This brings back many memories of catching the train in Tokyo. I’ve been on most lines and this was classic morning rush hour. I remember about my 3rd trip I was catching a train to another part of the city to meet the manufacturer of touch screen pads we were looking to use to develop an electronic waiter pad to go with a Casio restaurant POS system.
A colleague from Australia was with me and we stood on the station platform looking at each other, thinking we might have to wait for the next train. But sure enough the men with the white gloves were there to solve the engineering problem in their inimical way. So we joined the throng at the door together and were duly pushed into the carriage along with the locals. There seemed to be a little groping going on and I’m not sure it was the ‘conductors’, but it all added to life’s rich experiences in public transport.
Next thing you know we are on opposite ends of the carriage, but as we were about a head higher than the locals, we could see each other clearly and just cracked up with laughter. We didn’t have to worry about offending anyone, the instant they were on the train, they were asleep. Standing, sitting, it didn’t make any difference, they must have had train circadian body clocks, because they didn’t seem to miss their stations.
Our worry was now that we were packed in like proverbial Japanese sardines, how were we going to get off when we arrived at our station? We worked it out, just gently push and shove the same way we got on.
