Tokyo train

POSTED BY DANNY CHOO On Tue 2006/07/25 23:28 JST in Japan
Been living in Japan for 7 years and there's not much that bothers me apart from the morning train...
A train is said to be at 100% capacity ( Josha ritsu 100% (乗車率100%) じょうしゃりつ) when all seats are taken and all standing space is also filled up with everybody standing shoulder to shoulder. The train I get on in the morning is probably about 150 - 200% capacity where you can step on somebodys foot by accident and keep your foot there without anybody complaining. This is because its sooo packed that you cant even adjust your footing. I suppose this is not as bad as the tube back in London where you have to kind of bend your neck sideways if you are standing next to the door as the shape of the train is round - get squashed and risk doing permanent damage to the neck.
You may have read about the women only carriages over here and I though I'd mention something about this subject while we are talking trains. There have been many cases where groups of young girls get together to accuse some poor business man of perversion. Girl "A" would shout out "chikan!" (痴漢(ちかん)which is the word for perv and accuse some innocent bloke of touching her. Another girl "B" who is supposedly another passenger would say that she would confess in court that the man touched girl "A". Girl "A" then goes on to say that she will drop charges if the poor bloke gives her all the cash he has on him...
These happenings have been on the TV and what they recommend you doing is that you keep your hands visible holding one of those dangling straps above your head. If there's nothing to hold on to nearby, I recommend you put both hands on your head like those rebel soldiers on endor after the bunker was captured by stormtroopers. Just try to look natural or somebody may report you for looking suspicious.