Rush Hour in Tokyo- surviving a mass group hug in Japan’s largest city
Many people have heard that the rail lines in Tokyo are often packed and busy. Experiencing the true extent of it is something else though. Tokyo rail lines transport around 40 million people to their destinations daily, a number that is over 150 times the population of my hometown. If you are traveling anywhere in the largest city in the world, some advice: if at all possible, beat rush hour. Between around 7–9 AM and 5–7 PM, the stations will be full of people migrating either to or from work. If you value your personal space, you can either grit your teeth and get through it or you can hole up in a local shop (which, frankly, is just as likely to be packed) and wait it out. If you do as I did and choose the former, there are a few things you can expect.
For me, hopping on the train is not a difficult decision. Despite the fact that I must get to and from work on a daily basis somehow, the experience itself is one that I was not going to pass up. In Tokyo, being shoulder to shoulder with your neighbors is just the way life is. Since people are often unable to escape these conditions of extreme proximity, there are some social norms and rules (both spoken and unspoken) that have been put in place.
Courtesy
First, keep the noise down and your luggage up. In Japan, moving around from place to place is a time for meditation, not socialization. This means that common courtesy in Japanese transit is trying to maintain as small and unnoticeable a presence as you can, both physically and with respect to your noise levels. If you are heading somewhere with your friend avoid talking until you arrive, but if you must talk keep it in hushed tones. People often use this time to catch up on sleep. Note that texting and interacting with your phone is perfectly fine, as long as it’s not considered obtrusive or loud. Talking on your phone is not just rude in Japan, its actually not allowed. Same can be said for watching videos, unless of course you have headphones in.
Next, there’s the matter of taking up as little space as possible. If you’re fresh out of the airport and are lugging your suitcase to your hotel, it is good manners to use the luggage racks above the seats. Note that this is really only necessary if the space your luggage is occupying could allow somebody else to ride more comfortably. If you do find yourself traveling during rush hour however, this will most certainly be the case. Having your suitcase by your feet might mean that another passenger won’t fit in the car, depriving them of a spot and making them late for work. If you have a small bag like a purse or a laptop carrier, then keeping it on your person for the ride is fine. In fact, people often use them as small buffers between themselves and the person they are sharing a square foot with. Generally, just be courteous to your fellow passengers, and conscientious of how your gear affects them.
Pushing in Train Stations
To Westerners, one quirk that can be surprising the first time you experience it is how pushing people is socially acceptable in Japan’s metro culture. Of course, I’m not saying you can go shoving random citizens to the ground. What I mean is if a businessman who needs onto the train puts his briefcase against your back and begins shoving you into the high school student in front of you so he can fit on board, this behavior is neither unusual nor rude per Japanese customs. People have places to be after all. The good news is that if you need on the train, you also have this right. Same goes for exiting the train: if you’ve arrived at your station, you can push through the crowd. The first couple of times I was making my way to work I ended up riding to the next stop because I was trying to avoid rudeness (or my idea of rudeness) and didn’t make it out of the train car in time. On some lines, there are even dedicated pushers whose job is to shove as many people into a train car as possible. You don’t have to be as concerned with stepping on toes here as you would elsewhere.
Which car to ride in?
Whether you board on the front or the back of the train is an important decision. It all depends on which direction you have to go when you exit. The difference in distance between your intended exit and your place on the train may not seem significant. Add in a mass of people filling the 300 meters between you and your destination however, and you risk spending longer than intended simply trying to get out. To this end, lowering the distance you must travel becomes significantly more useful. Positioning yourself in the closest car to your intended station exit is ideal, so spend a few minutes planning ahead to save you 15–20 minutes of jostling for the door.
One thing to be aware of is the presence of “women only” cars on certain lines. Sometimes, rail lines will dedicate the first and last cars on the train for female passengers only. These were put in place to help counter the sexual harassment that sometimes plagues women on Japanese public transportation. Note that you will still see men present in these cars, but they are only supposed to be there if they are accompanying their wife, grandmother, etc. If you’re a guy, don’t worry too much about accidentally stumbling on board, as these cars are hard to miss. If the “Women only” signs written in up to four different languages aren’t enough of an indicator, these cars are also decked out entirely in pink. Just know that this flamboyant decoration is designed to communicate this particular message, and not mistake it for another one of Japan’s many ambitious advertisements.
Moving through the station
Escalators and stairs. The short and sweet rule for stairs and hallways in the station is this: stay to the left and don’t stop moving. Most stairwells will have arrows on the floor indicating traffic flow during busy times. When it comes to escalators, you have two options. You can stand on the escalator and ride your way up, or you can walk up. If you choose the former, stay on the left. If you’d prefer a speedier ascent, walk up on the right side. Also, stay aware of your luggage, if you have any. Keep it either directly in front of you or behind you if you are riding up, and avoid letting it drift over and block the right side where people are trying to hurry.
In a sense, people everywhere in the world are the same. They work to live in a world where both they and their children can be comfortable and safe. It’s a culture’s collective decision as what the best solution for that grand problem is that tends to change across boundaries. You can save yourself a lot of headache by simply observing what’s going on around you. You will see some people breaking social norms, but most people won’t. Whether it be abroad or at home, you will likely encounter people bending the rules on a daily basis. Learning to distinguish the usual occurrences from the outliers will be what helps you stay in line. Just because you see those two business men chatting it up in the middle of the bus doesn’t mean that it’s fine for you to do so. Stay aware of your surroundings, follow the crowd, and you’ll survive your metro compression therapy session. Then you can just concentrate on enjoying your time in Tokyo.
Sometimes people drop things. How do you politely return somebodies phone or wallet to them? Here is a useful video by Coto Academy for learning how. https://cotoacademy.com/drop-something-japanese/
