being pushed by a passerby at a convenience store in Japan has sparked anger online after it spread widely on social media.
The footage, posted on Instagram by the child’s mother, shows a woman forcefully shoving the girl with a bag as she walks past inside the store. The child, who had been browsing snacks with her father, appears startled and immediately runs toward her mother.
“While I was filming in a convenience store after finishing our schedule, the woman first bumped into me and passed by,” the girl’s mother, surnamed Choi, told The Korea Herald. “When my daughter approached after seeing that, she pushed her with her bag as well.”
Choi said the incident occurred during a family trip to Nagoya in July 2024 with her husband and their daughter, who was 4 at the time.
The incident appears to resemble cases involving so-called butsukari otoko, a term used in Japan for individuals who deliberately collide with passersby. Such incidents often involve people forcefully bumping into others — sometimes targeting more vulnerable individuals such as women or children — before walking away.
The issue drew international attention recently after a viral video showed a masked woman pushing a Taiwanese tourist’s child taking photos at Tokyo’s Shibuya crossing, causing the child to fall.
Following the spread of that video, the Chinese Embassy in Japan urged Chinese nationals to remain cautious in crowded entertainment districts with heavy foot traffic, including Shibuya and Ikebukuro in Tokyo, and Dotonbori in Osaka.
Similar accounts from Korean tourists in Japan have also surfaced online.
Choi, who also decided to share the video from her 2024 trip following the recent controversy, said she received numerous messages from Japanese users apologizing for the incident.
“It’s unfortunate that all Japanese people are criticized because of a few inconsiderate individuals,” she added.
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