Nearly 40 percent of sexual minority people in Japan have been sexually harassed or assaulted, a private survey involving more than 10,000 respondents showed Saturday. The survey of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people was conducted by Yasuharu Hidaka, a professor of social epidemiology at Takarazuka University. Hidaka said many more cases likely remain unknown as LGBT people have sometimes been refused help by police or counseling centers and due to lack of proper support in the country where understanding about LGBT people has not sufficiently deepened. The online survey, entrusted to Hidaka by Lifenet Insurance Co., was conducted between September and December last year, collecting answers from 10,769 LGBT people. Among 10 items deemed as sexual harassment or assault, 4,106, or 38.1 percent, replied they have suffered either or some of them. Among them, 22.4 percent said they have been touched on their body including on the sexual organs, breasts or hips, the most among the answers, followed by “harassed by sexual words or deeds” at 17.3 percent and “forcibly kissed” at 11.5 percent, the survey showed. Some of the respondents also answered they have been violated internally. By type of sexual minority, 69, or 57 percent, of transgender people who identify themselves as women said they have fallen victim to such action, followed by transgender people who identify themselves as men at 95, or 51.9 percent, and lesbian people at 338, or 52.2 percent, according to the research.