Crowded Japanese trains look like fun
I just saw this video on British TV; it features dozens of Japanese salarymen/women, dated 1991, trying to cram as many passengers as possible into rush-hour train compartments so to get into work on time. Of course, I thought it had to be joke, but no, this is absolutely real. Can you even imagine how claustrophobic it would feel in that train? Japan is a dystopian society! No job is worth this.
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*Blinks* and I thought the Tube was bad…
honestly, this is on of the more bizarre aspects of their culture…iirc some of those platform attendants are employed specifically for what we see here…the “my work here is done!” look on that guy’s face and the empty platform is downright surreal.
BONSAI TRAIN
BONSAI KITTEN
Holy mother of gawd! That’s awful.
I would never survive that.
This is one area where anime is more down-to-earth than real life, in my opinion. Anime characters at least need enough space on their public transport to talk, even during the rush hour.
Here’s another one, not as extreme, but more modern and just as weird:
Well, I’m surprised we haven’t seen more of this in anime. I mean, it’s got be great material for horror?! Only thing I can possibly think of is the later chapters of Junji Ito’s Uzumaki.
It’s a little more often in schoolgirl-shoujo stuff, I’ve found. Main Character and Love Interest, going out for coffee after After School Club Activities, run to the train station, almost missing the train to Shibuya. They both get on, and
a) are comically squished to the glass windows, “>o<” expression and all
b) are squished to each other, resulting in the flying of Shoujo Love Bubbles and tender blushing, followed by a voice over by the Main Character.
The problem with that is that they’re both portrayed in such unrealistic ways that the scary reality often fails to come through.
Luckily the Vancouver light rail system is wonderful, and never gets anywhere NEAR as crowded
@Celeste: Apparently Canada is the best country to live in, in terms of quality of life, so you’re quite lucky to be over there
Omg, I saw that video a while back and I really wanted to try riding Japanese public transportation at least once. It feels like an extreme sport and I can brag about it, like bungie or base jumping, to someone later. Guess what I did. What? I took a Japanese train.
I rode like this in March, on Yamanote no less. Being jet-lagged and a total noob weaboo, I decided to come to Imperial Garden in the morning (from Ueno).
Lots of my friends are brainwashed college liberals and they blog like good little hamsters how train are all superior and urban sprawl is bad yada yada yada. They want this kind of life because the suffering absolves their liberal guilt. It’s quite amusing, until I remember that they can vote.
@Xerox: Good idea, though I’d be concerned for any female in that situation. Put it this way, having seen this video, I’m not surprised there’s so many complaints about women being molested on trains in Japan!
@Author: Hehe, were you expecting your train compartment to be packed as much as it was? One thing I’m wondering is just how someone stuck right in the middle of it all can get off when it’s his/her stop? When a train is that packed, I can’t imagine people being willing to just move aside, so a bit of physicality might be required!
And if this is the future of public transport, I’m seriously worried. Obviously, Japan is ahead of the loop in terms of its cities’ infrastructures, but I’m hoping this isn’t something that will catch on in Europe too. In terms of where I’m at, I can’t see the British public standing for it at all. For a start, it has to be a breach of health and safety.
One thing I noticed, by the way, is that Japanese totally suck at metro etiquette by comparison with Russians. In Moscow, the squeeze is about as bad at rush times, but those pressed into the door will exit temporarily to allow those deeper to disembark. In Tokyo, I had to fight my way out (well, in _that_ particular case I didn’t, because everyone exited at Tokyo Station anyway, but in general it’s the case). To compensate, they [sometimes] form neat queues on the platform, according to markings made just for that purpose (I saw it during outflow times at Ginza line). I have never been to London and rode the tube, so I cannot compare directly.
wow, this looks like my daily commute experience! The only difference is that we don’t need such officers, the people themselves push their way inside the oh-so-crowded train~ (the officers here actually stop people from forcing their way inside, if there really is not much of a space any longer ^^; )
I’ve experienced being thrown inside a train due to the “excitement” of commuters for a number of times now, and I learned how to adapt to all the “brutality” lol. I want to sit down and conveniently ride the train as much as possible, so I usually let one train pass so I’ll be standing in front of the line for the next train arriving. That way, I always get to sit down, read a book during my commute or listen to songs (or sleep), with much peace~ xD
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