TRAVEL IN JAPAN
Cheeky Pigeons and Reckless People at Kyoto Station
Morning musings on social behavior in Japan
It was 7:45 on a Saturday morning, and I was on the platform at a relatively quiet Kyoto station waiting for the Shinkansen bullet train that would speed me home to Kagoshima. As a freelance tour guide, I am no stranger to train stations and their rules: stand in line before your assigned train entrance and, above all, stay behind the yellow tiles.
As I waited, I noticed a pigeon strutting past those tiles, unbothered by the station rules. While I was engrossed in getting photo evidence of its audacity, a loud, harsh voice pierced the morning calm, “Stay back!! Stay back!! Stay back from the rails!!”
This was jarring. At Japanese train stations, the only sounds one usually experiences are polite announcements, the incoming and outgoing of trains, and the muted conversations of passengers.
Why was the station attendant shouting with such authority and gusto? Was he startled by the rebellious pigeon, or was something else afoot?
