Saturday, January 22, 2011

Sensoji Temple - Tokyo

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Even in Japan you have your rule-breakers

People in Tokyo are generally very well behaved, especially given that this is one of the most crowded large cities in the world. Still, there are those who break the rules. And sometimes the rules are just different from what you are used to.

Where I come from, cutting in front of someone, whether on the road or on the sidewalk is considered rude. Plenty of people break that rule but in my home city that will get you a good honking, exchanged words, and maybe even a bit of road rage. Since I don't have a car in Tokyo (it's not needed) my experience has been limited to learning the Way of the Pedestrian. One thing I've noticed is that there's a lot of cutting in front of other people. I'll be walking down the sidewalk in a straight line and someone will come from behind me and cut right across in front of me to enter a door. Sometimes they cut so close across my path that I'll stumble in trying to avoid running into them. This happens frequently - several times a day. Just yesterday I was walking on the Ginza when an elderly woman in a kimono nearly tripped me when she zipped around me and cut across my path so close that she stepped on my feet. No apology forthcoming. Really odd behavior for an otherwise very polite people.

Then you have the queue jumpers. Unlike in China there are actually queues here and 90% of people observe them. But even here you have those who act as though they have a license to break the rules. At subway platforms there are lines on the platform showing where people are to line up and the subway doors always stop exactly in the right spot. But sometimes people don't observe the rules and jump in front of those that have lined up so they can rush in and grab the rare open seat. I've never seen anyone object or call the jumpers out. Just yesterday the woman pictured here jumped the line at Tamene-sanno and sure enough she grabbed the only open seat. Unlike the other passengers however I told her she was behaving rudely. She also wasn't pleased that I took her picture. She's the one on the right. I hope she sees it on the Internet.