Saturday, September 27, 2008

Trains

The commute-by-train way of life is super nice and convenient, quick and clean. You always have to stand and are constantly sardined in, but I think it makes the trip go more quickly and burns more calories! The pushers who cram you all in and get you slammed tight up against the window definitely are real- and it DOES hurt! It is really awkward if you are pushed close to a man, though, because it's hard to tell if they're being publicly elicit or just trying to keep from falling over. >.< Let's assume the latter, shall we?

Also, it's very scary because there are many suicides via jumping before a train. I'm not sure if the trains are cleared often for other reasons, but I'm pretty sure that one of the main reasons you see "Line Delay for Track Cleaning" is the high number of suicides. It's very disturbing. One of the other students said he wanted to see someone jump. I'm only rewriting this because it has been bothering me so much. I thought about it, and cried, both for his ignorance and the sadness of this problem. I hope that there's another reason the tracks are cleaned so often..

Additionally, you see a lot of drunks on trains. I feel really bad for them, because I would have trouble making my way home if I was drunk. And the train is very jolty, so they fall down sometimes. It isn't like in the U.S. where they're alcoholics so much as businessmen who must socially drink so much that they can't help but get intoxicated to further their careers. It's really nice though that the public transportation is so available, so that there probably aren't as many people driving under the influence/intoxicated.

I haven't gotten any pictures of the trains yet. It's always very busy, hrm. And I feel bad taking strangers' photos...

1 comment:

Elizabeth said...

I love how socially conscious and kind you are. :) Also, I couldn't believe when you told me about the pushers! It's totally crazy to me. I wonder how much one gets paid to shove masses of people into an underground tin can? And are there health benefits?
It's a good thing Japanese culture induces people to be so polite and non-confrontational.....could you imagine the same system at work in the New York subway? Or perhaps an LA bus system? The pusher would have to have *very* good insurance.