I found this group on Facebook and was both amused and dismayed upon realizing that many of these apply to me....
Part #1
you run for the Yamanote line pushing people left and right, jump on the train holding the doors open to let your bag follow you on. Because you know there will not be another one for at least a minute
How sad is it that yes, even though the trains run more frequently than anything, why do I rush to everyone? Why do the Japanese run? Yes, we are all on tight schedules but does running two minutes late really that big of a deal? Maybe this has something to do with the Japanese work ethic. One is supposed to be serious and always working hard to accomplish the tasks set before them. The typical Japanese work day is long: wake up early, commute, work, and then go out with coworkers afterwards followed by a drunken commute home. Shinjuku station is always filled with people bowling over others to get to their platform. Then of course once they reach their platform their is the difficult ascent as everyone from the recently arrived train is coming down those stairs running to get on another one. Maybe if the stairs weren:t so crowded with one direction of commuters trying to be like Moses and parting this vicious red sea they wouldn't be running. However, even that is unlikely, me thinks. The Japanese commuter pace of life is in constant movement that even if everyone suddenly became geriatrics with colonoscopy bags,it would be the same.
If you rush, you may gain a coveted seat on the morning commute. Then again, you could be stuck next to a head bobber, a person trying to sleep and whose head keeps tapping you on the shoulder before they are have roused from sleep.
But maybe if you are last one, you will gain a spot against the door where, most of the time, it is preferable to be able to lean against the glass as opposed to being smushed by people on all 4 sides by arms and bags and umbrellas...
I will not miss commuting once I go home...
