The Depressing Experience of Tokyo Train-Riding
Tokyo has one of the most detailed and efficient train systems in the world. A person would be hard-pressed to find a place in Tokyo which cannot be easily reached by train. The trains are very clean, well kept, and most importantly, on time. Sadly, however, a ride on a train in Tokyo is also one of the most depressing experiences in the city.
When I was just making trips to Tokyo I did not notice the ice cold vibe of the train system. Now that I live in Tokyo, the daily cold shoulder the trains offer is like a brick to the face. Too often whenever I step foot on a train in Tokyo, I feel like I am either attending a funeral or being rushed off to a hot war zone. Most people maintain such a grim expression on their faces that if the train made a stop at hell station, the devil would opt to wait for the next one.
My daily commute to and from work is never made any more pleasant by the atmosphere on the train. In the mornings, the trains are filled with men dressed in the most bland colors one could choose for a suit. They all look like they are off to serve a wicked corporate master who long ago claimed their soul. There is not one inch of happiness in these people. I cannot tell which they hate most; themselves or the job they are about to slave away at for countless hours. They have the ability to even lower the lighting on the train. The trains in Tokyo have very bright lights but if I stand up and look at all the people somehow the lights seem to dim. Everything inside the train seems to take on a blue&gray tint. It is like I have walked into a David Lynch movie. Any second I expect one of the salary men to look me right in the eye and say, “I am the devil. I have come for your soul.”
The evening commute gets a little better, but only on the Yamanote line. The Yamanote line does come alive with colors and sound in the evening hours. Still, there is this strange feeling that I just cannot shake. Some people talk but for the most part a silence as if the Emperor just died overpowers the senses. On trains in Tokyo it can get so silent in fact that you can hear the light snoring sounds of people sleeping. It is a common sight to get on the train and see nothing but people dead silent with their heads down trying to avoid having any contact with other humans. While sometimes a gang of loud school girls or a small group of happy drunks break the silence, usually a sad bunch of people rides inside of a speeding hunk of metal without saving a word to each other.
In Tokyo, people work their asses off from sunup to sundown so I expect there are a lot of tired people riding the train just trying to reach the comfort of their homes. Although, I refuse to accept this as an excuse to get on the train and behave as if the world and everything in it is dark and ugly. The vibe on trains in Tokyo must to be a factor to the high suicide rate. It is bad enough that many people are overworked and underpaid. After a long work day they have to get on a train that sends a message to them saying, “You’re right. The world sucks, people are mean and cold, and your life sucks as well. Why don’t you just get off the train and toss yourself in front of the next one that comes by.”
Maybe it would be good for Tokyo if people lightened up a little on the train. Smile at each other once in a while. Say “hello” or ask how the person beside you is feeling today. Give your seat up to the old lady struggling to stay standing up. Do something other than have a grim look on your face and a screw-you attitude whenever anyone looks at you. Please! This dark train attitude is only making people more depressed than they already feel each and everyday. Maybe the free-hugs people should get on the train and start hugging people. Just start hugging people while saying an “I love you” to everyone. Hell, it might actually work.
Anyway, train behavior in Tokyo can be pretty depressing sometimes. This still does not stop me from loving living in Tokyo. I would just like to see the train experience be a bit more of a happy one.
This post was submitted by freedomwv
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Have you ever ridden the trains late (comparatively) at night? I find that once it gets to about 10pm or so, especially on the weekends, everyone’s drunk and friendly. They might be quiet, but every time I’ve struck up a conversation with an intoxicated salaryman, it’s great. I’ve been given business cards, cellphone numbers, and invites to 合コン, all from people I’ve known less than two stops.
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Yeah, the late-train vibe can be pretty friendly. It’s probably the best time to ride in terms of atmosphere if it’s not too crowded and nobody is passed-out on the floor.
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The last couple of trains are the fun ones, packed to the seams fit to explode, full of drunken arses of both genders and none of them capable of standing if the train pulls a sharp stop or wiggles a bit. It’s almost like getting a strike! at bowling.
My favourite was a few weeks back on the red line. Legless tartlette throws up all over zonked out drunk salariman and gets off at the next stop. He didn’t even notice. One can only imagine what happens when he gets home to his happy family. ^^!
You have to make your own entertainment out of it or the fact that you’re going home with all these other
inefficienthardworking salarimen will make you just as miserable. e.g.how many of them are fondling their keitais sending emails like “I am now at shinjuku sanchome!” “I am now at the other end of shinjuku sanchome” “I am nearly at shinjuku! I am so excite!”
can you see more PSP than DS? Hell, can you even see 1 PSP?
spot the gaijin! but don’t dare acknowledge their existence, they’re trying to convince themselves that they are special because they are … gaijin! (and have bigger propellors, are taller, can’t find shoes that fit, etc)
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Agreed, the late-night train is a completely different vibe, and is actually kind of fun. But the rush-hour commutes, that work grind fuckery is a completely different animal. Ever see a white-looking dude with close-cropped hair hanging on to the 吊革 with his jaw hanging open at how soul suckingly depressing his commute is, that would be me.
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On the other side of the tracks (so to speak), here in China the train that I usually take is full of annoying chatter and smelly farmers.
Was looking forward to switching to Tokyo subways next month, but now, not so much… Ah well. I always have my my iPod to pipe happy music into my ears.
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For depressing train rides - ride the trains in the UK, especially the Tube in London.
