First one must explain why they use trains. Aside from the many issues brought up about cars in one of my earlier posts it's worth noting that Tokyo is urban-centric. This means everyone commutes into Tokyo and leaves in the evening to go back to their suburban homes. Tokyo suburbs are basically defined as the area within a 2 hour commute to the city This unfortunately isn't a joke. Many people make the journey everyday to the city. Just imagine your 8 hour work day with another 4 tacked on in commuting. It's only made worse by the fact that your day doesn't end when you get your work done, it ends when your boss leaves and if your work group decides to hit the bars your attendance is mandatory. This is why people don't have kids and if they do the wife is a stay at home mother.
Luckily for many this is a little bit extreme, in fact the average commute is "only" 1 hour. For me it takes about this long to commute from Minaminagareyama in Chiba prefecture to Yotsuya in the middle of Tokyo. This is about half the length of the Tsukuba Express train line and by the time the train gets to my stop it's already pretty packed.
As you might expect for not having the time for basic necessities like sleep at home the train is a wonderful place to catch some Z's. This of course makes it awesome trying to catch people sleeping in the most unique positions. Some are pretty amazing like putting one's whole head between their knees and slumped over (I didn't think most adult spines bend that much) or just head back with the mouth wide open. Occasionally you'll find the occasional asleep standing up, the somewhat sad part is those people would probably be working that job in a good economy. There's also those that fake sleep. Why you ask? So you can pretend not so see the little old Obaasan hunched over from all that work in the rice fields back in the day trying to kill you with a soul sucking death stare.
In fact given the conditions you can't blame people for doing it. I'm convinced to concept of heaven in Japan is a reserved seat on a train. If you start at the end point of any line there's an interesting game of musical chairs. Everyone waiting will burst through the doors knocking down and trampling anything in their path to get a seat. They killed 3 Obaasans just to get there, like hell they're gonna give it up.
Equally as violent is when the train is full. It's not uncommon during rush hour to see the doors slide open and about 200 people standing. Too full...if you're an American. The grim reality is that the next train will be just as packed, in fact all of them for the next 2 hours. The proper procedure is to turn your back, this is so that you can't see the unfortunate victims behind you that will be crushed to death, and push against the top of the door. The person behind you will do the same until you have 50 people crammed into the area around the door without enough room to even breathe. In fact that's the ideal situation, lest you get a whiff of the smelly, sweaty mass of people (pray they all took a shower) or the women with too much perfume. If you can't fit yourself there is often a nice man with white gloves who is payed do his darnedest to make you fit. Try on a hot day with 100% humidity for extra discomfort.
Travelers Tip: Stand next to the pole by the door seats or try to make your way between the seats for extra room.
Don't get used to your place though since at the next stop you will be forced off the train and have to do it again. The effect is like pushing your finger against a water spout, move or be moved.
The one good thing about the train is it will strengthen your sense of balance. The majority of people won't have enough hand holds to stay upright, you just have to balance. Whats amazing is watching some of the women in stiletto heels, if only they could harness this power they could form an army of world-class ballet dancers. It's not perfect though. Every so often the train will slam the breaks a little bit hard and the whole mass will shift 3 feet the other direction, nothing left to do but topple the person next to you in a domino effect, which to be honest is quite amusing in person.
The reason something like this would happen is that the train in front is late. Trains are on time in Japan 99% of the time (actual figure) but every so often some one decides to throw themselves in front of one (I can't imagine why). This of course makes everyone else late and occasionally have to
