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Original poster

This can't be real, can it?

57 replies

mypandasgotcrabs · 20/09/2008 09:28

Japanese train

How do people not die on these things? Surely people must be hospitalised daily for suffocation or crushing? I really am stunned by this.

OP posts:
sakurarose39 · 20/09/2008 11:42

WinkyW - actually I'm not Sakura....
I thought we might be able to avoid mix-ups, never mind, will name change sorry for the confusion, Sakura!

ib · 20/09/2008 11:43

And you should see what it's like when it rains and everyone has umbrellas...

ib · 20/09/2008 11:49

Flight, the trains are already very very long, and the platforms can't necessarily be extended!

Proof that having a good efficient transport system only attracts more people onto it until it reaches (more than) full capacity.

A lot of the trains are air conditioned, so I found the rainy season worse than the summer (although I did pass out once in summer)

hifi · 20/09/2008 11:53

bet you cant read your paper very well.

RoseOfTheOrient · 20/09/2008 11:54

OK that's better....
It is actually amazingly civilised - there is no argy-bargy, no complaints...the Japanese are very good at maintaining a sense of privacy, so that they can shut out the fact that they have their face jammed into someone's armpit, immobile for 30 minutes until they get to their destination. This is the country that invented the Walkman, so that you could plug into the music and pretend that it wasn't happening...

jimjamshaslefttheyurt · 20/09/2008 12:05

I lived in a rural area of Japan. The school I worked in had chickens but they had no concept of 'free range' and looked at me as if I was insane when I tried to explain. I think the question was why did i want the chickens to be happier?

Trains were never at Tokyo levels of crowding. Very efficient. Stopped in exactly the same place each time with markings on the platform so you knew where the doors were and could queue.

Only had one late train in one year. It was 15 minutes late after track had been washed away in a typhoon. I was actually agitated at it being late

LaVie · 20/09/2008 12:16

I lived in Tokyo for a few months and thought the trains were fantastic! never late and really quick. Never saw them as crowded as this but still usually pretty crowded.

Did get groped once, just told him really loudly to fuck off. I guess that's understood in all languages!

One thing I did find odd was the number of men just peeing in the street. Not trying to hide the fact or anything! {shock]

LaVie · 20/09/2008 12:17

They are very civilised until they get drunk and boy do they get drunk!

RoseOfTheOrient · 20/09/2008 12:21

jimjam, yeah, people start looking at their watches and fiddling with their mobile phones after about 30 seconds after the train has stopped where it shouldn't have . There are announcements after about a minute, apologising profusely for the delay, and telling you why the train has stopped...then they thank you for waiting (all of a minute and a half) when the train finally starts moving again.

piratecat · 20/09/2008 12:23

now i remember my journeys to work and why i left london!!

bran · 20/09/2008 12:43

Now that I've watched it again is seems to me only marginally more extreme than the Northern Line used to be when I lived in Balham. By the time it got to Clapham North people would be pushing hard enough at the door to force people to move down the carriage. I reckon that even if they had those white-gloved pushers on some stations of the Northern Line they would only have managed to get an extra 3 or 4 people through each door. It's a while since I've used the Northern Line though, so perhaps I'm over estimating the sardine effect.

piratecat · 20/09/2008 12:54

i can remember some trains on the picadilly line, and i had to get on at charing cross, being like this.

your memory is correct.!

Blandmum · 20/09/2008 13:02

rose, i once had an oriental man jammed under my armpit on a metro in france, he was totally oblivious to the fact!!

RoseOfTheOrient · 20/09/2008 13:07

Martianbishop, he would have been in a Zen-like state of oblivion....

FlightAttendent · 20/09/2008 13:09

Thanks for answering my questions and sorry to be so ignorant! (I really am not knowledgeable about anything much )

Blandmum · 20/09/2008 13:12

I,on the other hand, was in a stressed frenzy of worry about the state of my armpit hygiene!!!

skyatnight · 20/09/2008 15:09

Yes, I can remember the rush-hour Thameslink line out of London being not much better than that, except there were no 'official' pushers. I used to be stood at the station for an hour watching people push on to the trains, waiting for one that was less full before I could bear to get on. Getting stuck between stations one summer in a heat wave, on the verge of fainting or throwing up. Not good if you have problems with claustrophobia. Bizarre.

OooWowOooArr · 21/09/2008 08:18

I can remember trying to pull up a high school girl who was so drunk the other passengers were kind of holding her up. She was hammered. At the next main station I tried to get some sense out of her "which stop do you need?" "where do you live" and.......

She puked up all over me!!! NICE.

giraffescantdancethetango · 21/09/2008 09:56

Right Im going to try that tomorrow on the way to work. The driver usually gives a wee shout of "can you move up the back please" people take a small shuffle towards the back of the bus and then pretend they cant see the big queue of people wanting a space.

Im going to don some white gloves and start shoving.

roisin · 21/09/2008 10:17

Oh my God

I am just totally stunned by that video. I actually held my breath for ages afterwards, I was so shocked.

when those uniformed guys were standing around and people started pushing, I thought they were about to step in and start telling people off, and holding some back. I never imagined for a moment that they were going to join in and help with the pushing!

BouncingTurtle · 21/09/2008 11:18

I remember getting on metro in Rome, similar to Japan but they haven't anyone pushing you on! I nearly got my arm broken when someone shoved the person in front of me and my arm got trapped against a pole! He was very apologetic, but I vowed never again!

edam · 21/09/2008 11:28

I used to travel on the Piccadilly line in rush hour. Horrible. Once saw one guy punch another for pushing - the man wasn't pushing deliberately, he was forced forward by the crowd.

SlartyBartFast · 21/09/2008 11:44

i gave up going on the tube! due to claustrophobia, ended up travelling by bus. watching that makes me feel claustrophobic all over again.
unbelievable.

tehre would be outrage if people were employed to push animals like that over here

summerbird · 21/09/2008 22:26

yep that is only marginally worse than the Manchester Metro Link, i have to walk about 3 stops further back to get on in the evening, and they only put on one carriage. I agree that the London Underground is the same.

Pixel · 21/09/2008 23:07

My stepbrother lived in Japan for years and he's mentioned the staff paid to push people into the trains. Bit different actually seeing it though...
I think I would be sick.