I ride the Yamanote at rush hour too - I feel the pain (literally) but having commuted in Sydney, Dublin, London, Barcelona, Paris… Tokyo is safe and comfortable (between 10am and 9pm at least)
Take it easy
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On the Los Angeles subway, it sometimes is full of homeless using the train car as a homeless shelter.
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Now, that’s depressing. Why don’t the subway cops kick ‘em off?
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I actually complained about it last year and got a response. They said that amazingly, most of the homeless have bus passes and if they do, the police have no legal right to kick them off.
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I also see and feel the same gloom in the elevators at my office, can be depressing.
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I think this whole thing can be attributed to stress and lack of room in Tokyo.The people in Tokyo work too much and besides that Tokyo is very congested.There is little room for people to relax and refresh themselves.When I came to Tokyo, one thing that caught my attention was the pushing that happens when people are boarding a train during rush hour.Yea, when it goes beyond “doa ga shimarimasu”.
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I have to admit that the evening ride on the Yamanote is a slighty better experience then the morning rush. Although, when I an going to work the train is very depressing. The Joban line is the worst for sad faces and ice cold attitudes. I really need to talk to those free hugs people and get them to jump on the Joban line and spread some love.
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I saw BORAT. I saw him get told to F off on the subway in New York City. I don’t know where in the world strangers randomly talk to each other on public transportation. Does anyone have any actual experience talking to someone on public transportation?
Of course being on a crowded train in Tokyo is depressing. At least I don’t have to worry about being pick pocketed. And personally I like being ignored on the train. Would you really want some random person starting up a conversation with you? The very rare times this has happened to me, I’ve felt annoyed by it.
Living in Tokyo, even if you are super rich, is a fairly depressing experience. Unless you are helicopter rich, you will still be stuck with the commoners on the super crowded trains, highways and sidewalks.
My feeling is the only happy people in this city are freelance photographers. Plenty of good material always just outside one’s door. Other than that, only people with helicopters might be happy.
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P.S. I never take the rush hour trains as I don’t wake up most days until 11am and in the evenings I mostly work from home. So for me the trains are in fact not so bad. The thing that pisses me off about them is that they are not on MY schedule. Thus, I can’t wait to be back to the land of cars that go where you want to when you want to, i.e. the U.S. (I’m vegetarian so my carbon footprint can withstand having a Prius)
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What you describe sounds like heaven to me compared to my experience on the trains. I’d much rather presfer what you described than what I experience. You’re a lucky man! I disrupt that tranquilty of the dead you described. i give them something to think about instead of their dismal lives or their daily toil. I give them irrational fear, i give them someone they can pretend is benethe their contempt, or beneath them period, a lower form of human being…and, if they catch me on the wrong day, I might even give them a reason to visit the emergency room, if they step too far out of line, get too overt with their xenophobic and/or racist tendencies, which they have a tendency to do from time to time(-;
Loco
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So, you mean they treat you poorly because you are not Japanese?
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I take a depressing, glum and quiet trains in Tokyo over the trains here in Malaysia. It’s a din where everyone feels shouting is necessary and normal and that’s for conversation with the person beside them.
Give me peace and quiet anytime.
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I always notice the polar attitudes of people on the train. People alone never smile, and look like what you describe. But when there are a group of people, they tend to be overly happy.
One time, my friend was sleeping, and I saw a little boy (maybe 7) sitting next to him. I started poking him (my friend) with my umbrella, much to the kids amusement. After a minute of giggles and general smiling times, the kids father freaked out and pulled him away from us. It was a sad moment.
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I read books, smile at babies, listen to music, make friends with drunken Japanese guys, and occasionally flirt with cute J-girls. I don’t know what y’all are complaining about; besides 8-9am, I’m a big fan of the trains.
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i actually changed apartments to be closer to my work, at enormous personal cost, when i realised just how much the train was making me more depressed than living in tokyo does anyway. I felt incredibly silly at the time, but 3 hours on tokyo trains really does drain your soul. i can’t explain it well. i came from a medium sized city in an “unfriendly” country in europe - in 3 years of spending more than an hour per day on buses i think i was spoken to by a stranger once. even though i’ve spoken to some gaijin on the train, and a drunken salariman, there is no way i can compare the extent to which i felt like each time i rode on the train here, a little bit of my soul was being eaten away. it sounds so ridiculous and melodramatic to say so, but it is absolutely true.
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I have to agree with you. The train does bum me out but I have found a solution that works most days. I simply smile for no good reason. I don`t really care if people think I am crazy. It makes me happy and throws off the feeling which a ride on the train can cause. A few times people have even smiled back at me.
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haha thats a good idea….i might copy you! but will i get weird lines on my face from smiling for 3 hours a day? haha - oh well, i’ll smile for the next two weeks before i get to move to my new apartment
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It does make me feel good by the time I get to work. Although, I do not keep a psycho grin on my face the entire way to work. After a while I start to develop a pleasant expression on my face which I do not have to force.
I suggest everyone in Tokyo give it a go.
come on NYC has THE worst subways in the world. what i would give to have a subway that didn’t smell like urine and other ungodly smells. there are times when a homeless man can clear the whole cart out. I had to stop 2 guys harassing a woman out in Brooklyn. Also try riding the A train out into the bronx at 3 am and you won’t ever complain about the Japanese subways again.
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Sometimes the subway in Tokyo smells like old man. It is a really strong smell. Old men in Japan can really kick up a stink.
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