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train

Train Troubles

  • Mar 04, 2010
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Yesterday on the way to work there was some sort of problem with the train system causing all kinds of confusion. All the rapid and super-rapid trains were stopped for about an hour, and so I had to use the local trains to get to my destination, along with about a billion people. It was cram yourself into a car, and wait out a very long ride. Not a fun way to start your day, and in the end I arrived a few minutes late for my first class.

Usually I arrive 45 minutes early, mainly because I have to wait for security to open up the floor where I teach. That means that if I want to come earlier, I’d have to wait around outside, which isn’t an option.

Luckily, this kind of thing doesn’t happen so often. If I had to ride a crowded train every day (and some people do) I would think about a new career or a new time schedule.

It is hard to believe that it is already Thursday – the week is nearly over. I’m already looking forward to the weekend and getting some relaxation time in. The weather has gotten cold again, so sleeping in is looking better and better.

Crazy Train

  • Feb 17, 2010
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Last night on the way home I saw one of those weird situations that makes you wonder about the passivity of the Japanese. So, let me share it here.

Riding the train every day is one of the things I love the most about living in Japan. There are a lot of advantages, and they far outweigh the disadvantages, but when a disadvantage comes along it is pretty glaring. One of the problems with sharing a train with thousands of people is that sooner or later you will run across a crazy person. Usually they are harmless (or they wouldn’t be walking around unsupervised) but sometimes they are not quite ready for the public. To be fair, the guy last night wasn’t actually crazy I think, just probably stressed out and not so intelligent.

As we got on the train at Hyogo station last night there was the usual cramming into the train car. Hyogo station is near several big businesses, and so the ride home is often crowded. I always take the fast train home – it skips several stops and gets me home sooner – but the downside is that it is always packed. Luckily I’m getting used to things and I can find a good spot out of the center of the aisle where most of the cramming takes place.

So I was safely to the side as people kept jamming into the train, pushing the people ahead of them to make room, and also being pushed by the people behind them, creating a kind of chain of pushing/pushed people. This is normal, but what wasn’t was when a guy took offense as someone was pushed into him, and started yelling complaints to the poor guy.

As the door closed and the train left, the two guys were standing right next to each other, just one person away from me. Everyone in the train was watching as the loud guy demanded an apology from the other guy, who stared silently out the window wishing he was somewhere else. It is crazy to ask for an apology – that guy was pushed by someone else, and it was no more his fault than the 20 guys behind him. But crazy guy had singled this guy out and was demanding an apology.

The bad news for the poor guy that was pushed into crazy guy was that the next stop was 10 minutes away, so everyone on the train had to endure crazy guy losing it until the next station. Crazy guy received a phone call and told the caller to meet him at the next station so they both could beat up this guy. Then he started saying he was going to take the guy to the police, and then he started complaining that his back hurt because of the push. He started to lose steam after that, and still the quiet guy stared out the window hoping it would all just go away.

This whole time I was standing by ready to separate them if crazy guy got violent, but he was just talking. Incidentally I thought that quiet guy was taking the right approach – crazy guy would probably just feed off of anything he would say.

As we were pulling into the station crazy guy started saying that at least quiet guy should give him some money for the injury, and that is when I finally figured out the motive here. Probably everyone else (including quiet guy) had already figured this out, but it took me a while.

Then the doors opened, and crazy guy grabbed quiet guy and literally started dragging him out the door. Everybody cleared the floor, the people outside who didn’t know anything about the situation ran for another way to get on the train, and quiet guy was reaching for the handrail to try to stay on the train.

So I stepped up gently pried crazy guy’s hand off of quiet guy. Crazy guy turned and looked at me, and the sudden appearance of a big foreign guy was evidently far beyond any development he was ready for. He looked at me for full ten seconds or so in total confusion, and I just smiled, and pointed out the door. He asked me in Japanese if I could speak Japanese, and I just smiled again and motioned him to the door. Quiet guy was running for the far corner of the train behind me, and so crazy guy decided to leave it alone. He turned and walked out.

Unfortunately it wasn’t over for quiet guy. Crazy guy happened to walk past the part of the car where quiet guy was hiding, and he saw him and got back on the train. Just as crazy guy got back on the train the doors shut, and everyone around made this kind of sighing noise – knowing they would have to endure more craziness for another stop.

As for me, this was in another part of the train far from me, and I saw no reason to put the “S” on my chest and go down there and save quiet guy again. Let someone else deal with it. I was two stops away from a hot dinner at home and I didn’t need any more drama in one day. I looked over once, and there seemed to be some sort of peaceful agreement being worked out between the two guys, but I didn’t see any money changing hands. The crazy guy got off at the next stop, and the story ended. Quiet guy was at least consistent and ignored me as we got off the train together at the same stop. I guess next time I’ll have to let him get dragged to crazy guy’s house.

This kind of thing rarely happens, but it was interesting that I was the only person to do anything on the train. Would you just stand by and let some guy get pulled off a train against his will? Is it better to not get involved and hope that someone in authority will solve the problem?