Tokyo train ride

#v#flv_train.jpg#v#Would you like to be a train driver for JR for the next few minutes? Most of the trains in Japan have windows at the ends of the carriages - as you can see you have a train drivers view and you can shout at him if you spot a tree trunk lying across the rails or something. If the driver cant stand your face however, he will close the blinds. He could be closing the blinds because he wants to get up to something that one gets up to when nobody is around.

I remember when I first came to Japan - I was here on my yearly summer vacations. I made an audio recording while I was on the train - a recording which I listed to over and over again when I went back to the UK - I loved the announcements made at each station and the jingle played to warn passengers that the doors were closing. Sometimes I would hear a THUMP as somebody got squashed between the doors. For some reason, the people here love to rush for closing doors - its kind of like a natural instinct or something.

Another interesting thing that you may see when you actually get on the train - people just love to rush to sit down too - I cant believe that people can put up with sitting down squashed with their arms out in front. But this is not the interesting thing I was talking about. I have seen elderly/women with arm fulls of shopping/babies who get on the train but *nobody* gets up for them to sit down - what makes it worse is that you can see that the people sitting down notice those in need of a seat but just pretend to be asleep or stick their head deeper into their book.
Personally, I always stand in the corner reading a book or enjoying some anime - cant stand sitting down when on a train.

The music is by Levitation - "more then ever people" and is the kind of music I would listening while commuting.